Baby, there's a Shark in the Water

Last weekend I checked off two of the last items on my South Africa bucket list--the first was Shark cage diving! And yes, it was as thrilling as it sounds. We booked the dive through a local hostel and got a great deal with transportation included. They picked us up at 5am, and it was a two hour drive to Gansbaai, a tiny little town situated on the coast just past Hermanus. From what we saw of the town, there was not much going on besides shark diving and whale watching. We gathered in the offices of Ecoventures, the company we went with, and had a light breakfast. After another short drive to the water, we piled in the boat and we were off! It was a fifteen minute ride out to Dire Island, a small rocky land mass inhabited by 30,000 seals. This, according to our rugged shark diving guide Richard, is the reason for all the sharks. They love to eat seals! Also, the place where our boat was anchored was smack dab in the middle of shark alley, which is where the majority of "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel is filmed. By the time we had anchored, I was already soaking wet and shivering from getting sprayed during the boat ride--it was overcast and not the warmest day we've seen here. We got changed into wetsuits, which between the waves rocking the boat and the minimal space (25 people total) was not an easy feat. The crew then started chumming the water by throwing out large fisheads attached to ropes with buoys on the ends, and it was time to get in the cage! I was in the first group to go. Five of us hopped in the freezing cold water, and we were given weight belts that hung over our right shoulder across our bodies to help us stay down. Then, we waited...and waited...and waited. We were probably only waiting for ten minutes, but in that water it felt like an eternity. Then all of a sudden Richard yells "down right! down right!!" and I take a deep breath and dive under the water, only to be looking at a real live great white shark. All I was thinking was "HOLY CRAP! IT'S A SHARK!" And that inital excitement never went away. After the first shark appeared, they didn't stop coming for the four hours we were on the boat. We saw seven sharks in all, ranging in size from 2 to 3.5 meters. They were all great white's. I was in the cage twice, but even the views from the top deck were incredible--sometimes it was even better to be out of the water because you could see them come up out of the water to grab the chum. Overall, despite the cold water and lack of sunshine, it was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life, and I would do it again in a hearbeat. Who knows, maybe next time it will be without a cage!

Then again, mabye not...

Our trusty sea vessel

In the cage--it's hard to smile in those masks!

That same weekend, two other girls and I spent Saturday night in a backpackers in Simon'sTown, the same town where Boulder's Beach is with the penguins. What we thought would be a crazy night away from home actually turned out to be kind of a wash--apparently Simon's Town is an "old people" town and shuts down very early, according to everyone we talked to. We made the best of it though, we found the one bar still open at 9pm where a big rugby game was playing and drank some beer with the local Stormer's fans. The next morning we rented bikes from our hostel and biked down the coast as far as Muizenberg beach. It was a hot day and a long bike ride, but probably the best view I've had on a bike ride since we were right on the water. I've been wanting to do a bike ride for weeks now, so I had a great time and was happy to be away from the house for the day. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the weekend because I forgot my camera, but my friend Katie took a bunch that I will get ahold of eventually.

Monday morning as we were leaving for shark diving, Katie checked her Blackberry and read the news about the death of Osama bin Laden. In my sleepy, coffee deprived state, surrounded by the silence of four of my roomates, my reaction was a subtle, "oh...wow." It wasn't mentioned again that day, and it wasn't until I was performing my usual online U.S. news-browsing session the next day that I began to realize how much of an impact the news was making back in the states. Though I understand the significance of the death of such an infamous and contemptible figure, I was shocked and somewhat horrified to hear about the reactions of many Americans, especially those of my college-going peers. This past week, I have recieved comments from almost every non-American I have encountered related to this news, some of them less subtle than others. It has been extremely interesting to experience this major event from another country. It has made me realize how many people don't appreciate, well...America. I am not saying all this to be Anti-American, but I do think that people might need to take a second look at this piece of news and really ask themselves, "why am I so excited about this?" I think for many people my age, the death of Osama bin Laden has marked a turning point not just in American history, but in their lives. Our young-adulthoods have been marked by the dark cloud of terrorism following us into classrooms and through airports, and maybe some of us think that the end of Osama means the end of this era of war. I understand how important this event is both to our country and to everyone affected by the 9/11 attacks, but I am still failing to see how the death of one human being is cause for celebration.

On a completely different note; as yesterday was mother's day. I want to give a big shout out to my own beautiful mother, Jill, as well as all the other "moms" in my life who have supported and encouraged me over the years. To all my fabulous Aunties; Lynn, Jo, Sue, Julia, Nancy, to my cousins Gina and Jenn (who have both recently become mommies to little ones who I sadly still haven't met), to my Mom's Mom; Grandma Herrigel, who is no longer with us but whose spirit still shines through my own mom, and finally to my Noni; Pat Owen, who has unfailingly loved and cared for me, and who constantly inspires me with her enduring faith and unyielding love for her family. To all the Mother's out there,thank you for making me who I am--I couldn't have done it without you.