This is from yesterday (2/18) Sorry for the late posting, uploading takes ages!!)
Okay. I admit it. Shark diving was awesome. And great white sharks are pretty cool up close, or at any distance really when you realize that you are seeing one of only about one thousand great whites left in the world!
Originally I wasn’t sold on the idea, it seemed a little scary, I won’t lie, even though I know it’s really safe. Even so, I was probably the least gung-ho in the group as we woke up at 3:45AM this morning and headed off on a two-hour drive to the boat we would take out to see what I thought was just a scary mean sea creature. I was really only excited for the boat ride!
As it turned out, it was totally cool. On the ride there we watched a video about a man, Michael Rutzen, who runs the company that took us out today, Shark Diving Unlimited. They are actually quite a popular company, and have taken many celebrities shark diving such as Matt Damon, Leonardo DeCaprio, and Blake Lively to name a few. That was kinda cool! Anywa, Rutzen is a naturalist who has spent his life observing sharks by swimming with them and learning more about the creature with which he is so fascinated. He has come to realize that sharks are not the dangerous monsters that humans make them out to be, and that they are incredibly misunderstood. He himself has swum with them several times, never in a cage, and has never been attacked. In fact, the place where we went shark diving, where there are hundreds of sharks, has a swimming beach right on shore, where there has never been a shark attack in its entire history. The crewmembers said they see sharks just beyond the crashing waves all the time, but they are not interested in humans at all.
Though we had to wake up super early, the sunrise and morning were so beautiful and the whole day was absolutely worth it! We all put on our wetsuits and spent at least 30 minutes in the cage, seeing sharks swim right by us. Fortunately the cage fits seven people at a time, so we didn’t have to be alone, which would have been much more scary! But it really wasn’t what I expected. The sharks swam by us, often even jumping out of the water to grab the bait, but never bothered with the cage at all. They swam calmly by, not once threatening or attempting to attack us. I wasn’t scared at all once I was in the water. It was pretty fascinating to experience them that way, in a such different light. All together it was pretty awesome, and now I can say I have seen great whites face to face! And not only one…we saw at least five of them…and they were pretty big!
(I tried to upload pictures here...if you don't see any then it failed. I'll keep trying!)
On top of the great day spent shark diving, the drive home had absolutely beautiful scenery, which reminds me that last night did as well! A bunch of us went to The Bungalow, a beautiful and very nice restaurant by Camps Bay. We ate dinner outside with the view of the beach at sunset! Beautiful! And I realized when we got there that though it has been two years and some redecorating has been done, I recognized the restaurant from last time we were in South Africa! We actually saw a Goldfish concert there! It was a very funny coincidence and I enjoyed the place as much the second time as I did the first!!
It is so amazing and even a little difficult for me to believe that in three days I can experience such great despair and poverty, some of the most beautiful sights in the world, great white sharks, and witness extreme wealth and luxury. I can’t help but feel guilty for having the capability and opportunity to experience South Africa the way I am, and I know a few of us today were thinking and even commenting that our students in the townships would just die to see a great white shark, probably even to just get on a boat, to be this far away from their township, to see these beautiful beaches. I wish I could take them there, and I cant think of a reason in the world why they shouldn’t get to go. I am hoping that we can come up with some type of field trip to take them on, it won’t be shark diving, but definitely to our neighborhood and house and perhaps to the beach or somewhere they have never been! South Africa truly has so much to offer, and it shouldn’t be only for the wealthy South Africans and foreigners to experience. With that thought in my head and my students on my mind, I went to the office supplies store when we got home from shark diving. I bought as much supplies as I could afford for the students this week, and I hope to collect more from a professor at UWC that said she could help me out with pens and pencils. Every experience I have here makes me more grateful than ever for everything I have in my life and all of the opportunities I have been given. I truly wish I could the same to the children and students in the townships, but if the least I can do is offer them an education that is going to give them a fighting chance of someday improving their situation, then I sure as hell am going to do it well.
Molly. . . What an experience. I can honestly say I don't know I would have had the courage to get in the water -- no matter what they told me!! So Awesome!! That is too funny that you went to the same restaurant in Camps Bay. . . my memory was the vast change in temperature while there. We were very hot, and within a few hours we were freezing with our jackets on?? The place looks so different in your photos on F/B.
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