Looks like we are going sailing tomorrow

[killarney_sailor]

There are four cruising boats in Mossel Bay and we got together for a 'braai', South African for a BBQ, last night. What was remarkable was that the crews of three of the boats (American, Spanish, Swedish) were relatively young, late 20s to mid 30s or about the age of our kids. This is not at all the norm for world cruisers' get-togethers where the average age is more like 65. One of the 'kids' made the valid observation that from Christmas Island westward, ie for people actually crossing the Indian Ocean to South Africa, the percentage of young cruisers has risen dramatically in spite of the fact that the boats these people have are very modest, for example, there is a Vega 27 rafted to us.

Made me think about many of the older cruisers we met in Indonesia who were either going to stay in SE Asia to await developments with the pirates or in a few cases were going to ship their boats to the Med, in one case the cost was $24,000 which is more than the value of the young sailors' boats.

[Faster]

Loving your updates and observations, KS! Keep 'em coming...

[Sail The World]

Originally Posted by chef2sail

Glad your safe and sound. Cage with the whites.....hmm I want pictures.

this

[killarney_sailor]

There are several companies offering great white shark dives along the coast of South Africa from Mossel Bay to near Cape Town. Since we have lots of time here we decided to go. Yet again the only people over about 35 on the boat (of about 18 people). Our take on this cruise is that we will try all sorts of things because we will never get the chance again. Hence going to Easter Island/Pitcairn, taking a helicopter to the top of a glacier in New Zealand (fun, but pricey). We may drive to Botswana for a few days when we get to Cape Town (if the damn engine pump ever gets here.

First picture you can see the shark cage getting lowered in the water. They tie it to the side of the boat. Its floatation is 6 fenders which keep the top bit out of the water. You have your head above water until the guy towing the bait (two large fish heads) sees a shark approaching. He yells 'down' or 'right' and you can duck down to see the fish. Often the best show is above water, especially if the shark grabs the bait. In the other picture, June, Ainia's admiral is at the left. She got more action with sharks bashing into the cage several times - we could understand why most of the cage bars are bent.



Here are some random shots of the sharks. It was very hard to get really spectacular shots with a point and shoot because of the delay. With a better camera that takes multiple exposures at one time it would be better. These sharks are 3 to 4 m long. At this time of year the really large great whites have spread along the coast (we saw several as we passed). In the winter here, all of the sharks congregate around one smallish island that is crammed with seals.

[wind_magic]

I wish I could give killarney's post a 100 likes, that is amazing.

[Gypsea]

You're amazing Killarney. You're doing what most people dream of their whole life!! Keep the post coming please. I have to live through somebody for the time being.

Jeff of Gypsea