Sharks!!!!!!

We were in Cape Town for Amanda's birthday. We kinda got stuck there for a few days, but that turned out pretty good in the end.

Cape Town is beautiful! We enjoyed wandering the town--especially on the waterfront. Amanda really liked the ice cream from Steers, so that was an added bonus considering it was her birthday. However, our plans to DO things kept getting thrawted! We were going to go up Table Mountain--but our legs were so sore from climbing Adam's Peak that we gave up on that. Then we thougt we'd go out to Robbin's Island--where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner--but it was too windy and the ferry was canceled. Finally we tried to go cage diving wih the sharks, but...the boat broke down! Murphy really was working overtime in Cape Town...

There is a bright note to this post, as anyone with Facebook accounts knows: on our shark iving trip, the company found a new boat and we were able to go after all! And it was great fun! We saw lots o sharks from the surface--actually that was where the best sighting was--but we also got to "dive" underwater (in a cage) and watch the sharks from there. It was amazing!!!

It was a cold day though--and the water was cold--even with wetsuits on. It was also really windy, which made the underwater visibility pretty bad--but it was still good enough to see sharks--and that's what we were there for!!! When I was down in the cage, one shark came right up and rattled the cage we were in by brushing against it with it's body. (You can see the cage at the edge of this picture.)

We saw at least five different sharks--and possibly seven different ones (the guide wasn't totally sure). All the sharks we saw were Great White sharks--which made it even more fun.I was surprised at the diversity though--some were quite small, others quite big and the colourings were quite diverse as well.

We stayed out on the water for about 2 1/2 hours--and by that time we were feeling rather chilled so we headed in. Even the ride in and out were part of the fun though. The wind was so strong that the waves were, well, boisterous! It made for a great ride--though I must admit I almost fell off at least once while trying to get a picture and not holding on!

Until next time!