Hello!
I am glad to be alive and well enough to write a new blog. Today Brian and I put our lives in the hands of two men (professionals of 5 years...hmm...) and ventured out on a 32-foot Anderson Boat into the open ocean, 4 miles out into the open ocean. No, we weren't kidnapped. We actually went on a North Shore Shark Tour (http://www.sharktourshawaii.com/ ). When I called them this morning, we signed up for a 4:00 p.m. tour, Brian would go into the cage for $85 and I would just ride the boat and observe for $50. Unfortunately two Dramamine weren't enough and Brian was throwing up before they handed out snorkle masks, so we swapped and me and the baby went swimming with the sharks. I've uploaded the pictures from my digital, but we also brought a water-proof film camera, as soon as they are developed I'll upload those too!
It was an insane thing to do, and I am not a fate-tempter, but we were there and so was the opportunity, far be it for me to waste time But, yes I was petrified. I kept my head out of the water for the first ten minutes and even when I decided to go under and have a look, my belly kept me up on the surface. But I took pictures and was freaked out beyond belief. My left hand has a callous below my wedding ring and a few cuts on my finger from gripping the cage so tightly. I was hilarious to the tour-guys. They kept shouting at me to take a deep breath and go under, easy to say, hard to do. Not to mention, this was the first time I had EVER had a snorkle-mask on my face, not to mention been so far out in the ocean, and have come on a boat for that matter (first time on an ocean boat, other than a kayak once). I thought I was doing pretty good just being in the cage which was only attached to the boat by about six or eight ropes.
So, anytime I did manage to put my face under the water, there were sharks. The kind that we saw, and we did only see one kind, but there were about fifty of them, were called Galapagos Sharks. Here is a Wikipedia link to them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galapagos_shark They average 10 ft. and I'd say there were quite a few ten-footers swarming around that boat. Turns out they're pretty aggressive, but also just really curious. They are also cannibalistic so the young stay in very shallow waters until they're big enough to hold their own with their own. It's a good thing I didn't know any of this while on the boat. They looked pretty placid to me, until the tour guys started passing out chum...
We also got to see some whales, but not as clearly as the sharks. The whales would show their spouts more often than not, and they weren't keen on getting near the boats. While we were travelling out and back in, the boat would halt suddenly because a whale would be passing in front of it, or the driver wanted us to look at one he could see, but we could not. No pictures of whales.
So, that was our trip - oh yeah, Brian wasn't the only one that threw up, nope, his wife did too. Yep, I threw up once I got back on the boat, probably a release of the anxiety I had just put my body through. So, imagine Taco Bell and Fruit Punch - thank goodness I made it over the side, but the smell lingered on. Needless to say, I enjoyed a nice warm shower when we got home.
Then, since tomorrow is Easter Sunday (which I can hardly believe, what happened to my April holiday?) Brian and I dyed a dozen eggs. Hey, it's my first Easter away, and we always dye eggs - no excuses. We won't hide them from ourselves and we won't surprise each other with Easter baskets on the table in the morning, but we'll miss that from home. Next year we'll have a pretty good reason to do it all again too, and maybe even the candy baskets. We'll see. I've bought fabric and patterns to make some clothes. Since we paid for the shark thing today, baby furniture may wait until last minute Poor baby, but she'll sleep in a bassinet for the first three or four months right? Well, my next appointment is Monday morning, hopefully the scale won't break, but I'm waiting for them to tell me that I need to stop gaining
Well, we love and miss everyone! Happy Easter! Come and visit, you can swim with sharks too!
I am glad to be alive and well enough to write a new blog. Today Brian and I put our lives in the hands of two men (professionals of 5 years...hmm...) and ventured out on a 32-foot Anderson Boat into the open ocean, 4 miles out into the open ocean. No, we weren't kidnapped. We actually went on a North Shore Shark Tour (http://www.sharktourshawaii.com/ ). When I called them this morning, we signed up for a 4:00 p.m. tour, Brian would go into the cage for $85 and I would just ride the boat and observe for $50. Unfortunately two Dramamine weren't enough and Brian was throwing up before they handed out snorkle masks, so we swapped and me and the baby went swimming with the sharks. I've uploaded the pictures from my digital, but we also brought a water-proof film camera, as soon as they are developed I'll upload those too!
It was an insane thing to do, and I am not a fate-tempter, but we were there and so was the opportunity, far be it for me to waste time But, yes I was petrified. I kept my head out of the water for the first ten minutes and even when I decided to go under and have a look, my belly kept me up on the surface. But I took pictures and was freaked out beyond belief. My left hand has a callous below my wedding ring and a few cuts on my finger from gripping the cage so tightly. I was hilarious to the tour-guys. They kept shouting at me to take a deep breath and go under, easy to say, hard to do. Not to mention, this was the first time I had EVER had a snorkle-mask on my face, not to mention been so far out in the ocean, and have come on a boat for that matter (first time on an ocean boat, other than a kayak once). I thought I was doing pretty good just being in the cage which was only attached to the boat by about six or eight ropes.
So, anytime I did manage to put my face under the water, there were sharks. The kind that we saw, and we did only see one kind, but there were about fifty of them, were called Galapagos Sharks. Here is a Wikipedia link to them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galapagos_shark They average 10 ft. and I'd say there were quite a few ten-footers swarming around that boat. Turns out they're pretty aggressive, but also just really curious. They are also cannibalistic so the young stay in very shallow waters until they're big enough to hold their own with their own. It's a good thing I didn't know any of this while on the boat. They looked pretty placid to me, until the tour guys started passing out chum...
We also got to see some whales, but not as clearly as the sharks. The whales would show their spouts more often than not, and they weren't keen on getting near the boats. While we were travelling out and back in, the boat would halt suddenly because a whale would be passing in front of it, or the driver wanted us to look at one he could see, but we could not. No pictures of whales.
So, that was our trip - oh yeah, Brian wasn't the only one that threw up, nope, his wife did too. Yep, I threw up once I got back on the boat, probably a release of the anxiety I had just put my body through. So, imagine Taco Bell and Fruit Punch - thank goodness I made it over the side, but the smell lingered on. Needless to say, I enjoyed a nice warm shower when we got home.
Then, since tomorrow is Easter Sunday (which I can hardly believe, what happened to my April holiday?) Brian and I dyed a dozen eggs. Hey, it's my first Easter away, and we always dye eggs - no excuses. We won't hide them from ourselves and we won't surprise each other with Easter baskets on the table in the morning, but we'll miss that from home. Next year we'll have a pretty good reason to do it all again too, and maybe even the candy baskets. We'll see. I've bought fabric and patterns to make some clothes. Since we paid for the shark thing today, baby furniture may wait until last minute Poor baby, but she'll sleep in a bassinet for the first three or four months right? Well, my next appointment is Monday morning, hopefully the scale won't break, but I'm waiting for them to tell me that I need to stop gaining
Well, we love and miss everyone! Happy Easter! Come and visit, you can swim with sharks too!
1 comment:
Wow! What an awesome experience...thank you for sharing. My guess is you will not be eating Taco Bell and fruit punch for years to come...once its up and out...it stays out :-)
I am glad to hear you are doing so well...once your little angel arrives opportunities like this will slow down for a while. This is a great story with pics to start her scrapbook...her first swim with sharks....go girl!
Looking forward to the rest of the pictures.
Love
Lynnette
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