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Like a fish out of water - South Africa Holidays

An old school friend, Lisa, decided to comecreatures. Humans luckily are not on their
to Cape Town and visit me for a week duringlist  of  favourite  delicacies.
which she wanted to go shark cage diving.
Even though I've been living in Cape Town forWe went to Gansbaai, an area infamous for
four years, I never got around to doing it,great shark cage diving experiences, for our
so when she told me that she was going to, Iexpedition. At first the guides gave us a run
reckoned  now  was  the  perfect  time.through of the safety precautions we needed
to observe whilst diving and getting us
But  first  things  firstgeared up for action while a large amount of
chum was thrown in to attract the Great
Our accommodation for the next week was theWhite. The more excited Lisa got, the more
Windsor Hotel in Hermanus. The timing wasnervous I felt, but eventually we got into
perfect because it was September: the whalethe protective cage and were lowered in
season, during which the Southern Rightdeeper to view the underwater spectacle. The
Whales come to this area to breed and giveadrenaline rush you get from this kind of
birth. It is for this reason that the area isexperience is unmatched. The Great White is
called  The  Whale  Route.massive, measuring on average 4m in length!
Its movements are extremely quick and its
Windsor Hotel is located on the edge of asenses sharp. I had to fight against my
cliff overlooking panoramic views of theinstincts to try and not close my eyes when
Indian Ocean and the Overberg mountains. Ourof the large robust conical-shaped predators
rooms had all the amenities we needed and thecame straight towards the cage and bumped
best thing of all was that I was able tointo it. It's one of those moments where you
enjoy my first cup of coffee in the morningsee what you are made of, because even though
in the comfort of my own room overlooking theyou are in a protective cage, you still know
ocean.exactly who is in control. I felt like a fish
out of water in the cage, but extremely proud
On one such morning we had the privileged toof myself for having the courage to do it.
witness the whales at play, doing theirLisa had a waterproof camera and was taking
seductive dance for each other in the bayphotos to add to her collection of underwater
overlooked directly by the hotel. Southernexperiences. For someone who has never dived
Right Whales are rightly called as such duebefore, I thought it was pretty impressive
to the practice of identifying them as thethat my first dive should be right in the
"right" whale to hunt because they are richmiddle  of  these  majestic  predators.
in oil and floated in the water after being
killed. This made them the number one targetWhen we got back onto the boat eventually,
on whale hunters' lists. After witnessingthey had a picnic lunch prepared for us while
this display, I could hardly comprehend why,we viewed the seal colonies along the way
even if for money, someone would want to killback to Gansbaai harbour. By this time our
such a beautiful creature. It was marvellousnerves had settled a bit, but the adrenaline
to watch this slow-moving whale in itsrush was still pumping through my veins. Even
natural habitat, living a carefree life whereif you are not one for any kind of water
all those who travelled along the whale routeactivities, I would insist to anybody who
and experienced the playful creatures wasasked that they experience the rush of a
made  in  awe  of  its  existence.Great  White  Shark  Cage  dive.
Not  for  the  lily-liveredHermanus  Whale  Festival
The night before our expedition to go sharkJust before our week's stay was over we
cage diving was a restless one. Lisa wasexperienced some great fun at South Africa's
giving me some tips for when we were going toonly Enviro-Arts festivals. There were craft
dive. I had never dived before, while Lisamarkets, local cuisine and wine. The whole
has been diving for the last four years. Totown was celebrating the return of the
be honest, I wasn't really all that worriedwhales, standing along the cliffs overlooking
about the diving, but rather about comingthe bay where the whales were prancing for
face-to-face with one of the world's biggesteach other. It was the perfect ending to a
predators. The Great White Shark deserves sogreat week. Hermanus was as always: beautiful
much respect because not only is it theand this was for both Lisa and myself, one of
largest predator fish on the planet, but alsothe best South African holidays we had, even
the most vicious when hunting for other seaif it was just for a week.



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