Tea, a drink with jam and bread

According to the clock set for Cape Town still up on my computer, it's now around 0730 in South Africa. Funny to think, that means that just a week ago I would most likely be leaving or about to leave campus for work. Chum will have already been on the water for an hour (if not three), any fishing and dolphin survey will probably be loading into vehicles, and aqua people are probably just rolling out of bed and investigating the thought of breakfast before leaving at 0800. Even stranger to think it's been only a week since I got home. Despite telling people about what I was doing almost every day, it starts to seem farfetched in my own mind that just over a week ago I was standing on a boat with a Great White Shark not much more than a meter away. 

So what does an aspiring biologist do when no longer serving as a field researcher? Why, what other than attend an afternoon tea? And, of course, what better conversation between bites of mini scones with lemon curd than the recently conducted research on sharks? However, detailing the severed fish heads and chum is possibly ill-advised. (Just working on a hunch, though. I didn't actually give this a try. My apologies for the incomplete data on tea time conversation.) 

First time since starting school that I've been home
 for the church's annual Ladies' Christmas Tea.

T.I.O. and Goodbye Africa

Here in Africa, we've got a saying: TIA. This is Africa. It's usually used when something strange or unexpected or unusual or just plain bizarre happens. Shuttle shows up either a half hour early or an hour late consistently? TIA. Internet is down because the router needs to be reset but the person with the key to the room is at home? This is Africa. We've added another phrase even more specific to us--TIO. This is Oceans. It usually crops up when we have instances like the other day when we sat at the harbor after chumming for two hours because a vehicle broke down. However, as I come down to my last blog post in Africa and look through some pictures taken last night, I come up with one other instance where I feel it fits: 

TIO. This is Oceans. 

Back: Natalie, Dorien, Dan, Elayna, Braham, Kurt, Megan, Brian
Middle-ish: Eva, me, Jackie, Caitlin, Sarah, Emily
Front-ish: Kasandra, Natasha, Alex
Kneeling: Tammy, Jason, Noah, Johan, Ezra

These are the people I've lived and worked with for the last month (two in many cases). I've learned a lot of new things, many related to field research, many not. Somehow I feel like my courses in Ecological Physiology and piano lessons, as much as I'm looking forward to them, are going to have a hard time holding up against playing with sharks. And all through, I've gotten to make new friends who live all over the world. Besides that, I've picked up some new vocabulary like "heaps," "sunnies," and telling the time the "right" way (according to British friends). 

But one more picture. Because maybe THIS is really Oceans. It's certainly an accurate depiction of the real personality of any marine biologist I've ever met. 

South African Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Of course, here, it's just another work day. How was my unique Thanksgiving spent, then? Trapping in the morning and chumming in the afternoon. Trapping didn't catch anything, unfortunately, but the chumming trip was one of the best I've had. We had a total of nine sharks. At several points, we had two to three sharks all circling the boat, taking turns going for the bait. As Emily pointed out, we are probably currently in the only job where having three sharks circling your boat is considered a good thing! We also saw the second largest shark I've seen here. She was easily as large as Fatty, but lost in the size competition because she wasn't quite as fat. 

However, I wasn't entirely without the good ol' American tradition of aiming for an early death due to overeating. Together with some of the interns at White Shark Africa, the cage diving operation here in Mossel Bay, we had a massive Thanksgiving dinner at Kaai 4. Sean, the owner, kindly cooked up a bunch of dishes special for us so after work, we cleaned up and headed over to the restaurant. We feasted on roosterkoek (bread cooked on a grill, a staple of braais), cauliflower in a white cheese sauce, mashed sweet potatoes, and mash with green beans. Everyone who wasn't vegan or vegetarian also enjoyed ox-tail stew and chicken and declared them excellent. 

Thanksgiving trapping. Emily and Natalie pulling up a trap.

Thanksgiving chumming. Emily and I in the crow's nest
on lookout.

The big shark.

L to R: Caitlin, Noah's nose, Brian, Kasandra, Jason,
and Natasha at Kaai 4.

Thanksgiving dinner at Kaai 4.

Walking With Lions

Yes, that's me and yes, that's a real, live lion. We went to the Zorgfontein Game Reserve for a lion walk. The lions we walked with were siblings, Layla and Mufasa, and about 2 years old. The walk was different from the cheetah walk in that the lions were not on leashes so we generally weren't quite as close to them but, as you can see, we did get to come plenty close to them. And since I know the question will be asked if I don't answer it, the sticks we're carrying are simply to serve as a visual barrier to the lions. They're trained to not come closer to a person than the stick. So if one of the lions began coming closer than you were comfortable with, you just put the stick out between you and the lion and they'll stay that distance away. 

Watching and waiting for the lions.

First view of the lions.

Mufasa greeting the ranger.

Mufasa, two year old male

Layla, two year old female

Walking with the lions.

Lazy Evening

The lounge area on a quiet evening.

Today was fairly relaxed. I had recreation (free time) in the morning and then a chum trip in the afternoon. We saw six sharks but they were fairly lackadaisical about going for the bait heads. 

This evening, we've been left to our own devices, as trivia was canceled. Instead, some of us learned a new card game, some people are working on research proposals to present at the end of the month, many are online sending emails home or updating blogs, and pretty much everyone is watching the TV on and off. We really only get two channels, NatGeo and Discovery, here on campus. That means we've watched, in the last few weeks, lots and lots of MythBusters, Body Invaders, Dynamo: Magician Impossible, Dirty Money, and Border Patrol: Australia's Front Line. How these end up on NatGeo and Discovery (well, except for MythBusters), I have no clue. However, that's what we've got to watch, so we watch it when things are slow. We've even reached a point where we'll start referring to a situation as likely to land someone on an episode of Body Invaders or Border Patrol. Maybe we should learn a few more new card games...

God's Been Good to Me

Out on the chum boat this morning, I came across a song I don't recall listening to before. It's a song by Keith Urban called "God's Been Good to Me." I know most the lyrics refer to Tennessee or country music but the chorus seems so appropriate for here and now. The chorus goes: 

He put me, smack dab in the middle of Paradise, 

In the heart of the city where my dreams would come alive. 

And everything I have, and everything I see, 

Is just another reminder, God's been good to me.

Now, I realize just about every single day how lucky I am to be here in South Africa doing what I'm doing, but the song still got stuck in my head and I couldn't help thinking of it over and over again all through our beautifully clear, sunny day, especially in terms of everything that's happened over the last couple years since I started university and have gotten to do so many things I never imagined. 

He put me, smack dab in the middle of Paradise,

Summer of 2010, research trip in the Philippines.

In the heart of the city where my dreams would come alive.

November 2010, presenting our Philippines sea cucumber
 research at the Murdock Undergraduate Science Conference.

And everything I have,

The sisters and I in Utila this summer.

And everything I see,

Cheetah walk at Tenikwa in October.

Is just another reminder,

Blue shark dive at Simon's Town.

God's been good to me.

Cage diving

Cow Shark Dive

Cow shark dive in the kelp forest! That was Friday's activity. The group of divers was much smaller this time; everyone else opted to do land based tourism activities. We headed out to the dive site (only a 10 minute drive this time) under overcast skies but otherwise good weather. The water was slightly colder than the day before but we weren't chilled from a long boat ride so the temperature seemed much more tolerable. Our dive lasted about 45 minutes, cruising around through the kelp looking for the sharks. Cow sharks about as different as you can get from the personalities of the Blue Sharks. These sharks could care less that you've come to take a look at you--they'll simply keep meandering along their way looking like smiley old men. After the shark dive, we drove a little further in the bay to reach a small island where Cape Fur Seals hang out. We dropped into the water nearby and did a quarter hour long dive with them. The seals love checking out divers in the water and will cluster around just watching, occasionally swooping in for a closer look. 

Back: Elayna, me, Derek, Braham, Noah, Johan
Front: Carlie, Sam

I love diving in kelp forests!

Cow Shark, a species of 7-gill shark

Curious Cape Fur Seal

The local seal population come to check us out.

Blue Shark Pelagic Dive

Back from Cape Town and survived without being eaten by a shark. We did two dives out of Simon's Town (about 40 minutes from Cape Town) and made other stops to see sights around Cape Point and Cape Town. Lots of pictures, so I'll put them up in bits and pieces. 

First off, the blue shark dive! We took a three hour boat ride from Simon's Town to our dive site--The Middle Of Nowhere, The Ocean. It was a long, cold boat ride. I was riding on a 9m boat with inflatable pontoons on the side so it was a comfortable ride (bounces over swells don't hurt as much), but much less sheltered than the other, larger boat. About 20 minutes into the ride, I was as wet as if I'd already jumped in the ocean. The dive site really was in the middle of nowhere. There was no land in site and we were sitting over an area of ocean that was about 700m deep. Once at the site, chumming started and, after attracting a few sharks to the area, we hopped in for the dive. The dive itself was about 40 minutes long, max depth of 25 feet, and water temperature 58 degrees F. 

Blue Sharks are amazingly curious. They'll come right up to a diver and actually get so close that you need to give them a little shove. They're absolutely beautiful little sharks. The largest we saw was just over a couple meters and the smallest was about a meter. It's easy to see how they got their name--their dorsal surface is a gorgeous shade of blue. Photos from the Cow Shark dive in a kelp forrest, penguins at Boulder's Beach, and a seal dive are coming soon!

Gearing up on the dock.

On board the "duck"

Rounding Cape Point and heading for the open ocean!

The view from the dive site.

Blue Shark

Just a shark coming in for a little closer look.

Well... got half of me and the shark!

Braai

Braai is a South African tradition, basically a barbecue. The way you'd see campsites advertising barbecue pits or a store selling backyard barbecues, you see braais advertised in South Africa. Every Friday night, the field specialists, interns, and graduate students take the time to have a braai here on campus. It's a lengthy affair, lasting several hours and giving plenty of time for socializing while the wood burns down to coals and the food cooks. 

Watching the cooking food.

The small building on campus designated for braaiing.

Socializing while waiting for the food. 

World's Highest Bungy Jump and a Cheetah Walk

I can sum up yesterday's activities in two pictures: 

However, I'm sure you want to know a little more, so here goes. Yesterday, a group of interns took an outing to the Bloukrans Bridge bungy jump and Tenikwa Wildlife Center. 

Bloukrans Bridge has the world's highest bungy jump--219 meters (718 feet). It was terrifying. Very fun, but very terrifying. I absolutely refused to watch anyone going off ahead of me (fortunately I was only the second jumper) and made sure I didn't look straight down for fear I'd lose my nerve. Nevertheless, the scream I let out as I went off the bridge was, reportedly, impressively long and loud. 

Tenikwa Wildlife Center serves two purposes. First, they have a hospital/rehabilitation center where injured animals can be brought, treated, and released back to the wild. Second, they keep a number of cats which are used for educational purposes, primarily in outreach programs to schools in an effort to educate children about more effective and less population damaging methods of dealing with the animals which can pose threats to livestock. One program offered to the public, though, is the opportunity to accompany the cheetahs on their morning or afternoon walk.

Bloukran's Bridge. Right there in the center is where the bungy jump launches from.

Not entirely sure why I want to jump off that thing...

Jon-Michael and I, the two interns from our group jumping

Attaching the ankle straps. 

What you can't quite see here is the death grip my other hand had on the railing.

Bungy!

Recovery- getting back on the bridge

Jon-Michael, Megan, myself, and Georgia with the male cheetah we walked

Walking the cheetah