Blogs from Gansbaai, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa

I am now sitting outside, looking at and listening to the ocean. It is 5 pm, it's warm, the wind is light and I am drinking milk tea in the sun, wondering if I am dreaming or if this is real. It doesn't matter anyway, it's just great. Last time I wrote I had just arrived in Strand. This is where I found my first used book store in SA (for those who don't know me, outside of eating, visiting used book stores is one of my favourite thing to do when I travel). I was of course beside myself. Too bad I can't buy any books at the moment. Don"t feel like taking them with me. My Warmshowers hosts took me out for supper in a sushi shop: very cool, here they have sushi carrousels, ... read more

both of us survived shark cage with all limbs and digits! Very close encounters with 10 ft plus sharks. Frigid water and adrenaline surge is good cardiac stress test. Many pictures on video and under water camera that i will not be able to download until home. 5 hour drive afterwards- tired now. Will get dinner and then bed. Sent from my iPad... read more

Our Christmas holiday and time in Gansbaai was mainly spent with family, which was wonderful. It was windy most days, except one exceptionally hot day and a couple of mildly windy days. Typical strong cape wind that can last for a good few days, without stopping at all - that is why most trees in the cape don't grow upright. There was a severe fire just above Hermanus that caused some major destruction in its path and with the wind blowing constantly, it flared up near Gansbaai as well. It's always a scary sight and so difficult to control when there is so much wind. Fire-fighters had a difficult task to control the fire. Paul managed to go fishing on two occasions, the catch was small but plentiful, with our brother-in-law very skilfully cleaning and filleting ... read more

For once I am blogging in the present and not past blogs! It's December and the festive season is upon us. It is time for Christmas holidays and we are going to visit family and friends and spend some time in Gansbaai, territory of the Great White Shark. And NO, I am not going diving with them! First of all, I am a fair weather diver, so I won't be putting my foot in that cold water, let alone a limb or two that could become a tasty morsel for the shark. But you can dive in a cage, you will say. My reply: those cages look far too flimsy for me and I am not a fan of chumming to attract the sharks. (I must confess I do my own chumming, but that's another story....) ... read more

Well what can I say.......... Shark cage diving was an experience that we will definately never ever forget. It was epic! The day started off pretty calmly, we had the most incredible weather which is really lucky considering how terrible the weather has been in Cape town this last week. We were picked up about 9:00am and started the 2 hour drive out to Gansbaai which would have been fine except none of the 13 people on a 12 seater bus realised the diving was two hours away. Lets just say we all got to know each other extremely well in that 2 hours. Needless to say the drive was amazing, absolutely beautiful. It was quite surreal for me to be driving through towns like Somerset West and Hermanus which I have memories of, but are ... read more