Day 15 - Saturday

Awoke very early and drove to students' backpacker's where we all boarded a bus for a 2 hour drive to the east coast for shark cage diving. We had a quick breakfast with our host (captain?), who rushed us out the door a little early. Bad weather on the way, and he wanted to make sure we got out to sea before the winds picked up. Didn't say anything about getting back to shore though!

20 minutes of fast boating over choppy seas. I stood in the cabin, which turned out to be the worst place to ride. My arms are aching from hanging on to an overhead bar while the boat tossed us around; slamming over the waves. Finally dropped anchor near Seal Island. This time of year there are some 60,000 seals on the island, and lots of pups (that's a baby seal, right?). The sharks are attracted to the island and circle around looking for a meal.

Our captain ordered us to the top deck and pointed to a metal ladder along the side of the boat. His advise was not to fall in as there are sharks in the water. "Got it, thanks". My sneakers slipped on the wet metal rungs as the boat tossed about in the waves. Atop, we were given a quick orientation as the cage was dropped into the water, and chum line of fish heads laid out. The first group of 4 went back down to the cabin to get into wet suits. The crew draws in the sharks with two lines; one rope with a fish head at the end, and another with a foam "baby seal" named SpongeBob. We attracted a shark right away. Big! The captain looked at the first 4 divers in black wet suits and said, "you all look like seals, great!" Then directed them into the cage.

I took some pics and videos as the crew drew the shark in close to the cage with SpongeBob. The crew yells to the divers, "down, and to the left!". They duck under the water to see the shark and come up screaming as it swims towards the cage. This repeats for some time. Another shark joins us, and the next 4 divers go into the cage. The rope with the fish head is also used to draw in the shark until they grab the bait and snatch it off the line. At one point, a shark got hold of the bait, and the rope was stuck. The crew scrambled to cut the line while the shark struggled and slammed against the cage.

Time for the 3rd group of divers to go down. Ronny jumped right into the cage. His wet suit was too big for him, and the air inside prevented him from staying down in the cage. He waited for me while I unsuccessfully tried to pull goggles over my glasses. This did not work out well at all. While I was struggling with it, Ronny climbed back out and decided he didn't like being in the cage. I stayed with him, and we let Tabi and a few other students go down. The sharks were bored with us by then, and the last group spent a long time in the cage waiting, and freezing until they came back. This turned out to be the last dive. I'm not sorry I missed it. The view was great from the boat, and far less cold. The last 4 came out of the cage frozen.

Now, a rain storm is coming in. We all rush to get out of the suits while the boat readies to bring us closer to the seals. We circled the islands for a bit and had fantastic views of the seals blanketing them. Sat in the back of the boat for the ride to shore. This was far better than in the cabin. The ride back was ... grrr, lost Internet connection, and the rest of this blog entry! Something about a bumpy ride back I suppose, followed by a long bus ride home.