October 10, 2014
Shark Cage Diving is to South Africa what Bungy Jumping is to New Zealand. Not everyone who visits these places does it, but everyone who goes will inevitably get asked if they did it. Over the past year and a half in South Africa, M and I have yet to go shark cage diving. Despite the fact that we hadn't been, that didn't mean we weren't curious. And we all know what curiosity did to the cat. Pause that thought for a moment.
Team Canada's visit to this part of the world coincided with the southern right whale migration that happens from June to November every year along the coast. The whales come here to calve and to nurse their young in the shallow bays, and as a result provide South Africa with some of the best land-based whale-watching on the planet.
Okay, so what on earth (or sea...) does shark cage diving have to do with whale-watching? Well, for starters, they can both be done from the same place. And, this place happened to be en-route to Cape Town for Team Canada, so we were able to time a meet-up with them one last time while they were in SA.
We met in the glorious sea-side town of Hermanus, a town that M and I visited on our Christmas trip back in 2013. We love Hermanus; it's a very quaint town with the just the right amount of amenities to provide everything you need for a good visit, without having an "overdone" feel to it. It was the perfect spot to return to, and the perfect place to meet Team Canada for an adventurous weekend.
Spoiler Alert: while we did go on a "Shark Cage Diving" trip, we didn't actually get in the cage. The day we went was a pretty rough day at sea, and their was virtually no visibility underwater from the cage. Also, the roughness of the water meant there wasn't a lot of shark activity. That's nature for ya- it does what it wants, on its own schedule. That is what makes sightings so special, but also the gamble one takes when partaking in these activities.
Thanks Team Canada for being up for the adventure of back-to-back-to-back boating activities, and taking the plunge to get on the "shark boat", no matter what!
Reuniting with Team Canada (minus J). M and I were given most amazing collection of "South Africa" souvenirs from the team: cheesy but awesome embroidered baseball hats, delicious wine from their self-guided wine tour, wine-glass covers to keep the bugs out, and giraffe salad tongs! These guys are keepers.
Heading out to sea for our shark cage diving trip. We learned the value of the orange jackets when we were out at sea; there was so much spray from the boat and it was freezing!
Da ladies: Trying not to show how uncomfortable and sick we felt. See, we planned on going in the cage!
As close as we got to getting a photo of a shark. I'm serious. We did see two or three very fleetingly throughout the 5+ hours we spent on the boat, but never long enough or a clear enough sighting for a photo. You can see the "cage" part of "shark cage diving" in the bottom right corner of the photo. No, none of us decided to go in the cage. We didn't see the point in going in when there were no sharks to see, and visibility in the water was terrible due to the roughness of the sea.
When there are no sharks, go find wine. Sounds like a solid strategy, right? And we did one better than finding wine, we found a stunning wine farm...
...with a gorgeous restaurant.
Not a bad consolation prize after not seeing sharks. In fact, turned out to be a great way to turn the afternoon around.
Awesome wine, cheese and snacks at the Tasting Room restaurant at Stanford Hills winery.
It only makes sense that an afternoon of wine is followed by an evening of mojitos..no?
Early morning kayak adventure: boats all ready to go. Admittedly, the wine/mojito mix from the previous night was not helping us keep our nerves (or our stomachs) under control...
Getting ready to hit the open water and see some whales!...wait, see what?!
Mo with the instructor, and then the boys against the girls. We did see a whale a few hundred metres away in the bay, but we steered clear of her to give her and her calf some space. When we were back on solid ground we were shocked how huge the whales were compared to our teeny tiny yellow boats...
CL and I out at sea.
Next stop: whale watching boat tour, on a big boat this time. Which is a good thing, since the whales came very close to the boat. I love that this shot shows the magnitude of these massive creatures...the grown man is smaller than the tip of the whale's tail.
Thanks, captain obvious.
Mom (top) and baby(tail) taking a very close cruise by the boat.
Perhaps we didn't quite need the telephoto for this shot...?
M trying to find something to balance on amidst the rocking and sloshing of the boat.
We had no problem spotting the whales, thanks to our guide, who was a bit of an auctioneer (whale-neer?). "We have a mother and calf at two o'clock, two o'clock, four hundred metres out folks. Six o'clock, there's another mother and calf at six o'clock, six o'clock folks. Calf is heading north-easterly at about two hundred metres, breaching in three, two, one...there she is folks..."
Possibly my favourite shot of the day...
Mother and calf- the mother was rolling (left), while the calf (right) was practicing breaching.
Putting "sport mode" to use to capture the action of the breach.
Ice cream stop looking out at the bay from the cliff path in Hermanus.
We took Team Canada to visit these adorable guys in Betty's Bay before they headed onward to Cape Town.
So in love with these guys.
Meeting of the minds.
Walk like a penguin...
Last family photo of the trip. Tear.
That's Team Canada making their way along the gorgeous seaside passes towards the Mother City. Godspeed my friends, it was incredible to have you on African soil! xx
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