The folks at Marine Dymanics threatened to pick Dave Floyd and I up at 5 am but it was just a threat as they picked us up at 8:45 instead for a 2 hour drive to Gansbaii (pronounced hanes-bye) where we had our orientation and lunch before getting on the boat to Shark Alley. There we doned wet suits, face masks and booties and dropped into a cage attached to the boat. 10 of us were in the first drop and 9 in the second. Within 10 minutes we spotted our first Great White, a baby just 1.5 meters long (5 ft.). During the next 45 minutes we saw 4 more Whites between 3.5 - 4 meters long (11 - 13 feet), one long copper shark, and 2 huge stingrays. After we got out I got seasick (yuck) but it did not diminish the excitement of the afternoon! The drive to and from Gansbaii was truely a beautiful drive over mountains and through vineyards and coastline.
While Dave and I were shark diving, Katy and Lanny visited the botanical gardens and shopped, John, Mickey, Mary, Jack, Paul and Kathy walked to the Castle of Good Hope. This is the oldest building in SA, built by the Dutch Trading Company as a fort and trading post with many other uses through the years, even as a prison during Apartheid.
On their walk back they took in some markets and a children’s play ground where these grown-ups had some fun.
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