Only one - but a big one!!!

So today was our first proper day of volunteering on the White Shark Project (WSP). We had start work at 6am, getting everything ready to take on the boat - wetsuits, booties, bait, lifejackets, food and drink for the clients (and us!). We loaded it onto the boat and then went for breakfast before meeting at the WSP Lodge to help the clients get into their lifejackets and take them to the boat.

We headed out to sea and watched how they anchored up side-on to the swell and the current. Claudia then showed me the forms we have to fill in with various bits of information on the site we were anchored at while the others sorted the clients out with wetsuits. And then we waited.....and waited......and waited......but no sharks appeared :-( Another boat nearby had seen a shark and was leaving to head to a nearby island (Dyers Island) so we uped anchor and headed to that site.

We put the cage into the water and waited.....and waited......and waited.....but the shark didn't appear :-( The wind started to pick up and the swell was getting bigger to so we decided to call it a day. We started to get the cage out of the water and THE SHARK APPEARED!!! And he was HUGE! He was 3-3.5m long and had hung about for about 20 mins. Claudia had shown me the other forms we have to fill in with information about the sharks we see and their behaviour and I was busy filling that in!

We evetually headed back to shore and once the clients were off the boat, we unloaded the boat and Claudia and I helped wash the boat down. By this time, it had also started raining so we were getting quite wet but it was good fun!

This afternoon, we went shopping for food and then had 2 lectures about Great White Shark biology and behaviour from Adrian, the resident marine biologist. It was really interesting and I know lots about Great Whites now!

I cooked dinner tonight (Spaghetti Bolognese) and we are all now tapping away at our computers!! The guys here are really good fun and I'm already having a very good time!