Bikes, Boats, and Sharks Oh My!!

Howdy ya’ll!!

How are you guys?!? I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and I am sad I didn’t get to experience it with you. How is good old Oklahoma? Hopefully awesome…don’t know why it wouldn’t be haha! As I begin to write this it is April 5 and we are actually still stuck in South Africa due to weather but we aren’t allowed off of the ship because we don’t know when we will be cleared to leave and there is no other way to keep track of us. This day is also significant because exactly 1 month from today I will be home. Crazy huh? I feel like I just got here…but at the same time I am really missing home and all of you guys! So much has happened to me in the last 78 days that it is just weird to think that there is just 1 month left!

Shout outs – Shirley – bro we are gunna have the sweetest stories after this summer. It is gunna be EPIC!! And yeah I hadn’t heard of Mauritius but man am I glad I got to go there! It was crazy fun and I definitely wouldn’t mind going back. How is good ole Memorial going? Bet you are just itching to be done with it huh? I remember that last stretch after Spring Break…all I wanted was for summer to come and then college to start lol. Esther – ummm excuse me how was I wrong? We have pictures to prove it ya dork…you were definitely stuck and without Evan, Jarrett, and I using common sense and simply engaging your four wheel drive to simply drive away, you would have been stuck there until you realized that your car had four-wheel drive. Hahaha gah that story NEVER gets old…and it’s not that bad. I mean I got the ranch suburban buried once…that was a fun walk back lol. Heard my parents got to see you the other week…wish I could have been there! Can’t wait to see ya this summer! Natalie – Yeah girl it was an AWESOME day! And no one even thinks twice about any of the girls with no hair. It is just normal for all of us on the ship! Some of my really good friends on the ship did it and they have no regrets!! You wouldn’t have regretted it…you would have LOVED it!! Wish you were hear chica!! Can’t wait to come bug you in Norman and distract you from studying when I get back!! Chris – Dude bro I really wish you could have been with me in South Africa...you would have absolutely loved it!!!!!!!! I am so jealous that you are going to get to spend an extended amount of time there this summer!! You are going to absolutely LOVE IT brotha! Haha your summer sounds like my last couple…it’s alright, there are always small jobs that pop up and God will open doors. Besides you have so many contacts in the church that I bet you get more small job offers than you want lol. Dude I wanna chill with you so bad! You are definitely one of the first people I am calling when I get back and I will do my best to distract you from studying as well haha!! JT – yeah Neptune Day was tight! Definitely understand why you liked it so much!! Yes Mauritius is definitely a tourist economy…but the coolest part is that you can definitely still experience the local culture if you try hard enough! The people were super chill which I really enjoyed and it was so cool to chill with them. It is also kind of a melting pot of people as far as local origins so it was cool seeing so many different influences in music, dress, food, etc. I really enjoyed myself! And yeah there are definitely other foreigners that visit and it is an annual tourist industry! I can totally see why too with the beaches and forests and mountains! Very cool place! Esther again? – Well you definitely called it because I was totally shaking my head and mumbling that under my breath when I read your “p.s.”….that takes skill girl cause you totally called it. Too bad you are wrong!! I am not the planner girl and the more you guys call me that…the less I wanna plan stuff. Which would include the ranch…so I would stop calling me the planner…haha you crazy girl! Hope all is well!!

Thank you guys so much for posting!! Gives me a nice taste of home and it is nice to talk to you guys!! Love you all and hope you all are doing awesome!! Can’t wait to see and hang out with all of you guys!!

Oh and this is a random story that you Henderson Hills people will appreciate (especially Brett Middleton if you are reading this). So we are sitting at dinner on the ship the other night and we actually had fresh bananas which is rare on the ship so my table had grabbed a bunch of them. Emily was sitting next to me peeling her banana and she started singing (it was one of those things where it was super quiet but a little louder than she thought) the following: “Form banana, form form banana. And form banana, form form banana.” So naturally I was like “Peel banana, peel peel banana. And peel banana, peel peel banana.” Then Shannon who was also at the table was like “Go bananas, go go bananas!! And go bananas, go go bananas!!” (All of us are like dancing and going bananas in our seats at this point, because I mean Helllooooo…that is what the song tells you to do!) Then we all just died laughing, oh my gosh it was so funny!! It was just so random but no one missed a beat and we all just started laughing when it was over. Hahaha gah I love this ship!! It’s just so laid back and everyone is so spontaneous! Love it!!!!

Okay so South Africa was by far the best 5 days I have had on this adventure so far. It was absolutely AMAZING!! It was so hard to get back on the boat knowing we had to leave. I did so many different things in the time I was there and had some many unique experiences it will be impossible to tell you guys everything. I will do my best but there is just no way it is possible…oh well gotta save something for the summer right? And the stories will be easier to tell you all when I have pictures to go along with it. So if I am not clear on something or you want to know more just ask me when I get home this summer.

Picture – the picture I chose for this blog is definitely from Shark Diving. I mean I had to include one about it…duh!! This pic was taken on our way out to the cage from the top of the boat. From left to right it goes me, Courtney, Steph, and Shannon. We were so hyped up on adrenaline when this picture was taken, all we wanted to do was get in the water lol. (click on pic to make it larger)

So day one in South Africa was a day of extreme sightseeing if you will. We arrived in Cape Town and had a guest speaker upon arrival before being allowed to get off the ship. As soon as I was allowed to I was off the ship…I mean we were in Africa hello!! The port area where we were docked was absolutely gorgeous with the open ocean and then Table Mountain looking over the port area. Oh and for those of you that are interested (particularly Chris Wilson) one of the brand new soccer stadiums built specifically for the World Cup this summer was about .25 miles from our ship so that was cool to see. We weren’t allowed to go in and I only saw it in passing but it was definitely a very cool stadium from the outside.

Okay so very quick after arrival I met up with the group I would be Shark Diving with that day. That’s right Shark Diving!!!!!! I willing got into a cage in the water with GREAT WHITE SHARKS!! Oh my gosh it was SICK!!! I still can’t believe I got to do it!! How crazy is that?!?!? Anyways we met our tour agency guides on the pier and as soon as everyone showed up we were off. Our group consisted of about 35 people so it took two big vans to transport all of us. We were taken about 2.5 hours outside of Cape Town to a little town called Gansbaai which is known as the Great White Shark capital of the world. If any of you have ever watched Shark Week on the Discovery channel, yeah most of that footage about Great Whites is filmed in the waters outside of this bay. Ahhhhhh it was so cool cause we were actually there!!

Upon arrival at the place we were given a light lunch and then split into boat groups. One boat took 11 of us and the other boat took the other 25. I ended up on the 11 person boat which I was kinda bummed about at first but it ended up being WAY better. For one we were able to be in the water more because there were fewer of us to cycle through, AND our boat ended up seeing more sharks and getting better activity than the other group! Guess someone upstairs was looking out for us or something lol.

It was about a 20 minute boat ride out to the actual dive spot and we were all so pumped up on adrenaline that it didn’t feel that long at all. Once we got there they attached the cage to the side of the boat and started chumming the water while we all started putting on our wetsuits and getting dive masks. The water was 55 degrees Fahrenheit so it wouldn’t have been possible without the wetsuits. Within minutes (literally like 2-3) of the first bucket of chum hitting the water, the first shark of the day showed up, a medium sized male. Six people could get in the cage at a time and man they jumped in fast once that shark showed up. The guides on our boat did a good job of making sure there were constantly people in the cage and even when it was time to rotate, one person jumped in as soon as someone came out.

The cage was set up to where the top was on hinges to allow easy entry and exit from the boat. The top foot was always above the water, except for the really big waves, so we didn’t have scuba gear or snorkels. We would just keep our heads above the water and when the shark spotter saw one coming close he would yell “Divers down!” followed by which direction and we would hold our breaths and go under to see it. It was so intense!! Sometimes we would go down and the shark would be swimming right alongside us and other times we wouldn’t see it at first and then it would all of the sudden swim out of the gloom and be right there. Intense huh? It was like Hollywood special effects…first you don’t see anything, then all of the sudden this massive shape appears. Ahhhhhh I still can’t believe I was in a cage surrounded by Great Whites!! It was just so cool!!

Like I said earlier, my boat got really lucky with the number of sharks we saw and the quality of our viewings, in the 2.5 hours we were floating with the cage we saw 5 different sharks. The coolest was this really big female. We knew we were lucky because our guides got really excited when she showed up. These guys do this 364 days a year (nothing on Christmas or New Years) so when they get excited about the size of a shark you know that it really is a good sized shark. I mean this baby was huge!!!!!! They said it was around 3.2 meters…that doesn’t sound like much but think about what a meter really is. Then think of a shark that big with rows of teeth that comes right into the cage and thrashes against it.

Oh did I not mention…on multiple occasions we had the sharks attack the cage and thrash around. Yeah it was probably the most exhilarating thing ever. My first rotation in the cage I was on the end of the line in the corner when the first shark hit the cage. He came in for the bait and the guide maneuvered the bait so that it was closer to the cage…yeah the shark got the bait and then decided he wanted the whole thing and not just a little bit. Well that involved thrashing and he came face first into the cage on my corner. So I am holding my breath under water looking at this shark when it took the bait then headed toward me with an open mouth and started ramming the cage and thrashing. We are talking its jaws were opened around the cage literally less than a foot from my face. Less than a foot…from a Great White with an open jaw snapping open and shut!!! What?!!?!? Talk about an adrenaline rush! There were bubbles everywhere and all you could see were teeth flashing and the body moving from side to side….it was SICK!!

This happened multiple times with our boat group and I kinda felt bad for the other boat because we saw some really cool stuff. During one of the thrashes by one of the sharks the tail actually slapped through the cage and hit Steph so she was pretty proud of that…I mean she did get slapped by a Great White! I would be pumped too! It was also funny because at one point I was next to Courtney and this shark surprised us by coming out of the gloom right for us and she screamed underwater which was absolutely hilarious!! The best part was after all of the good hits and passes we would come up to catch our breath before going back under and we would all be like “Whooaaa!!!” and “That was so sick!!” and “Holy crap can you believe that just happened?!” There were obviously other really cool parts but it would just take too long to describe everything! Oh and two of the girls on my boat got sea sick cause the seas were pretty rough but that just meant that I got to be in the water more so I didn’t mind lol.

Despite being in 55 degree water (which is soooooo cold!) and having to hold our breaths, you didn’t even think about either when we were underwater looking at these sharks. I held my breath so much longer than I thought I could and the only time I was ever cold was when I was on the boat letting the other group have their turn. Being in the water with them was just so captivating that we weren’t thinking about anything but watching that animal and waiting to see what would happen next. Seeing these animals in the wild was absolutely indescribable. They were so graceful swimming through the water it was absolutely gorgeous! The really are beautiful animals and it was cool because never once did I ever feel like they wanted to hurt me. They just wanted the tuna heads we were using as bait and were attracted by the smell of the chum. Definitely gave me a new perspective on an animal that is so publicly feared. Don’t get me wrong I still wouldn’t want to just be floating in the water outside of the cage because seeing those teeth right in front of my face was definitely a scary, exhilarating, freaking awesome experience all at the same time! It was definitely worth every penny.

After returning to shore we were given some hot chocolate and coffee and then we were able to watch the video of our experience. Now I know I did an awful job of describing this but I did buy the DVD of the dive with all of the highlights so that I could show you all this summer! So if you wanna see something wicked sick then ask me this summer and I will be happy to show you the video and you can see them coming into the cage and thrashing right on top of me and in my face. Sooooo…sorry this was a bad description and I know I left out a lot of details and small stories but I promise I will tell you all everything this summer lol.

After buying DVDs and T-Shirts we loaded back into the vans and headed back to Cape Town for the evening. By this time it was close to 6 and we didn’t arrive back to the ship until after 830. We were all super hungry and wanted an authentic African meal so Shannon, Steph, Grillz, Mikey, and me jumped in a cab and told our cab driver to take us somewhere authentic. Our driver was awesome and he was super nice about driving us around and making sure we were good to go. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but it was super cool! There was a live band playing traditional African music which added to the feel of the place and the food was absolutely amazing!!! I had a venison burger (which I think was Springbuck maybe?) and a chocolate shake for desert. Some people had ostrich, others had pasta, it was just a great variety of food. After our excellent diner we returned to the ship and called it a night because all of us had to be in the Union at 4 a.m. the next morning to leave for our safaris!! Whoop Whoop!!

Alright so that was day 1 in South Africa, now I am going to tell you about day 5. I know that is weird and I am sorry for skipping but I will definitely tell you about days 2, 3, and 4 in my next blog…promise. Okay so day 5 in Cape Town was also sadly my last day in South Africa. Bummer I know but I guess it had to end sometime right. For my last day I was on an SAS sponsored trip that was a bike tour through the wine lands outside Cape Town. The trip left at 9 a.m. and it was a little over an hour drive to the place where our tour started. Our trip consisted of 17 people which was a perfect number because it was an easy group to control, and there were a lot of adults which was okay because they were able to keep up and it didn’t slow us down or anything.

Okay the wine lands were absolutely gorgeous!! The town we started in was very small and it reminded me of a little town in Colorado or something because it was tucked into a little valley with these mountains and hills on all sides. Gahhhh it was so cool! And the temperature was perfect! Not too hot but not too cold…just perfect! We spent about 45 minutes walking through the town while the guides prepped our bikes. Eventually we were assigned bikes based on bikes…okay these bikes were so nice!! There were actually mountain bikes because part of the tour was on a gravel/dirt road so road bikes wouldn’t work too well haha. I couldn’t believe the bikes were so nice…it was a nice surprise. The tour started out with a 24 km ride up through the hills and down the valley behind the town and eventually dumped us out on the outskirts of town at a winery where we enjoyed lunch. Honestly the lunch was kinda small and I would have preferred some more food but it was delicious and the scenery couldn’t have been better. I mean we were in the middle of a vineyard!! Very very cool setting to enjoy some lunch!

After lunch we finished the ride with a 6 km stretch that was mainly up and down hills so it was a nice challenge to end the day. When it was all said and done we had biked 30 km which we were told translates to a little less than 22 miles. I don’t know if the conversion is perfect but 22 miles?!? That is a pretty good chunk if you ask me… and it was through some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. Gahh it was just stinking incredible!! It was nice because we got the scenery and a really good workout which is rare on the ship. Sure there are like 3 elliptical on the ship but it is so boring running indoors. So outside of short sprints on the port side 7th deck it is hard to get much exercise except for in port so I personally really enjoyed this trip! It was a great way to say goodbye to South Africa! After everyone reached the end of the bike stretch we made a brief 45 minute stop in another little village (that I also can’t remember the name of) to get some drinks at a little bakery and just sit and chill. The ride back to the ship was about an hour and then a little more because of rush hour traffic, Cape Town style. We arrived at the ship right before on-ship time so we got in line and boarded the ship. Saying goodbye to South Africa was NOT fun and I already wanna go back haha.

After getting on the ship there was an Easter service in the Union which was really nice. I definitely missed Henderson Hills and it was weird not being with my family but at the same time I was with a different body of believers. It was a simple service and it was so cool to get to experience Easter Sunday with fellow shipmates. Being reminded of what Christ has done for us is absolutely amazing! I know everyone has been hearing it for the past week but gah how lucky are we? Christ died for us!! What did we do to deserve the greatest gift of all? Nothing…we did nothing, and we are still nothing without Christ. It still blows my mind thinking about it! The best part – HE IS RISEN!! HE IS RISEN!!! He conquered death for sinners like me. Think about that…what love! How He loves us! “When all of the sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory! And I realize just how beautiful You are, and how great Your affections are for me!!” (David Crowder) He loves us so much that words can’t describe it!!!

I hope you guys had an amazing Easter! Remember the love that Christ showed us through His death on the cross and the AMAZING gift He gave us! Have a great week!

T

Luke 24:1-12