stubsadventures

The last couple of days have been filled with all sorts of different types of adventures.

Two days ago, it was time to try the cage diving a second time. Being a lover of the ocean and all things in it, I wasn’t really sure what I thought about cage diving at first. I have to admit, I wondered if my desire to come up close and personal with one of the greatest predators of the ocean was a selfish one that could have negative effects on the species. There are many views on cage diving and as always, I decided to make my own decision. In the last few years, I have been unbelievably frustrated hearing what is said about the Canadian oil and gas industries when I know the truth, and interestingly enough, I found this industry to be misunderstood in similar ways. The cage diving industry in Africa is heavily regulated, I was surprised to find out. Very few licenses are granted to be able to do it and the ones are, are tightly regulated and monitored. These regulations are developed with and by people who have the sharks best intentions in mind. It was a great experience to spend time with the crew and really learn what the industry is all about. The crew on the boat are extremely passionate about shark conservation and the sharks themselves. They had many good points about how cage divers didn’t effect at all the lives or behavioral patterns of the sharks, and this has been proven time and time again by independent studies. In fact, most of the sharks that we saw did “swim bys” and weren’t at all interested in what was going on in the boat.

The second experience was much more what I knew happened at Seal Island but never thought I would actually witness. On this trip, we saw the attack of four different seals around the boat. Although these weren’t breach attacks, you got a feel for the power of these creatures, and it was humbling to say the least. Being soft hearted, you couldn’t help but feel for the seal while at the same time knowing you were witnessing the circle of life. When a baby seal would drift from the island, I found myself rooting for him to get back to shore so he could be safe. Even among the 10’s of thousands of seals, even one baby getting eaten was still a little sad.

After the boat trip, came back to shore and had some lunch, and then hired a driver to go to some new places along the coast. The drive was one of the best in the world, hands down. The driver was full of knowledge and history and was really able to answer a lot of my questions. He did however highlight a good portion of the real culture here, which was really fascinating. There, behind the stunning beauty of South Africa is a lot of pain and tension. South Africa has an unemployment rate of 25% and even that is thought to be a low estimate. Immigration is a major problem here and leading to a variety of racial and cultural tensions. As I have always said, to travel to a country is to get the full story, the real story, which isn’t always as pretty as the landscapes.

During the drive, I started to feel quite ill. There came a point where I just wanted to be back at the hotel or I knew I was going to throw up all over this poor guys very clean van. I did make it back to the hotel in time but spent the next 36 hours in the room. I’m sure now that it was related to some food I had for lunch but nonetheless, it was awful and I’m glad to be on the mend!

Stubs.

Today was back to boat diving. The first dive was to a place known for being able to interact with cape fur seals. The start to the dive was a bit rough as the surge was pretty powerful and was knocking us around quite a bit. You would swim forward, then the surge would come and push you backwards and once it was going the other way, would launch you forward at super speed. The whole time trying to avoid getting pounded into the rocks, or pushed against a wall full of sea urchins. Once you finally got used to the rhythm of the whole thing you could actually enjoy the beauty of the location. And it wasn’t long before the seals came out to play. They have to be one of the most graceful animals to watch and not only that, they’re just a beautiful animal. Big eyes, big whiskers and they look right at you. They entice you to play, they show off their grace. They really are just a pleasure to be around.

Dive #1
56min
54 ft

The second dive was back with the cow sharks. Although initially I was a little bummed about doing the same dive again when there are so many amazing sites here in South Africa, I was quickly glad to be back. contrary to the playful, graceful seals, the cow sharks are suspicious looking. It’s as if they like to catch you off guard, coming up behind you when you least expect it. A demonstration that you are in their world. At one time, I had three circling around me and it was a bit overwhelming, I have to admit. Even though your told they don’t attack people, there is still that little voice in your head that asks… is this the day? Is this the shark that decides to try? I found myself smiling on this dive, glad to be back and to have one more experience with another apex predator of the sea.

Dive #2
55min
39ft

Stubs.

Today was a great warm up to the great white shark diving I’ll be doing tomorrow. Today, I did two shore dives and after a rocky start to the day with a new dive shop that does things weird, I wasn’t holding out much hope. Things weren’t looking much better when we were talking about our dive experience. He asked how many years I had been diving, I told him 14. He told me, he has been diving for 4 months. Great.

However my fears were quickly put aside when the dive guide told me that we were headed to shark alley to see cow sharks and he wasn’t kidding. It wasn’t long into the dive when I was mesmerized by the amazing kelp forest when the cow sharks began to appear. They feed at night so they are docile during the day but their sinister smiles weren’t leaving me very confident. Over 20 pass throughs with about 7 different sharks left me pretty breathless.

Cow Shark Dive
Max Depth: 43ft
Bottom Time: 52 min

The second site was called The Boulders and was pretty cool in itself. Unfortunately, my camera battery died pretty early in the trip, so I didn’t get too many pictures. The rocks were full of life and I saw some really huge cray fish that I wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley.

Max Depth: 33ft
Bottom Time: 62 min

Stubs.

Today, I finally dove the Indian Ocean.

I completed two dives today. The first was called Batsata Rock and was about a 20 minute boat ride from Millers, Point. The boat entry was a back roll and what struck me first was how much colder the water was than I had expected. Then my mask filled with water, then I almost lost my camera. It was just going to be one of those dives. My first after not diving for a while usually is. It didn’t take long to finally get orientated but the visibility wasn’t that great and I spent a lot of the diving fumbling through my new camera trying to get some good pictures. It luckily wasn’t too bad and wasn’t long before I was able to figure out the flash. Near the end of the dive a current picked up which bounced us around a little bit.

Max depth: 66ft
Dive time: 44 min
3 min safety stop @ 15ft

Second dive was actually pretty awesome. The SAS Pietermaritzburg was formerly called the HMS Pelorus. This vessel was a minesweeper during WWII and lead the invasion on D-Day in Normandy. It was sunk in 1994 to form an artificial reef. Diving historic wrecks always feels like such an honor, and swimming on the decks of history is something that will never get old. This dive was even colder but went by pretty fast. I got to see a Pajama Shark on this dive which was pretty cool. I chased it inside the wreck for as long as I could before it went too far in. This wreck has claimed the life of more than one diver, the most recent was found in the vessel only three weeks ago.

Max depth: 54ft
Dive time 37 min
3 min safety stop @15ft

Stubs.

Today was another day full of adventure in South Africa. After what seemed like the longest sleep ever, I hit up the iconic Table Mountain. Yesterday, the mountain was shrouded in clouds and was glad to have waited until today as it was clear as far as you could see.

The cable car only takes 4 minutes to bring you to about 3500ft above sea level. Once at the top, you can roam around for quite a while taking pictures of the tiny people and buildings below.

After the trip up the mountain, it was time to head to Simons Town. This is much more my kind of Town. Everyone is even more laid back than in Cape Town (if that was even possible) and the streets are far less busy. After dropping bags off, the first destination was the penguin colony. Not only was it awesome enough to see penguins but I was lucky enough to spot several babies! I was beyond excited and took about 400 pictures in a very short period of time.

Tomorrow, time to splash in False Bay.

Stubs.

I have arrived. Two flights, one 9.5 hours, the other 11 hours was more than enough flying for this Canadian girl. The first flight actually went by quite quickly but the 11 hour flight left something to be desired. Luckily there were the little tvs on the plane which made things much better.

Touching down in South Africa just left me smiling. There is a great energy here from the people and the land. The driver to the hotel was amazing and full of information. During the drive, he learned that he and his wife were having their first child and he was bursting with pride, it was a great moment to be apart of.

Just for one night I’ll be right in Cape Town. The Welgelegen Guesthouse is amazing and a perfect location in relation to downtown. After a much-needed shower, lunch and a lot of water, did a great walking tour. Everywhere you look, the iconic Table Mountain is hovering just in the distance.

This trip is off to a great start.

Stubs.