Amazing Shark Weekend!!

Well, what can I say!!! What a GREAT weekend of shark encounters!! There were two boat trips planned yesterday and we only had 13 clients on the morning trip. We went out to Dyers Island again and anchored up. There was a small swell but it was a pleasant morning. I was on data collection duty and almost immediately, the sharks started coming to the boat! the bait line at the same time – AMAZING!! As we had so few clients and the shark action was so good, they let us volunteers get kitted up and into the cage – OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was one of the most incredible things I have every done! The sharks were really playing ball and were coming really close to the cage. We even had one shark which bit the cage – FANTASTIC!!!

Unfortunately, I had a migraine yesterday afternoon so I had to go to bed and that was me down and out for the rest of the day. Yesterday evening, Edwin, one of the owners of the White Shark Project, invited us to his place for dinner, just above the lodge. I went there for about 30 mins to be sociable but the other volunteers had a good evening. He does this regularly and tells the new volunteers that he is cooking baboon which he had to shoot by bow and arrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning, I felt as right as rain and we had another 2 trips planned. The first trip out was great, with 6 active sharks. I was data collecting again. We also had a French guy on the boat who spoke no English and I was the only one who could speak any French so I had to explain everything to him! He is here for 4 days so I’ll be practicing my French again tomorrow.

At the end of today’s trip, one of the clients witnessed a predation, where a shark caught and ate a seal! Unfortunately, the rest of us only heard the splash and saw the blood on the surface but hopefully, we’ll see another one soon!!

The sharks were not so co-operative this afternoon. We saw a few but they weren’t really going for the bait and so not really getting very close to the cage. But all the clients saw one shark at least so they left happy :-)