The rest of our afternoon was full of adventure as we did our shark cage dive and base jumping on Table Mountain. We headed out in our shark boat towards Seal Island. Seal Island is about 25 minutes off the coast, an island with over 40 thousand seals hanging out on it. When you get downwind of the island the smell is overpowering. Unfortunately not a recipe for a bunch of kids who are seasick which is exactly what happened to almost all who went for the dive. Some sweated out the sickness and jumped in anyway, just two were too sick to think about jumping into 50 degree water.
As we anchored they dumped the cage in and tied it off to the side of the boat, then started chumming. Madelyn, Minesha and myself were the first to jump in. The crew had a fish head tied to a rope and a seal decoy they would toss out. When a shark came along they would lure it towards the cage.
The sea was pretty rough and you were constantly worried about a limb slipping though the cage and a Great White nabbing your arm or leg. Sometimes as you came up for air a swell would come at the same time not giving you any room to breath or your snorkel would fill with salt water leaving you gasping for air and a mouth full of salt water but when they lured a shark close enough to the cage you got up close and personal with one of the most dreaded creatures on earth. It was exhilarating!
The shark would grab the bait sometimes and the crew would bring the shark within a couple of feet or even inches of the cage. A couple of times the shark would actually bump the cage. These creatures are magnificent! Watching from the boat was just as thrilling as 10 to 15 foot sharks swarmed our boat right on the surface.
I could not have been prouder of our Globetrotter kids and want to thank all the parents for loaning us 10 amazing people. People thank Lou and I all the time for giving these kids amazing experiences. The real secret is that we are granted an opportunity to mold and watch your children experience a whole list of “firsts”. It’s like letting us teach your child how to ride a bike and getting to watch them the first time the can ride without training wheels. Thank you so much!
Watching a bunch of high school kids, some who have never been on a boat, jump into a cage in freezing water when they are sick as a dog, throwing up over the side of the boat but still tough enough to do one of the scariest activities in the world is an experience that I will never forget. These kids are AWESOME! So you don’t owe us any thanks, we owe it to you!
I can check one more thing off my bucket list. As for the base jumping, it was off a park bench but Table Mountain gave us some spectacular views of Cape Town.