More sharks, more steps and lots of wine!

Well I'm back home now :o( and thought I'd better finish off my blog before I forgot what I'd done with myself! So here we go...


Friday 2nd July: Last night after I left the internet cafe I headed for the Rectory Lane steps - very pretty, bloody dangerous and still went the wrong way!! Nice views from the top, reminded me of Clovelli in Devon (now you'll understand the kind of hill I had to walk up - and down, and then up again as I took the wrong turning!). I think this was the same direction the mumbling tramp pointed me to on my first night here, so I'm glad I didn't follow his grubby little index finger in the pitch dark... Had to shed about twenty layers of clothing as I climbed up the hill so might've burned off all the extra calories I've taken on since eating all the red meat! Somehow I managed to find my way to the apartment again though so I'm getting my bearings at least. Richard had fixed the TV when I got back (apparently I'd overloaded one of the sockets upstairs in my bedroom by plugging in a radiator - just to ease the pain of getting up at 6am for 5 days on the trot), so he gave me a tour of the fuse box and everything was fine. I stayed in and cooked some tinned stuff on toast and watched TV - because I could.

Anyway, back to Friday. A double-whammy today as I went out on the boat this morning and then did a trip in the afternoon. Monique, Chris's wife, came out on the trip today. Saw some huge great whites breaching in the morning and a pretty gruesome kill - it was a bit early in the day to watch the gulls swooping down to the slick and picking off the entrails... and the smell wasn't the best! Decided to go in the cage again today and went in last again (as I couldn't make my mind up) with a couple of the boys, both of whom had bloody great underwater cameras so it was a tad crowded in there. Saw some fantastic sharks though and they were swimming around for ages. The boys must've got some great shots of them (and of my backside, thanks!). But the funniest part of the day (and I'm chuckling as I'm typing this!) had to be when I was standing on the top deck with Sandra, a Swedish girl who reminded me of KT Tunstall (so much so that she could've actually been KT Tunstall and using a false name) and who'd also been on a couple of trips this week. We were leaning over the edge, shark spotting and watching the group in the cage, when I heard a sharp intake of breath and "That's disgusting!" from Sandra. Then I noticed a poo (had to be human, not shark!) floating by and heading straight for the cage... the look on Monique's face was so funny as she was throwing out the decoy seal and trying to avoid it - or swoosh it away from the boat! The trouble is, I'd been to the loo on the boat about 20 mins before that and I know everyone heard me asking one of the crew how to operate the pump, so I was hoping they didn't think it was mine, hahahahaaaaaaa (it wasn't by he way)! Anyway, Sandra & I couldn't stop giggling and became transfixed by it floating towards the boys in the cage. And at this point Chris looked up and shouted out to me "You going in the cage Sally?" and when I hesitated I think he thought I was scared of the sharks... but I went in and didn't get a close-up, thank god (of the poo) and the sharks took my mind off it! I'm just wondering whether the boys in the cage got a shot of it on their cameras!

There wasn't room for me to dive in the afternoon as it was an extra trip for me, but I was quite happy spotting from the top deck and we had a couple of sharks breaching on the decoy again - a bit of a rarity in the afternoon. Then when we sailed back to the harbour we got caught up with the Cape cormorants flying back in their thousands to the island, an amazing sight and sound. I almost fell asleep on the way back, so decided to pop into Bertha's to catch the rest of the Brazil v Netherlands game over a glass (or two) of waaaaahhhhhht waaaaaaahhhhhhhne. Arranged to meet Poenas, the skipper, in there after he'd sorted (technical nautical term) the boat then went to The Captain's Table (above the bar where I'd got stranded the other night) with Chanty, another crew member. Had a lovely steak - again, but drank a fair bit and I'd already had a head start on the others so felt a bit dodge on the way home. Don't actually remember going to bed... and was booked on another shark trip at 7am!


Saturday 3rd July: Funnily enough I struggled to get up this morning (and without the aid of my radiator too, thanks Richard!), but somehow made it out on the boat. Think Chanty was a bit delicate too, but she covered it well. Felt quite sad that it was my last trip and the minute we reached Seal Island a thick blanket of fog fell over us and I completely lost my bearings (I've just proof-read this and I'd missed the 'b' off bearings, hahahahaaaaaa! My earrings are still intact!). We still managed to see 4 sharks breaching on the seal decoys off the back of the boat though, and it was amazing - the last one really made me jump. I'd been trying to get a picture and was poised with my camera each time, but they made me jump every single time and I ended up with a frame full of foggy sky! I'll just use Chris's! I was too cold to go in the cage today - the thought of stripping off (to my cossie) and putting on a damp wetsuit scared me off, and it seemed to be a bit quiet for sharks around the boat today. Still managed to eat an apple or two on the top deck anyway and got a cracking view from up there again - once the fog had cleared.