Our alarm rang at 5:30 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023) and we jumped out of bed, excited for what the day held! After getting dressed, Hunter called down to have our car brought up for us, we finished packing our bags, and away we went.
Today is an adventure and we are doing something we have never done before! Today, we are going SHARK CAGE DIVING with Apex Shark Expeditions! Hunter did a TON of research to find this fantastic group that does eco-friendly shark cage diving trips with a strong conservation message! This group is the first choice shark cage diving operator for National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and BBC. Their tours are limited to 2 per day with a maximum of 12 guests on each tour. They also cancel trips due to weather or if no sharks are nearby due to currents, fully refunding the trip if you cannot be rescheduled during your time in Cape Town. Before our trip today, they had not been out for 8 days due to weather and currents, so they too were excited to head out into the water.
Below is a compilation of our shark diving expedition! They say to save the best for last, but this experience is too great to make you wait on seeing everything! Make sure to click the gear icon on the bottom right of the screen and turn the quality up to the highest option!
Shark Cage Diving Experience with Apex Shark Expeditions!
The drive there took about 45 minutes, and we ended up being a bit early, but the views on the drive down made it so worth it! Hunter expertly navigated driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road... again (Australia was our first adventure with backwards driving). We took some amazing sunrise photos during the drive.
Once we arrived, we parked in the free lot at the Yacht Club and walked over to their office right on the pier. Hunter pointed out the massive navy ship and found out that it had four cannons on it! At 7am the office opened and we signed in. They usually offer coffee and tea, however, they couldn't offer any because of load shedding (rolling blackouts). Snacks and drinks were provided on the boat, so it wasn't too big of a deal. A total of 10 people were on our trip, most from Europe, however, one other was from Napa Valley, California. At 7:30 we headed out to the boat with our captain Ryan and secondhand Dana. Both were extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Once onboard we got our safety briefing, met the other two deckhands (who I, unfortunately, forget the names of), and were on our way.
The little harbor was right next to a major South African naval base
A warship of some sort
Shark bait!
Not 10 minutes into our ride and we are surprised with the most spectacular and beautiful pod of common dolphins. Common dolphins are much more pretty than the bottlenose dolphin we typically see and hear about back home. Honestly, my mind was totally blown at this point with how quick and easy it was to find wildlife. I was expecting it to take hours, from previous whale watching trips, but here it was almost instant and I had the biggest smile on my face.
Looking back at Simonstown
Dolphins!
Us enjoying the wind in our nano puffs
After watching the dolphins for quite some time, we kept sailing towards seal island, seeing some seals in the water before arriving as well. As we got closer, the air started to change and smelled quite fishy. It was very stinky, but wow there were so many seals! The captain was also telling us there was a penguin colony on the island too, but we didn't see any, unfortunately.
So many seals
Seal Island
Once we had our fill of sea lions, we then headed towards our anchor point to begin shark diving. Here they explained we would be seeing the bronze whaler sharks (also called copper sharks) from 1.5 to 3 meters in size. They split us into 3 groups, and Hunter, myself, and the lady from Napa were group number 3. We stood on the side of the boat watching them put the cage into the water and tie it to the side of the boat. They then started throwing fish into the water to try and attract the sharks. While they were doing this, the first group got ready, putting on their wet suits, face masks, and weight belts. The first group got into the cage and the action really picked up. The two other deckhands were using fish tied to a rope with a buoy to lure in the sharks towards the cage. They would then yell what side of the cage the sharks were coming at for you to hold your breath and submerge yourself to see them up close. The view from above was so amazing, Hunter and I couldn't wait until it was our turn and see what the underwater view held.
Fins!
Finally, our turn arrived and we suited up. We also put Hunter's phone into the waterproof case they had on board to try and take pictures. Honestly, it didn't work great and neither of us wanted to mess around with it, so we just enjoyed our views as is. I did manage to capture a video, although blurry. Being in the tight cage was quite interesting. It has a grab bar and a foot bar to help you submerge and stay in place, but I felt as though I was swinging around the whole time. You had to be careful where you put your hands and feet because the sharks occasionally would do an exploratory bite on the cage. Two separate times Hunter and I both instinctively pulled back when a shark was rushing the cage even though we were perfectly safe inside. You definitely had to watch your hands and feet though and keep them INSIDE the cage at all times. Looking into the eyes of the sharks was also super cool! These guys have cat-like eyes. It was a silver circle with a black slit and watching it move to watch us was pretty crazy. One of their fins came in the cage during a close pass and touched Hunter which was super cool although we were not supposed to intentionally touch the sharks. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime memory.
Getting ready!
Hunter was much faster into his wetsuit than me
While we were in the cage for nearly 30 minutes, it definitely felt like 5! We then got out of the cage and pulled off all of our gear. Coming out of the cage was quite funny as all the wet suit water came spilling out the boots. The crew was pretty amazed at how easy us 3 Americans got suited up and unsuited, and kept telling us "you guys must have done this before" even tho none of us had haha. Apparently, the Europeans had some struggles putting on the gear correctly and getting into and out of the cage.
Once we were out and they got the cage back onto the boat, we headed back towards shore which was only a 30-minute ride. On the way there one of the other passengers on the trip was telling me how everyone was amazed at how long we were holding our breaths and staying under the water. When I told Hunter he jokingly said that it seemed as if these people had never been in the water before. I have to say, I was worried initially when we watched the first two groups, as they were not really following the directions of when to look from the deckhands calling out which side the sharks were on. I thought maybe it was because the water was so cold it made it hard to breathe and I wouldn't be able to hold my breath long enough to enjoy watching the sharks swim past, but when we got in, the water felt like a perfect temperature thanks to the wet suit with booties and a hood. As we continue on our way back to land, one of the deckhands started yelling and came running into the cabin exclaiming there was a whale, a bryde's whale! As Ryan immediately slowed down the boat and we got up to the front, we saw it come up for air. I shockingly got a video of it and wow, it was amazing. There were actually 2 of them, however you can only really see the big one in my video. It was incredible to see a whale too. That makes our big animal count today 4 so far: the common dolphin, cape fur seal, bronze whaler, and bryde's whale.
A BIG fin sticking out of the water
As we got closer to shore, we came across an even larger pod of common dolphins and boy, was it just magical to experience them playing in the wake the boat made. They also had a few seals playing with them too, as they were rounding up fish, making a good meal the seals could get in on too. Hunter sat on the flybridge with one of the deckhands and talked about the decline in the local great white population. The scientific community mainly blames hunting by orcas but the local guides also felt over fishing of smaller prey species of sharks was to blame for their newfound rarity. The orcas only eat the great whites' livers and leave the rest of the sharks to waste. The deckhand explained that when we got out to seal island they pay special attention to looking for a species of shark called a 7 gill, these are commonly eaten by the great whites and if they see one they will sometimes put in the cage out there in hopes there are still great whites around. He said it had been almost a year since this had happened though. He also explained that the great whites they normally saw were 4-6 meters vs the 3-4 meter bronze whalers we had dived with, the largest great white he had personally seen was 5 meters but Chris, the owner of the tour company, had dived with 7-meter ones for the planet earth crew, which was filmed by our tour company with the BBC. Personally, the 3-4 meter sharks (12 feet) were plenty big for us and I did not really need to be in a cage with a shark crashing into it that was almost twice that size.
Happy dolphins cruising along effortlessly
Shark cloud!
The cloud looked like a shark, Hunter is a great artist!
Finally, we made it back to the pier, docked up, and headed back to the office to sign out. Hunter and I booked showers at the yacht club in advance since we knew we would feel kind of gross after being in the salt water. It definitely made me feel sticky and it was great to rinse off with fresh water. Unfortunately, Hunter didn't get to shower since his bathroom was being cleaned. He didn't mind much, however, but my hair was a disaster, so I was glad to have gotten to wash the salt off. Afterward, we then got lunch at the restaurant next door called the Salty Sea Dog. We both ordered the fish and chips and (calamari) strips combo, and when it arrived, we were blown away by the portion size! Thankfully I was extra hungry from being in the ocean, and I ate nearly the whole thing!
Ok, so maybe there are sea otters here?
Delicious lunch
Punny shirt
After enjoying our lunch, we stopped at a cute little toy museum near the parking lot we parked the car. It had a lot of American as well as European and South African trains for Hunter to enjoy. We then drove up to an overlook where we could see the entire little town of Simonsbay where we took some pictures, admired the beautiful view, and I took a little nap.
Cute old grandpa who ran the museum/shop
What a picturesque town
A cute old British couple took this for us
Our polo
Our next stop brought us to the famous Boulders Beach where a colony of African penguins lives! Hunter and I parked the car, stopped at the nearby shop for water, and then headed towards what we thought was the entrance to the park, but we found out there were two entrances, one for the beach and one for the boardwalk. We were going to walk the boardwalk, but as we started that way, we changed our minds as it was hot and we wanted to swim with the penguins, getting a better view than any boardwalk. I quickly went back to the car to grab my swimsuit and then we entered the beach! Thankfully, we had just enough cash on us as this entrance only accepted cash. Once inside, I changed into my swimsuit and we headed to the beach.
A compilation of our penguin adventure. Make sure to click the gear icon on the bottom right of the screen and turn the quality up to the highest option!
We had to climb on some of the granite boulders to get further into the beach. Finding penguins tucked into all sorts of nooks and crannies, we made our way. Unfortunately, I slipped and fell face-first into the ocean when I tried to navigate through some water over a slippery rock. I got up as quickly as I could, but the backpack made me top-heavy and unfortunately, it got quite wet. Thankfully, it was waterproof, but the outside pockets were not, and our newly purchased battery pack started to corrode from the saltwater. I too was slightly damaged... I hurt my toe pretty badly as well as a giant scrape on my thigh. I definitely started to feel frustrated and flustered at that moment. Thankfully the nearby penguins helped bring a smile back onto my face.
Once we finally found a spot and got settled, we got into the water. The two most picturesque penguins were sitting in the shade in a rock, and I hung out by them. I didn't fully enter the water, but Hunter did! We continued to explore the area, enjoying all the penguin friends. At one point I found either a big sucker fish or a baby shark hiding in a little pool of water. Hunter thinks it was a baby leopard shark which we had seen an adult of in the aquarium a few days ago. I didn't get any pictures of him, but it was super cool to see. There was also another interesting fish with him too that I did photograph. After enjoying the beach for a couple hours, we headed back out to the shops where I could get wifi for a work meeting. On the way out, we came across a dassie! The dassie is the only living member of its genus, Petromus, and family, Petromuridae. We had heard them on Table Mountain but not seen them and it was super cool to see one, they reminded Hunter of a supersized version of the pikas back home in Wyoming.
Us and the penguins!
Penguins make me smile
This was a chick who was not quite done molting into his adult feathers
Hunter got some great penguin portraits
The future generation of penguins being created...
Hunter was more used to being top heavy
Dassie
When we got back to the shop, I set up on a picnic table and Hunter had a nap in the car. My meeting was to discuss the A Centerpoint Sky Club design. It was a bit stressful of a meeting, but we're slowly getting there. It's interesting how I'm currently in the design process for two full Sky Club renovations and one restroom renovation, yet they are all so different regarding processes. Once it was done, Hunter and I headed back towards the hotel, enjoying the views on the drive. For sunset we decided to head up Signal Hill. It was definitely worth it as the views were stunning. Pictures don't do it justice! Hunter also played us a bunch of Imagine Dragons songs to have our own little concert as they were actually playing at the big Cape Town stadium, and Hunter wanted to go since tickets were super cheap, but our days activities didn't really allow for enough time to go. I think our day today was incredible and much better than rushing to go to a concert.
There was a penguin nest in the parking lot by the car
They were not kidding when they say to check under the car for penguins!
Driving back to Cape Town
Hunter decided to take us up Signal Hill again for sunset since traffic was bad going into the city, I think you will agree this was a better place to sit and wait for traffic to die down than in the streets below
Since we didn't have dinner, we decided to check out the room service menu when we got back. We ordered a bunch of food since it was well-priced. We definitely ordered more than we should have because we were hungry when ordering, but we were excited to try everything. Getting the food was quite the debacle. The food was supposed to arrive in 30 minutes, but the knock on the door came with unfortunate news. Apparently, the food spilled on the floor on the way to our room, so they were having to remake everything. At this point Hunter's blood sugar was low, so we requested they send up something with sugar while we waited since the food was going to take some time. We expected it to come quickly, but the new food actually arrived first. The lady who brought it took out the starters for us which were salt and pepper squid with chili lime seasoning, pickled vegetables, roasted garlic aioli, and tom yum soup with julienne vegetables, grilled prawn, seafood wontons. Both were fantastic. The tom yum soup had exceptional flavors which made sense since there is a large east Asian immigrant community here and the calamari is a local favorite owing to the rich waters off the coast.
As Hunter was getting his main dish out, the sugar item arrived at our door. I went to open it, and heard a crash, which was the food spilling out of the little warmer under the table... again... Hunter was very shaky from being low and had spilled it trying to get it out of the warming container, probably the same way the first person had. When the person bringing in our dessert came in, we showed him and he promptly got housekeeping to come clean it up for us. We didn't know if we would get a replacement, but we're fine either way as we had plenty of food now. While waiting for housekeeping, we checked out what sugar item we received. It was a creme brulee. Neither of us are really fond of creme brulee, but Hunter dug in since he needed sugar. He told me it was the best creme brulee he ever had. He saved a bite for me and WOW, I thought I hated creme brulee but this was a whole new dessert to me. I guess this whole time we just had poorly made creme brulee. Finally, an hour or so after this whole thing started, a 3rd main dish for Hunter arrived! This time we carefully placed it on the table. The mushrooms were delicious like everything else. After our rigmarole with dinner, we were exhausted and full. I worked a little bit more on tidying our room and writing our blog, but was quite tired, so decided it was bedtime. After such a busy long day, we definitely needed some rest. We were both asleep before we knew it.
The second pasta
My curry
Hunter's third pasta finally
Wednesday February 1, 2023
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