S. Africa Cage Dive Trip

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

So even though this isn't a full picture of the great white breaching but I did get to see the full thing in real life. It was the most spectacular and amazing thing to witness. You can see the extra push of water coming from the shark. This is something they do when they atrack cape cur seals from below. It is truly breathtaking and happens soooo quickly! Seeing this on the biat qith Chris and Monique and hearing their excitement of getting the shot with their cameras was something the was so exhilarating down to my core. How many people get to witness such and amazing thing with their favorite shark photographer?

This was seen on a morning when we got to go out on the boat in Mossel Bay with Chris and Monique Fallows. It was our 2nd day in Mossel Bay with them for a morning predation trip so they could get some pictures. 1st day we didnt get lucky BUT 2 day was amazing with a full breach and a partial breach.

So on my last day in S. Africa we had the privilege of meeting with marine biologist Alison Towner at Marine Dynamics   who presented, Predator vs Predator , a presentation on the attacks of orca (killer) whales on great white sharks in the Gansbaai area (The peak season for seeing great whites is about March to September). This was a very unique and interesting presentation because this is a problem that has been seen in places such as the Farallon Islands but not in the False Bay area. This has really hurt & affected the great whites in the area and is something that researchers are now looking into. The researchers use the dorsal fins of sharks to identify them because they are like fingerprints - unique to each animal. Sharks, like many animals, release a death hormone when they are killed and this plays a big part in the disappearance of sharks after an attack. Great whites became a protected species in S. Africa in 1991 and so when a great white washes ashore dead for any r

I can be seen around the 4 minute mark - I'm the one wearing a pink mask. That is when my group went into the cage. We got to spend a long time watching the sharks. This video shows the entire group that went on the dive that day, including my group from Apex Sharks. This video obviously doesn't show the entire 3-4 hr trip but there was a lot of activity this day with the sharks and we had some really cool "encounters" that didn't make it to the video. *I still need to sort through my GoPro videos and post videos from my perspective and what I saw*

This is one of the cage diving companies that was part of The Great White Trail Expedition. I will be uploading a video of my cage dive soon. White Shark Africa  (click to see video)

So today we did our 7th cage dive and it was probably one of the best out of all of them. We had a total of 15-18 different sharks around the cage at various times and they all  have their own unique personalities. Some came in just for a look and didn't really go after the tuna head but there were a couple that were very interested and wanted the tuna head desperately. They came up to the cage and even tried to taste the cage in front of a couple of friends. It was amazing to see even from where I was in thr cage BUT my favorite was one when another shark actually swiped it's pectoral fin and tail against the cage in front of me. I really was tempted to touch it and DIDN'T because my love and respect from these animals has grown even more. Not only that but then the shark that bit the cage before we got out swam directly in front of my and we made eye contact. Her swimming was so delibrate,  slow, and stunning beyond words. I wasn't able to get that on my go-pro becau

We had a couple of Sub-Antartic Skuas flying next ro our boat this morning.  They are so powerful and beautiful. These guys were checking us out and hoping for fish handouts. They got a couple but had to work for it. One thing I learned is that these birds have pouches on the inside of their neck where they store food instead of eating it all at once. The pouches turn the food into a puree that they eat later on. They do this because these birds spend long hours and days over the ocean.

This morning (Aug 22) our Great White Expedition group met up with Chris amd Monique Fallows - the leaders of Apex Predators and favorite shark photographer (well Chris is), in Mossel Bay, to leatn about some predatation and breaching. We were able to watch the use of seal decoys after some time around Mossel Bays Seal Island. It was awesome to watch them work together and how much patience is needed to get a photograph you are proud of or sometimes even just one.

White Rhinoceros, Cape Zebra, Lion

Video Update  (click to see video)

Video Update during boat ride back to shore  (click to see video)

         So today was definitely not one of my better days as far as making a good impression. I was so excited this morning to get to meet Chris and Monique Fallows this morning and I even got a hug from Chris which made my morning. We walk out to the Apex Predators boat to go out to seal island and on the way there I was fine and enjoying the ride. However, once we dropped anchor and I could feel the boat rolling underneath me I was fighting to keep down my breakfast - which already wasn't much. This is despite the fact that I took Dramamine last night and this about an hr and half this morning before going on the boat like instructed. All the staff from Apex were amazing but Monique topped the cake. She seemed to know that I was fighting sea sickness and actually told me to just let it out and that I would feel better. So I walked over to the edge of the boat, leaned over, and up came my breakfast. She was such a doll she had tissues and a glass of (purified) water for me and to

First Day Overview  (click to see video)

Everyone keeps asking me what I will be doing so this post will be the itinerary that has been sent to my from Apex Sharks Expedition. As you can tell I will be spending a lot of time on the water learning about sharks. The great thing is that our time out on the water will be in the morning and I will have afternoons to do some additional activities and exploring. This is, of course, subject to change depending on weather - it's their winter. I am super thrilled about learning about the sharks, their habits, how to identify them, and learning what we can do to help protect them but I will also be in such a diverse area that I will have some opportunities to do other things and see even more wildlife. My flights are extremely long. Going to Cape Town will take about 25 hours and then coming home it will take about 28 hours. Even though I have some really cool layovers they are only about 2 hours each and so I won't get to explore some of Amsterdam or Paris. Day 1: 16 Aug