SHARKS!!! - 10/17/12

BEN (from his journal) - We spent the night in dorm beds sharing the room with two Irish girls and a large snoring German woman.  We woke up at the crack of dawn to make our way to Gansbaii (pronounces ‘Hansbaye’) for some shark cage diving.  Turned out that the 2 Irish girls were also going, so we caravanned to the shark cage diving Mecca, where shark week is filmed, Gansbaii.  There are about a dozen different shark cage diving companies in one little  port.  For most of our drive, it rained pretty hard, but had stopped by the time we rolled in.  It was grey and the wind was whipping, not great weather for jumping in the Atlantic Ocean.  We met with our crew, about 20 of us and our skipper (who was a raging badass) who went over everything while we had a simple, but needed breakfast.  We got on the boat and set off in large swells and cool sea air.  Most of the ride was spent getting to know Edel and Emily (our new Irish friends).  Once we found a spot we dropped anchor and everyone put on a wetsuit.  Just like that, there was a tuna head in the water and there were great white sharks circling our boat.  Insanity!  When we were not in the water we sat up on the second level roof of the boat, were we got a sweet bird’s eye view of the carnage.  Multiple times the monsters breached and crashed back down into the salty water.  Then it was our turn and we jumped into the icy water and flipped the switch on zoos all over the world; we were in the cage and the sharks were watching us.  It was AWESOME.  That is really the only way I can explain it.  The sharks would attack the bait and swim right past the cage, so close you could reach out and touch them (if you didn’t want a hand anymore).  All that was separating us from one of the most deadly creatures on the planet was a few simple pieces of metal.  Gabby and I were able to get in the cage twice.  At one point a monster 4.3 meter shark came trolling around and under the boat.  He never came for the bait, but you could see his shadow take over the water.  Unreal.  We (i.e. Gabby) astutely brought underwater cameras.  I cannot wait to get those pictures developed.  We headed back to shore after a couple hours of admiring, had lunch, and said goodbye to our Irish friends.  Breakfast, lunch, swimming with sharks, and a hostel stay for R995, not bad.  Still cold, damp, salty, and a little sea sick, we had a four hour drive ahead of us to reach Wilderness, our next stop along the Garden Route.  I did the majority of the driving making it my first time driving on the right (wrong) side.  Everything went well except for some minor hugging the left line and not getting used to looking left for rear view issues.  Also noteworthy during our road trip was: off and on rain and thus cool mountain/cloud scenery, large fields and farmland, our first ostrich sighting, Baboon baboon baboon! Cries from Gabby and the subsequent baboon sightings, first elephant sighting in the distance (off the freaking highway!).  Only in Africa.  As we reached the town of Wilderness and the heart of the Garden Route, the scenery got more and more breathtaking.  We eventually found our way to Fairy Knowe Backpackers where a talkative, friendly owner and his two dogs greeted us.  Seems like Wilderness will be a fun place to explore tomorrow.  We went out for an amazing dinner at Blue Olive, local delicious food, and are now falling asleep in the oldest building in Wilderness (1847) in a beautiful double bed that overlooks the salty tidal zone.  Paradise.  Life’s not too bad right now.