S. Africa Cage Dive Trip

While I was in Cape Town and Simon's Town there were water regulations set to help reduce the use of water since their reservoir was running low. Even at that time they were talking about bringing in desalination ships to help provide water for consumption. Since I have been back I have been keeping up with the water problems and how much worse they are now. Today I read an article   that really shows how bad that water issues have become. This is something that we, in America, take for granted and complain about if the water is shut off for whatever reason. We complain about being able to only water our lawns once a week in the summer. Yes, we talk about water conservation when the lakes a getting low and drought is getting us so that we have to maybe water once every other week but to think about only being able to use 12 gallons of water per person or get down to a little over six gallons per person is overwhelming. In looking at how much water we waste per day makes me feel a

It has been about 2 weeks since I've been back from my trip to S Africa. It has taken a while to process the trip and how amazing it was.  As I reflect on my trip I realize how much we take for granted here in the United States. For example, the water issues that they are having in Cape Town and the potential of having to use water that is processed in a desalination ship. How we just waste water on a regular basis. I have started to take shorter showers and rethink on days that I just want to take a bath and soak. Not to say that I will be giving that up but it does make me think how frequently I do it.  For safe drinking water they have to have filtered water and most restaurants don't offer water  and on the menu the water offered is a lot of times sparkling water or something like that. If you want tap water you have to ask for it (at least the restaurants do filter their water) and it usually has like a lemon in it  Even when you order a drink that isn't water such a

So the first day I got to meet Chris Fallows, my favorite shark photographer - and my inspiration for working on my own photography (esp water and nature) - I literally squealed like a girl at a boy band concert (it's how I image my friend Peeper when she sees NKTOB). He came over an gave me hug and as amazing as that was then we went out on the boat for our first dive Chris and his wife went with us. His wife, Monique, is even sweeter and such a caring person and was very compassionate in helping me deal with the embarrassment of throwing up due to seasickness. It made me feel so much better when she said she suffered seasickness for about two years when she started being out on the boat.  They did not go out with our second dive but we they did tell use they would try to see us when we went to Mossel Bay.             Once we were in Mossel Bay we learned that Chris and Monique would be there for a week and we were given a chance to go out on the boat with them  two

South African Pictures Part 1- South African Pictures Part 2 These pictures are a variety of pictures from my trip including my flight, hotels, lots of waves/ocean, animals. small video clips. Will be hopefully adding some from my GoPro - the best videos that I got I have uploaded already to the blog. Here is my YouTube video playlist from my GoPro that I have uploaded....

While I was in S. Africa one thing I noticed is that Cape Town and Simon's Town both had signs asking that everyone conserve water and be conscious of how they are using it. The Grosvenor Guest House, the bed and breakfast, where I stayed at in Simon's Town had a beautiful bathroom with a tub that was similar to a claw foot tub. When I first saw it I initially was so excited because I was planning on taking a long, hot, soaking bath after such a long flight from Texas to S. Africa. Besides the tub the rest of the bathroom was stunning and simple yet elegant. When I was getting ready to take a bath and settle in to my room & bed I went to set up the tub to soak I noticed a sign above the tub that asked that we not take bath because of how much water it wastes. It was then I noticed that between the sink and the shower was something like a five gallon bucket with a sign asking that you use the bucket to catch the water while the waiting for hot water.  There was also a sign

Sevengill Cow Shark