CatchUp

Last Week

Thursday, Friday was more of the same on project - what stood out for me was the planning session on Friday. You might think 'planning' - how boring. But it was really good!

We have a challenging group of teenagers at our Home From Home project: The orgnaisation was set up in 2001 during a time when these children were orphaned from HIV/AIDS and needed a foster home. It has grown and grown with the children since then, and now we have our first teenagers in the OVC (orphaned and vulnerable children) project which is a totally new dynamic. Games and activities which we have played with them in the past are childish now, they require fresh, current themes and activities to keep them engaged; but also with a focus on improving their levels of English. With this in mind we had a Lion House brainstorming session which produced a load of amazing ideas:

• Talent show theme: to given them a project they will want to return to every week, as the session we run are optional classes. It will also help them stay focused and give some consistency to activities that various volunteers will facilitate.
• Talents / Characteristics name acrostic which they can present at the end of the day. For example: Zealous Active Kind for my own name. Feedback from that day was very positive with the kids being a little shy but also proud of their talents and themselves which is great.
• English lessons using music: the kids love music and dancing no matter what age, so creating a fill in the gaps activity with song lyrics should be perfect! It will be completely new to the group and they won't even realise how good it is for their English - listening, reading and writing all in one! We HAD to use this one right away - so we created a fill the gaps exercise for the song 'One Dance' by Drake and they enjoyed it so much they asked to do it again next week! Well done team!
• Other ideas for future weeks include - a performance, writing a letter to a local celebrity in order to persuade them to put you in their talent show, and also making themselves a 'hollywood celebrity star' as a certificate at the end of the project. 

I was so excited at the time to use them this week, and I'm so pleased they have gone down so well. The kids loved it and it really shows - volunteers have come back so positive and I think the talent show theme is going to be a fantastic project for them and give them a real confidence boost.

Last Weekend

On Saturday a group of us visited the Old Biscuit Mill - an old building transformed into a bustling international food market! It was incredible! The noise, the smells, the colours.. You don't have enough time or stomach space to try everything! Which is why we're planning to go again this weekend..! Annika managed to find a Flammkuchen kiosk ran by an elderly lesbian couple from Frankfurt who even offered her a job! They sold traditional Flammkuchen (thin, crispy dough with creme fresh, onions, bacon and spinach) as well as the best citrus ice tea I have ever tasted! I also got to savor wonderful green tea and delightful Belgian waffles too.

Afterwards we wandered the craft, furniture and fashion stalls ajecent to the complex and I bought yet more souvenirs.. Everything is just so beautiful here, I wonder if I will be able to fit it all in my bag for the return journey..

Love to all my family - more blogs on the way I promise! xx 

What's My New Gig Like?

In short.. It is amazing! I almost forgot how much I love being out on project! It was so nice to get back to work and I've had a great start to the week.

Monday

First day as a staff member and I was thrown right in. I received a call mid way to project from my boss, telling me that my project has moved location and that I have to coordinate with the driver a new drop-off and pick-up spot. No problem - we went to the hockey pitch adjacent to Langa stadium, ready to spend the morning doing a hockey and netball workshop with 70 kids. With the assistance of 30 teenagers from Wimbledon Girls High School hockey team.

We were invited to help run the session by Sporting Chance - local organistaion that employ the coaches we work with day to day at the primary schools, the same one that is running the street cricket! Our job was to help the Girls run their session, because we already know how to control and explain drills to the kids. However when we arrived and I asked if they were excited to carry out their plan, they looked at me with blank faces... Time to step in and regain control of the situation!

I set about splitting Girls into groups of 3 to run their own drills (they know so many drills just off the top of their heads due to their own training, that they had no problem thinking of some to do.) Then we did a boys / girls split - one half of the astro pitch would be for hockey, the other for netball. Each group of Girls would have around 8-10 kids to work with for 30-45 minutes. Then all the groups would come together for a game for the last 15 minutes to put into practice the skills they have been taught. Finally they would finish the game, go grab a drink and swap sports.

Once we had structure and everyone understood the plan and their role, we completed a flawless day - it was perfect! Everyone had an amazing time - kids and volunteers alike. We even managed to snap some lovely pictures too! I had some good feedback from the coaches regarding my impact too, which made me feel even better about the day. Not a bad first day on the job!

Tuesday

In the morning we were back to normal at Mokone primary school, Langa. Today we were doing end of term assessments with all the classes, to see how our coaching sessions have been impacting on their performances. We set up 5 stations: Sit and Reach(flexibility) Standing Long Jump(power) 3 minute shuttle run(stamina) Illinois run(agility) and 1 minute sit-up challenge(strength)
We tried to get as many of the kids as possible through each station in an hour, and we went through 3 classes. It was a full on morning- which was not aided by the cold windy weather!

Afternoon saw my first trip to GAPA since I returned! It was great to see all the grannies again and the kids even remembered me from team ZIMBABWE! We played circle games and songs with the grade R/1's, grade 2/3's did a nature collage in crafts and then the 4-7's played cricket in sports. It was incredibly slick - we have a particularly great team at the minute it seems! My role as staff member was blissfully straightforward.

Wednesday

Back at Khayelitsha primary school this morning where I reunited with Bulelani (the resident coach) where we had 4 hours of mixed activities such as: basketball dribbling/shooting/passing, obstacle shuttle runs and a balancing/catching station. It was a hot, busy day which was exacerbated by the intense heat of the sun! But we managed to get a good balance between doing the activities and letting everyone cool off in the shade.

Afternoon at GAPA was similar to the day before except we were making friendship bracelets! I surprised everyone with my knowledge of braids, and it came in very handy - thanks Han! Another highlight was a duck-duck-goose variation with a wet sponge. We called it drip-drip-drop! On the 'drop' you squeeze all the water on the persons head! It was great fun and very appropriate in the heat.

If the rest of the week is as good as the start I will be very happy indeed. Love to you all xxx

CatchUp - Suprise! I'm Still In Cape Town!

I should be back home in Sheffield right now, after taking a 11 hour straight flight from Cape Town to  Heathrow, London.. But, I'm still in Cape Town! That's not just because I missed my flight or have decided to run away from home.. It's because I have been offered a job at African Impact!

Yes! I made such an impression during my 4 week volunteer placement that they invited me back. My role is called 'Ambassador' which is just like a 'volunteer coordinator' but with less administrative tasks. This is an amazing opportunity for me that I could not refuse! I start tomorrow, and have three more weeks in Cape Town. I'm extremely fortunate to be approached in this manner and I want to take full advantage of this opportunity! A key part of my role will be connecting with the volunteers in the house, answering any questions and helping them get accustomed to life at the Lions House, but also ensuring the projects run smoothly and I will be responsible for helping volunteers have the most amazing time - like I did!

I returned back to the lion house this weekend to the lovely welcome of my friends! They're happy I'm back and I was thrilled to see them again. That night (Saturday) we went out to the Green Point stadium to watch the local team CapeTown City take on Baroka FC. The teams colour is pink, as they support the fight against breast cancer so a proportion of all merch goes to charity - I got myself a scarf and some of the others even had thier hair sprayed pink!

The first half was rather dull, with the standard of play being described as 'cute' by my Dutch friend when comparing it to European footy! The 2nd half heated up quickly with 2 rapid goals from BRFC which got the away fans screaming and one even streaked into the pitch! It was hilarious and distracted most of us from the counter attack of CTC - which resulted in a goal! 2-1 was the final result but I enjoyed picking up some chants and our little group even managed to start a Mexican wave!

I'm really looking forward getting back onto project so.. Love to all my familly xxx see you tomorrow!

Good Morning From Paradise

Paradise is the name of the hostel by the way, it's pretty nice here!

It was our last night together as a tour bus squad and we spent it together around the pool table, darts board and fire. The food was great, drinks lovely and company even better.

Yesterday we went adventure cave exploring in the Cango cave systems as well as touring a Cango wildlife conservation centre and in 15 minutes I'll be walking with elephants!

Just thought I'd check in, fill you in tonight when I have a night of luxury at a hotel in Seapoint.

Island Vibe

New hostel and I've only just managed to get into the wifi! I'm well and happy and am currently writing this blog out in the sunshine, looking out over Jefferys Bay. Famous for surfing I managed to spend an hour out there yesterday - it was great! Not only that but the dunes in this area is perfect for sandboarding, being a snowboard enthusiast I just had to try it!

We spent 1.5 hours out there running up sand dunes and gliding down again, it was bliss. Our instructor was called Sim and he was so chilled - and was at one point in the top 3 sandboarders in South Africa. I'm now super excited for Canada! This was just a warm up!

And those were the supplementary activities! The big garden route tour stops have been ace the last couple days. Bungee jumping one day to safari the next. Yesterday was the safari and we got very lucky, we saw 3/5 South African big 5 - lions elephants and buffalo! And then lots of various antelope and warthogs and mongooses!

I need to run, bye! The bus!

Bungee!

I made it! The adrenaline rush was incredible, wind rushing through your hair, flying towards the ground. I have a certificate saying that one of the side affects of bungee jumping is euphoria and an addiction - and I have the bug!  I couldn't contain my excitement for it all day and now I want to do it again!

Later this evening when we arrive at our accommodation hopefully I will sign into wifi again and do a catchup for last weekend and tell you more!

Just letting you know I am safe and happy! No need to worry!

Backpacking The Garden Route

To finish my month in South Africa with a bang I booked to do a 5 day backpacking bus tour of the Graden Route. Along this route you see the 3 natural beauties of South Africa, the water, the landscape and the wildlife. We have seen Mussel Bay, where the Europeans first landed in the 1500's when on there want to India. It was revisited many times by the Portuguese and Dutch after the first landing after word spread of its incredible natural beauty.

I left yesterday morning and departed on a 4 hour rode trip to the start of the route, rolling hills and grand mountains flew by, vine yards and game parks too. Ŵe even noticed ostriches, elephants and blue cranes on our journey. I slept a lot in the car but whenever I was awake I tried my hand at running the music for the tour bus! We made a couple stops, but most notably for lunch at the 'original aloe factory shop' where they hand fields full of aloe plants and a factory floor you could go and look at.

Our first activity was in the afternoon, we canoed the river Touw, a extremely clean slow river which is protected by towering peaks covered with trees on either side. It was like travelling up a jungle stream, and in the afternoon sun it was stunning! My partner was a Samsung junior marketing manager from Frankfurt Germany.

We stayed the night at a backpackers lodge called Afrovibe on Myoli beach. It is absolutely beautiful and I added some more sunset pictures to my collection. We ate pizza and drank with sand between our toes gazing into the fire that kept us warm.

Today, we are going bungee jumping!! Off the highest bridge in the world! But it won't be the stereo typical up and down movement that makes you ill, instead it's a pendulum motion where you will be back up on the bridge in no time. 2 hours to go and I'm so excited!
Love to all my familly xxx see you tomorrow!

CatchUp Continued!

Wednesday

GAPA TRIP! The team needed to be ready for 8:30 in the morning so we could start preparing the resources for morning activities, make 120 odd packed lunches complete with sandwich, yoghurt, fruit and juice. It was quiet a task! But we did it in record time, and I even found some face paints so that we could decorate ourselves, the kids and grannies in their national colours.*

*A quick note about that last remark - to try to organise and control 120 kids we separated them into 10 teams. Which were named after 10 countries so that the kids could bond with their team and leaders more. It worked so well! I was in team ZIMBABWE! So we created our own chant which we repeated throughout the day, we even had shouting matches with chants from other teams!

The beautiful thing about this trip was also the fact that all volunteers and staff member were working in the same site together. Including administrative staff, Shecky and Jane the catering staff and even the Tears (animal care centre) volunteers - who argued about joining in because they prefer dogs over humans; and certainly puppies over children! But we were all in the same boat and had an amazing time in the glorious sunshine. The designated photographer Lyda managed to snap some photos where we all (at least) looked like we were enjoying ourselves - even the Tears volunteers.

After singing and playing though out the morning in the park at Seapoint - looking right over the sea - we sat down for lunch. It was so funny, the grannies kept on trying to charm themselves into getting more food! Then when everyone was finished and there was seconds, the children didn't get a look in.

The end of lunch signalled the start of the afternoon activities, in other words, the Bud Tour! Everyone was incredibly excited to be given the chance to ride the tourist bus, it's something they would never normally have access to. We managed to fit everyone on 3 open top buses, all sitting down with their eye-spy tick sheet and headphones plugged into the audio tour guide.. And off we went!

Everyone was intently listening to the audio tour guide - my grannie Thandi even wrote a full A4 side of notes! They loved it, and as I pointed out famous monuments the tour guide was explaining they kept shouting 'Teacher! Teacher!' And pointing to the eye-spy challenge - eager to find them all! This wasn't just a pretty rode trip in an open top bus, it was an educational experience for the youngsters and grannies and us too! Everyone learnt something new about Cape Town that day. For half the volunteers it was that the sunshine here can burn you badly if you're not careful!

Thursday

Back to Fiks in the morning and GAPA in the afternoon. The kids were very surprised when I arrived on that day, as the day before I had gone to the local hairdressers for a haircut. The story behind this is that we arrived home from project around 5pm, so we immediately headed out to find a barber shop (me and Matt - another volunteer who also needed a haircut) but all the up market barber shops were closed! So Matt tells me "I know one more barber shop but it is the most African" I nodded in agreement and we headed there. 

Fortunately it was still open, and we had to climb a shoddy staircase to the 2nd floor of a small building. It was a room that was meant to be one shop floor - but they had added an extra one for the men's section. So we sat down and began to tell them the styles we wanted. Originally I just wanted short back and sides with a little bit of length taken off the top with scissors. But they had no scissors! All the serve only require shaven heads of various lengths! So I asked them for the longest length possible with a razor, which was 5. And it was a little shorter than I expected let's say..! But for R50 it was fine, and it was a cultural experience too!

At GAPA there was a change of plan, the grannies had sat a meeting with investors in the morning and they were also tired from their excursions form the day before, so no kids came at all! Instead we had a lovely meeting with them during which they expressed their gratitude for the trip. Explaining that even themselves, who have lived in Cape Town all their life, learnt so much that day and saw sights that they never would have experienced otherwise. One grannie said that when she worked in the city, she often saw that red bus drive past full of tourists. And she thought to herself, one day, maybe one day she would sit up there and witness the beauty of Cape Town like this for herself. And we fulfilled that dream for her.

After we had closed the meeting with my leaving speech and kind goodbyes, we busied ourselves by doing some gardening in the vegetables patches the grannies tend to, so that they can home grow some veg for the children. It was really enjoyable just chatting and working with everyone to Thulanis music, plus Sandiso taught me a thing or two about different plants.

When we returned home it was the usual duties of observations and preparations but instead of just dinner, we had a special guest - Sarah who came with free pudding and a sales pitch about various tour opportunities. But more importantly the food! She gave use Malva pudding (rich syrup laden cake with saffa) , Koeksisters (sugary doughnut twist) and milk tart which is like a creamy custard tart. All of them were gorgeous, especially with a cool glass of Rooibos ice tea.

The Days Go Slow, Weeks Go Fast!

What I mean by this is.. I can't believe I have finished my months volunteer work at African Impact - I can't believe my last week went so quickly and I haven't blogged about it! Prepare yourself to be filled in big time! So much has happened!

Overview

This past week has been half term for the students of South Africa, so my pupils from Khayelitsha and Langa were not in school. Which meant my weekly schedule was changed - instead I would be doing 'holiday club' at the foster care centres I volunteer at: Home From Home and a new organisation that I have never personally been to but other volunteers work there regularly, called Filelela (Fiks,) Normally at Fiks they work with babies and toddlers to develop their cognitive motor skills, but my job as a sports volunteer is to facilitate fun active ssssions for the primary school age kids who are home from school for the week. Which is what is within my comfort zone a bit more, and what I excel at. However the dynamic is much different here. The kids all have a stronger relationships with each other and you are with them on a more personally level, it their home, in and around their mamas who look after them.

But even more exciting than holiday club is the mid week GAPA trip!!!! On Wednesday we are taking approximately 128 GAPA kids and grannies on a open top bus trip around Cape Town. That is certainly one of THE highlights of my trip. A fantastic day I can't wait to tell you about!

Monday

Morning: Fiks. My first introduction to the care centre and the 14children, it's very different to any of my previous projects. We started off the morning with circle songs such as 'Good morning train' which is now permanently stuck in my brain.. "The good morning train is coming, how are you? Choo! Choo!" Fortunately the kids knew all the songs already so I could sing quietly and learn them as we sang.

Then we transistioned from circle songs to circle games with a foam ball. As coaches we have become accustomed these games and know them well. However the kids were slightly too young and due to their vulnerable position the kids emotions were a delicate business. If someone was out sometime there would be fighting, crying or tantrums. Which I am not used to dealing withm but we coped and generally let them fizzle out or coax them back into a new game.

We definitely were not prepared enough the first day. Normally a session is keeping lots of kids entertained in a large playground for up to an hour. So we could recycle similar games and drills all morning. At Fiks it's a smaller group of various abilities which we have to control and keep occupied for over 2 hours in a 4mx8m concrete rectangle. Fortunately I have stockpiled a whole host of games and songs that we could cycle through. And some we could make up or even let the kids play amoung themselves. I really enjoyed it!

Afternoon: Home From Home Holiday Club. Normally at this afterschool club get 15-20 kids. Monday we had 5. Which made the plan we had challenging to follow through. So instead we did the circle games that we know they love and got the few other kids there to join in too. We played some frisbee and don't fall in the water also. It was nice to spend more time with a few of them and get to know the characters better.

Tuesday

It was bloody hot on Tuesday! To the point where the kids were too hot to be bothered to run around and play - they would much rather lounge about in the shade and talk. So at Fiks we got out the chalk so they could draw on the floor in the shade, and also introduced them to 3sticks - a hop, skip, jump game that get progressively harder. A local favourite. 

Then at Home From Home it was the same story- but with more attitude because they are slightly older! Fortunately we had planned for this over lunch so we played Dutch party games! (My partner volunteer is Dutch so she taught them typical Dutch games.) After a game of cat and mouse ( a free for all touch rugby game played with bibs) we went into a game called spykepöpe (spike-a-pooper) which is hilariously fun! We tied skipping ropes around their waists with one end hanging down like a tail. You then have to run over to a bottle and squat down and thread the rope into the bottle! It looks so wrong and they thought it was hilarious! And seeing as we made it a competitive 1 vs 1 race they loved it and kept challenging each other for the rest of the sessioo! We even had a knock out competition!

Weekend Pursuits

Saturday

So we had planned on jumping out of a plane.. With a parachute of course! And I wanted to be able to talk about it and write a blog about it afterwards to prevent my family from worrying too much beforehand. It was a good job I didn't mention it because in the end our jump was cancelled! We traveled for an hour to the air strip waited for another 2 hours there only to be told the wind had picked up to such an extent that they had to cancel the rest of the jumps for the day.

So we headed back home a little dejected after wasting 250 ZAR on transport in addition to not getting our adrenalin rush fix. So instead we decided to transform a poor start to the weekend into a great Saturday afternoon. So I bought some veg, cheese, nutella and strawberries and made a vegetarian rice salad with a sweet chilli dressing. I only mention it because I was dead impressed in how it turned out! We then took that picnic to Kristenbosch botanical gardens- a world famous botanical garden that has been recommend to me multiple times.

It didn't disappoint, a vast beautiful garden became our playground. Huge trees with contorted branches rose into the sky. We got to walk in amongst the canopy on a raised wooden bridge, looking out over the park. And then wander around admiring brightly coloured flowering bushes and plants as well as Zulu statues - which were kind of freaky.. But in a good way!

Sunday

A lazy morning meant that we had finished brunch by 11:30 so we only had an afternoon left to fill! (But the posh beans on toast I had were delicious.) So we went to Camps Bay to sit and enjoy the glorious sunshine which was desperately welcome after a dismal past week. I expected the sea to be lovely and warm due to the sunshine but it was freezing! As in I let out a little girly scream when a wave managed to swell far enough up the beach touch my feet, not my manliest moment.

For our afternoon meal we got some seafood, to tie into the beach trip, and sushi by the beach is pretty amazing. Although we were still pretty full from brunch!

A pretty short extract from this weekend, but my mid week post about the project will be a good one I promise! Holiday clubs at the foster centres and a GAPA field trip around Cape Town (today) which I can tease you with and say was INCREDIBLE - so much fun and the kids and grannies are such sweet hearts!

Until next time! Love to you all back at home xx

CatchUp: End Of Term Chaos

Thursday + Friday

This last week has been the final week of school for all the children at the primary schools, so its been an abnormal week already. There have been end of term tests and for the last two days of term there weren't even any lessons! When we arrived there were children playing outside everywhere, it was so confusing. So we hid inside the staff room with our equipment - which the kids really wanted to play with - and waited for the principle or coach to come around so we could ask whats going on, and what we should do!

That's when we got told all the lesson had been suspended and that we could go outside and join the kids whenever we wanted. In typical African style we had to adapt our plan to accommodate an unknown number of children. We decided against cricket in case we were mobbed and the children couldn't get a fair turn. So instead we brought out a netball and tried some small circle games, commencing with a simple throw and catch we quickly attracted a crowd of children. So I stepped up and changed the game, in order to keep the peace between the kids I would stay in control of the ball and we played flinch. A game for all ages that can be taught easily, I stand in the middle with the ball and pretend to throw it. If I don't throw it and you flinch you are out. If I throw it to you and you don't catch it you are out. Otherwise you throw back the ball and carry on the game. It was a lot of fun and the children would flinch in groups which everyone found hilarious and I played the part well to make it more fun.

When I realised the game was becoming stale I started another one of my favorites - Tomato ball (everyone stands in a circle with open legs which becomes your goal - and you have to protect your goal.) Normally only suitable for groups of up to a maximum of 15, I had to be adapt again and create a variation to involve 30+ children. So again I stayed in the middle and helped the ball on whenever they hit it in a particular direction. That way the ball was always moving quickly which makes the game more challenging but also I could make sure all the children were getting an equal amount of game time. It was exhausting.

Luckily the other volunteers decide to initiate a limbo so I got to rest a little. Although as soon as we started a line it began to grow, and grow, until we had at least 60+ kids wanting to limbo one after the other! It was insane. The final game we played was the largest game of mingle ever. 60+ kids skipping about singing the mingle jingle (which I had to lead every time) and then I had to shout a number or colour above the din. My voice was a little sore to say the least in the afternoon. Soon it was definitely time for a staff break.

The afternoon was delightfully peaceful in comparison. At GAPA we planned a day around the exciting trip next week, for example we played four corners with Cape Town landmarks like the Castle of Good Hope. We also planned to use the parachute with the younger children in the classroom, but it was being used by the grannies for something else. Instead we tried to do it outside. And it was crazy - all the kids just ran towards it so we played other games instead!

In the evening we hiked Lions Head as a family, one of the 3 peaks surrounding Cape Town so that we could watch the sunset from the top.

Full Weekend (from last week.. sorry!)

Saturday: community tour & concert

The community tour was one of the days I was looking forward to the most out of everything I could have done here in Cape Town - getting to really know, understand and get a feel for the location and culture of the people was a depth I craved. My inner geography geek was like a sponge - ready to soak up all the stories and information on the incredibly interesting history of the country and area. And I will do my best to dispense this knowledge in a later post, so definitely look forward to that.

That took up the majority of the day, and afterwards we had planned to try and hike Table Top Mountain but the weather wasn't great so all we would have been able to see would have been clouds. Instead we relaxed at the house and talked and played games before heading to Cape Town city hall for a gig as a part of the Fringe Festival - an indoor event over three days in the city hall. The act we went to see was called the HatchettGroup

Sunday: I survived shark cage diving & a sunset on top of Signal Hill

I had to be up at 4:30am on Sunday to be picked up by the shark cage diving company bus. Me Aane and Andreas (the Scandinavian lads I bunked with) managed to get out of bed on time and catch the bus just fine. We were met by a tall broad man with a thick South African accent and with even thicker arms. And by the force of his hand shake I knew we were in safe hands! Thankfully once we were on the bus we had a nice 2 hour journey / sleep to Gansbaai. The Gansbaai area in the Western Cape is a hotspot for marine life - it has lots of naturally well protected bays thanks to the peninsula. Which makes it the perfect spot for whales to bring up their young. One of the volunteers I am currently working with is going to do a 2-3 month internship there after having volunteered at AfricanImpact, as she wants read marine biology at university.

When we arrived we witnessed a beautiful sunrise over the South Atlantic Ocean and got to eat a spot of breakfast and be briefed on the do / don'ts of shark cage diving. As in don't poke anything out of the cage when the sharks come past! He also explained how all the procedures worked and got everyone settled, and reduced the nervous tension in our bodies. For example. he told us the metal of the cage gives off a small magnetic field, which is uninteresting for the shark. It senses this and this alone so cannot actually tell there is anything alive inside the cage. You are one object.

Once that was over we got changed into our swimming gear to wear under the wet suits (we had been warned that the water is extremely cold.) And then wrapped up warm for the 15 minute boat journey to a shallow bay not far from seal island. Fun fact: most of the time sharks don't eat the seals because they are too hard to catch so wouldn't be worth it. The shark could even come off worse if the seal gets too close behind it and decides to bite the shark! The boat we used was only just big enough to carry all 20 crew and passengers on the lower deck and then it had a small upper deck as well.

When we finally dropped anchor we changed into wet suits and was expecting a 30 minute - 1 hour wait for any sharks to arrive. But almost immediately we had a 3m shark investigating the bait - it was so exciting! I managed to get a great view from the front of the ship. Next came the actual diving - the cage we were in was very small, so could only fit 5 people in. Furthermore it was always attached to the boat so you didn't have to be fully submerged all the time and there was no 360 view which would have just complicated things. All you had to do was hold onto the bars and stick your face underwater for 5-10 seconds at a time to water a shark lazily glide past. As the water is so murky the visibility was no more than 2m, so to see the shark it had to come close, and boy did they! It was fantastic, they're such majestic creatures and they came close enough to touch! One even clipped the cage with its fin!

sorry for the late post but hope it was okay! limited time at the wifi cafe! xx