Water Water Everywhere

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Ello peeps,

Well as stated at the end of our last entry, seeing the Great Whites was the next thing we were about to do. Now this in itself was fair enough, however there were a few small details about this that caused us some problems:

The sharks are in the sea.
We needed a boat to get to sea.
The boat was very small.
The sea was very VERY rough.

Combine those things with images of Titanic, Jaws and Moby Dick and you get an idea of how our day was.
The morning was overcast as we started our 2 hour car journey down to Gansbaai at 5am - it didn't get any better. On arrival we were served some kind of green yogurt and rabbit food combination along with sweet bread and a boiled egg, needless to say our tummies weren't feeling the best before departing to mention nothing of Rik's bowels grumbling, but we'll get to that later.
We boarded our cruise liner (well thats what the brochure said) at 8am and set off into the shark infested waters and the first thing that struck us was that the sea wasn't as calm as it looked in the brochure or the promotional video either, 15 foot waves were the order of the day. After 20 minutes of sailing that would have tested a Royal Marine's stomach we reached our anchor point next to Shark Alley at Dyer Island - one of the most populated areas of Great Whites in the world. Without us getting chance to settle or even blink, the fish guts were flying through the air to attract the sharks, the cage was lowered and the nausea kicked in. Vik had already turned green within the minute and announced "I'm not going anywhere near that bloody cage". At this point Rik still had high hopes and was winning the battle against the sea sickness, but then nature struck with an evil sense of humour and as he was about to get into his wetsuit he felt a grumble. This wasn't just any grumble, this was a grumble on par with Krakatoa and it was coming from the bowel area. No problem thought Rik, I'll just nip into the small toilet on board - bad idea. As the rotting wooden door swung open a wall of stench assaulted the nostrils, a smell of what can only be described as day old sick and a previous occupant's generous bowel movements. Slamming the door shut he ran to the side of the boat to be greeted by the first great white of the day surfacing to take a chunk out of a juicy fish head.
Anyway I could go on with this graphic description but I'm sure you get the idea. Vik was calling Huey over the side of the boat for most of the time and Rik was stood in the door of the wheelhouse with crossed legs wondering if he should let his backside explode over the side of the boat or if that would scare the sharks away for everyone.
To cut a long story short, the shuttle boat was called and arrived and half the passengers had to jump from Boat to speedboat (over shark infested waters remember) in Poseidon Adventure like waves.
After getting back to shore it took Vik most of the day to dry out and the rest of the night as well for her stomach to calm down.
All in all, it was a real experience and at least we got to see the sharks in person (and Rik has the shark dive on Monday - without a cage - to look forward to).
Saturday was spent recovering and chilling out with a long walk and a nice meal at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.

Thats all for now, hope its raised a smile.

Rik and Vik.

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Comments

[Chris]

those pesky waves
sorry to hear that you wern't able to get into the cage but to be honest I'm surrpised they would let you in 15 foot waves that sound's too rough to be safe. hope vik's stomach has settled and that Rik's exploding bowel's have calmed down too Chris @ Urs

[Des]

sickness and diarrhoea
Hi guys, you seem to be having a wonderful time! At least it gave us a laugh. I can symphathise because I get seasick on a boating pond , and as for the other..... I once wrote an article entitled " bogs of the world ", as this is a subject with which I am quite familar. Some of the best ones included a toilet room in a bar in Costa Rica (where you did it down a drain in the floor); cubicles in a Mexican airport (where the gap beneath the partition was big enough for a midget to walk under without bending); and of course Japanese squatting toilets (which require 6 weeks of leg-strengthening exercises prior to use). Just think: you have all this to look forward to in your round the world trip! Look forward to your next instalment. Des

[Auntie Linda]

Sharks and shit!
You sound like you're really enjoying yourselves, hope you took plenty of toilet paper and travel sick tablets with you! Keep the journal going it'll make a good book!