CAPE TOWN, DAY 3
I suppose this is one of the main reasons I’ve returned to Cape Town to fulfil a lifelong ambition of seeing a Great White Shark.
THE WATER WAS ICE COLD!
I booked my trip with Marine Dynamics Travel who are arguably the most sustainable company for such a tour and highly recommended by a friend. You are collected bright and early in the morning (before sunrise) and driven the 2 hours to Gansbaai.
SIGNING MY LIFE AWAY
You are given a short introduction, some breakfast and then are asked to sign the usual wavier, incase the obvious happens! Once you are happy the food has been fully digested it’s then time to set sail to the the bay. The sailing is only 30minutes and generally not hard on the motion sickness, until you stop! Its all luck at this stage, sometimes the swell is big, sometimes it’s not, I wasn’t so fortunate.
SEASICKNESS 🤢
I was sure to sit myself down and just relax as much as possible until it was my turn. In the meantime the smell of raw tuna sure didn’t help things. The instructors throw and mix of tuna blood and water to the back of the boat, they are sure not to feed the sharks but rather guide towards the cages
TERRIBLE TIMELAPSE
RELATED READ: BEING ATTACKED BY A MAN WITH A SNAKE
COPPER SHARKS
Its never a sure thing that you will see a Great White but you are always invited back on the next day if you aren’t so lucky At the start it was nothing but copper sharks which if I’m honest were big enough but we all wanted to see a Great White. The further the day progressed the less likely it seemed we would see one. That was until one came up form absolutely nowhere!
FULL VIDEO
TIME-LAPSE
The instructor managed to get it on his camera which was good, I was so seasick that I hadn’t realised I was taking a time-lapse instead of a video, just my luck but sure I have the memories and all that!! The Shark was keen to put on a short but enjoyable show for us, hitting against the boat and creating a stir in the water. This was the experience we had always imagined but realistically never thought we would get!
WHALE WATCHING
On our way back to to Cape Town our driver was good enough to stopped in Hermanus for a while. Its the peak season for whale watching and even though we were on land we weren’t left wanted, definitely the cherry on the cake!
BEER PONG
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’ll be honest, it wasn’t easy but it was worth it all in the end. I am always hesitant to warn people of the issue of sea sickness but keen not to put them off. I knew it was something I had to go through to experience this and in the end it was brilliant!
NEXT UP
The activities are coming thick and fast in Cape Town, next up a winery tour! Click to read
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
118/229 Revisit
This post is part of the Southern Africa Series, click to explore or for episode 1 click here.
