Jaws: South Africa

FYI: the African sun is FIERCE. I am completely fried from our beach day on Saturday. It's not like I didn't wear sunscreen either, I wore spf 50 and yet my legs look like elongated tomatoes. Eh, no pain no gain, I guess. I'm feeling the pain, I hope the gain is coming soon. I shouldn't be surprised, my skin was whiter than baby powder.

Other than the aftershocks, the beach was delightful. We (me, schleiff, dana, gabby, chi chi & nelly) went to Muizenberg beach which was a 30 minuter train ride from our house. People kept warning us about how the train is pretty sketchy, but I found it quite pleasant. Granted, I was in a group. It cost 5.50 rand, which is less than a dollar. I think the clincher for me was the marimba-styled band that suddenly emerged from both sides of the train. I honestly don't even know if they knew each other. One man started strumming his little guitar and then suddenly men (and a tiny little boy with a trumpet) started to join in on his jam. It was really fun and a perfect way to get in the beachy spirit.

The beach was gorgeous and very very windy. Perfect for rookie surfers and kite surfing (which I've decided is the coolest thing ever). We thought that people were just flying giant kites, but they were attached to surfers gliding over the waves, making jumps, and doing tricks. Those fellows were downright cool... and they knew it. There was one girl, poor thing. I felt her struggle, she was much too tiny to control the wind, it controlled her... face first into the water. Still way better than I could ever do, so more power to her!

So, we spent the majority of our day simply laying out, reading a book, walking along the beach, and putting up to our ankles in the water. And it's a good thing we didn't feel like swimming... *insert Jaws theme music here* After about two hours on the beach, a police-like siren went off followed by fiesty whistles by the lifeguards. While looking around in confusion, what did I see? Nothing but a lifeguard running down the shoreside with a white flag with a picture of a shark on it. I felt like I was in a movie. It was so bizarre to be on a beach where the water had to be evacuated because I shark spotter called in an alert. That's something you only hear about, I never thought I 'd be around for one. Very exciting :) What blew my mind was that people got right back into that water the minute the alert ceased. Then came another alert, immediate evacuation, and white flag reveal. People pretty much left after that point. I guess two strikes & they're out. I was out before it ever began, I can think of much better ways to go than being eaten by a giant fish. Which is ironic considering what I'll be doing on Wednesday...

I'm going shark cage diving! I don't know exactly how it works, but they said we'd be in the cage (um, duh! we better!) and we'll see sharks in the water... I've heard rumor of the boat stringing meat out for them so we could watch 'em feed. Intense. And I'm still debating whether I should wear my Jaws tshirt while on the boat. As tempting as it is, I might not want to be labeled as "that girl" who looks as if she's been dreaming of this day her entire life. I haven't, I'm just feeling adventurous. I'm in South Africa, why not?? Well, I can think of a few reasons why not...

No worries, I'll keep you updated- unless Wednesday doesn't go very well, in which case I love you all... ;)

Happy sunday! -les