Dec. 7-8, 2012 - Stellenbosch and Shark Diving, SA

Dec. 7-8, 2012 - Stellenbosch and Shark Diving, South Africa

Stellenbosch is a cute little college town.  Very cute.  The first full day our group signed up for a wine tour and tasting as 4 different vineyards with lunch and cheese tastings.

I think I have eaten my weight in cheese over the past few days.  All kinds of cheese, brie, goats cheese, fresh cheese, bleu cheese, chamembert, havarti....its all yum.

The four wineries offered anywhere from 5 to 6 different wines for us to try.  It was about a 20-30 minute drive between each vineyard. The wine was tasty and the drive spectacular.  The grape vines covered the landscape and made everything look manicured, lush, and green.  The clouds covered the tops of the mountains in the distance. Amazing.

The next day we woke at 5 for a 5:30 pick up to go to the boat launch area.  It was about a 2 hour drive from Stellenbosch to Gaansbaai.  Once there they briefed us on what would be happening.  We didnt actually get to dive with the sharks rather we jumped in a cage floating at the surface and waited for them to come to us.  The SCUBA bubbles tend to scare the sharks away.

The boat ride out was only about 15 minutes from shore, close to a seal island colony and in a relatively shallow area.  They passed out thick wet suits or as Liz dubbed sausage casings, booties, a head wet suit thing, and goggles.  The cage was tossed in the water and 5 people loaded into it.  The fish head on a rope was tossed next to the cage.  Since we arrived after a couple other boats the chum had been in the area for a while and we didnt even have to wait 5 minutes before our sharks started showing up.

On a typical day the boat usually sees 3-5 sharks.  On this day we saw 7!   I have to think its due to the song I made up the night before. It goes something like this and is to the tune of "My milk shake brings all the boys to the yard":

Blood brings all the sharks to the boat.  Damn right its better than seals.

The sharks got sooooo close to the boat some even raming the boat or the cage that had people in it.  Dont worry we were told NOT to put our hands outside the cage and I followed that rule VERY well.

It was so cool to see.  Africa has made me feel like I am in my very own Discovery channel show!

Oh yeah and we also got to stop along the shore on the way to Cape Town to whale watch.  The southern right whales come to this location to have their babies.  We go to see two mamas and two babies!

What I have learned:
A bad tour guide can really put a downer on your tour.  But our group prevailed and still had a great time!
Great white sharks are huge.  They can get up to 5-6meters long.  On these shark watching tours you are not allowed to feed the sharks.  So this means you chum the area and then tie a fish head on to a rope and hope you are faster at pulling the fish head away than the shark is a making a lunge for it. They are also the only sharks that come to the surface to feed.

Making songs about our activities is both fun and funny.