SHARK!

I'm back in the Italian restaurant/internet cafe-type place with the Gypsy Kings on in the background and a South African man sitting behind me trying to sing along to Volare (and not making a very good job of it - and I'm dying to turn round and see what he looks like...). So let me fill you in on the last couple of days...


Wednesday 30th June: Well, I had an interesting evening in Simon's Town last night... After I left the internet 'cafe' (restaurant) I realised it was dark outside and I didn't have a clue (or a map) how to get home to my apartment. I tried calling Georgie who'd dropped me into town, but she wasn't answering so I assumed she didn't work after dark. The local Information desk was closed, so I asked at a local restaurant - the waitress was so helpful and tried to order me a taxi with 2 different companies, both of which weren't working on a Tuesday... When I'd checked into the apartment, Richard the owner showed me some steps which start from the top of the apartment road and would take me straight down the hill into town. The trouble is, I couldn't work out where they started - and it was dark! Plus the fact that there are about 4 or 5 sets of steps going up the hill, but none of them known by the same name as the ones coming down the hill. And all of them in pitch darkness. A tad awkward and even though everyone said it would be safe to walk, I think it was myself I didn't trust in the circumstances (being a bit on the clumsy side). So I spent about half an hour wandering past the bottom of the different steps deciding which one to pick, until I stumbled (almost literally) across a tramp sitting at the bottom of Rectory Lane. I thought I'd ask if he knew the way and with that he pointed up the hill and muttered something incomprehensible, at which point I decided to walk in the opposite direction. Further up the road I stumbled (again - see, clumsy) across a pub so I wandered in and asked the barman if he knew of any taxis - but he gave me the same numbers as the waitress, so apparently there are only two taxis (and Georgie) in Simon's Town and neither of them work on a Wednesday. Obviously not a hotbed of action around here. Anyway, whilst in the pub telling the barman, Alan, of my dilemma, I got chatting to a couple of old american sailors ("oh hello" I hear you thinking, but they were OLD, had lots of facial hair and were smoking the biggest fattest cigars I've ever seen! Now I know all the nice girls love a sailor, but you wouldn't go there, believe me). Anyway, they told me they had copious amounts of Rand that they had to spend before leaving town tomorrow so they offered to buy me a drink. I was just waiting to hear if Alan the barman had found a taxi for me and the minute he said "20 minutes" a large glass of white wine arrived in front of me - what a service. My mum just happened to call me whilst in the middle of my dilemma (with getting home, not with the sailors) so I had a quick chat and checked in, making sure she knew I was safe (except I wasn't really sure if I was at that point!). Watched a bit of the Spain v Portugal game, had another glass of wine as the driver hadn't shown up and had a good chat with Gary and Peter, the sailors - Peter reminded me a bit of Richard Dreyfuss's character in Jaws, which I thought was quite fitting in the circumstances. Anyway, the taxi never showed up, so Alan asked Adam, the local elecrician (apparently there's only one of those here as well) to drive me home. So he did! He didn't want any money, so I said I'd buy him a drink when I see him next... bless him. So eventually I made it home - about 2 hours after I'd intended to get there - and I never did find those bloody steps!


Anyway, back to Wednesday... I'd set my alarm on my phone for 6.10am to make sure I had enough time to get everything sorted for my shark trip, but strangely enough I was woken up by a knock on my bedroom door around the same time. Unbelievable the service you get from Vodafone these days isn't it! I was a bit baffled, then realised Richard from next door had let himself in to give me a wake up call, hahahahaaaaa! He was giving me a lift to the harbour for the shark trip so he wanted to make sure I was up. I did wonder where I was for a minute though... so I met all the crew at the harbour and we set off at 7am for Seal Island in False Bay, where the great whites hunt the seals. I sat at the top of the boat, almost froze to death, but it meant I had the best view and, lo and behold, I spotted the first shark - HURRAAHAHHHHHH! I just caught its tail going into the water, but it then flew clean out again and breached right in front of us - and everyone saw it as I'd shouted "SHARK AT 11 O'CLOCK!" (like a true pro), which is what we were told to do. Unbelievable. Then we towed a decoy seal about 8m behind the boat and were told to keep our eyes on it. And we saw a great white jump clean out of the water with the decoy in its mouth - it only lasted about a second, but seemed like slow-motion. It was fantastic, exactly what I'd come here to see. I was debating whether or not to go into the cage, only because it was so bloody cold! - but I went in last with Vince, the only other English person on board and a Crewe Alexandra fan (the first one I've ever met). Once I'd got my wetsuit on - about 20 mins and lots of pulling later - we jumped in and shared the cage. The crew on the boat would shout out when to duck under the water (holding our breath rather than using a snorkel) and which direction the shark was coming from and we ended up seeing about 2 or 3 different sharks and some amazing sights. The most memorable was a huge female shark, about 3.5m long, who cruised past the cage a number of times, looking straight at us. She approached us head-on a few times as well and I had to keep stepping back in the cage as it looked like she wouldn't stop! A great first trip - can't wait for the next 4... After we'd got back to the harbour I popped into the shark shop for a hot chocolate with Renee. I decided to stay put in Simon's Town 'til the end of my trip, rather than go back up to Cape Town. Mainly because I can't be bothered to pack and unpack again and it will save me some money. The apartment is so nice I'd be silly not to stay on, and I'm on a mission to find the missing steps before I leave town. I went for a bite to eat at the Meeting Place cafe and wrote a few postcards for the old folk at home who don't have computers! Then I decided to head back home whilst it was still daylight. I decided on the Alfred Street steps, which ended up being about 200-strong and at an incline similar to the Droveway in Hove. They weren't the right steps, but I somehow made it home to the apartment. I'll try a different set tomorrow... Managed to blow a fuse in the apartment last night and typical that it was the one connected to the TV so I had an entertainment-less evening and ended up falling asleep on the sofa at 9.30am whilst reading my FourFourTwo. A long day, but a fab one!

Thursday 1st July: Where did June go? Got up at 6.10am again (although it was my phone waking me up rather than Richard's knocking this morning). Felt a bit sicky on the boat today, so decided against going in the cage and stayed up on the top of the boat spotting instead. And what a day of spotting - saw 9 different sharks today, including Cruella, who's notorious in these parts as she's got attitude. Took some great pics - well I think I did, but it was too bright to see them on the boat. Once I've worked out how to upload them to my blog I'll stick them on for all to see. Had a chat with a few of the crew who all know their stuff so it was really interesting listening to all their stories. So a different day to yesterday, but another fantastic one - even though I missed the shark breaching by the boat this morning! And now I'm back in the internet cafe/restaurant, swaying and wondering if people can see that I'm swaying. Right, I've got another set of steps to find... I'll keep you posted.