Today was the day the rest of the holiday has been leading up to. We left the Dole plantation behind and bussed up to Haleiwa harbor where we lounged in the shade awaiting the arrival of the boat belonging to...
We were slightly worried when the boats belonging to North Shore Shark Adventures (the other shark company around here) were moored up, the guides claiming it was too choppy out at sea to run any more trips today. Thankfully our skipper was less cautious (a good thing when running a shark tour?) and soon we were out on the rollercoaster waves heading to the cage.
The idea of the trip is simple. They sail you three miles out to sea, drop you into an 8ftx8ft cage with a snorkel, and then wait for the sharks to come. We did have to sign a two page legal waiver, had the golden rule (don't put your limbs outside the cage!) drilled into us, and after that it was swim time!
But before we could even get there we passed a humpback whale nursing her baby, and as we approached the cage a huge school (flock?) of flying fish leapt from the water and fluttered away. Flying fish! I thought they were only make-believe.
Soon enough the boat was moored to the cage. "Ok," said the captain and when nobody moved I stepped up, thought of England, and lowered myself in.
The water was deep blue and crystal clear, and the adrenaline fear (I obviously mean excitement) meant it didn't even feel that cold. Ten seconds later Hannah was beside me, and as the whole contraption leapt and bobbed with the ocean swell I could hear her excited snorkel sqeaks and followed her pointing hand.
There, lazily coasting around the cage, was a 7ft long sandbar shark. With no reference point in all the deep blue it looked superimposed, something from a 3D shark movie. But there it was, eying us up with every slow pass.
The truth is (according to our tour guide) that they're more attracted to the strangeness and vibrations of the cage than the people inside. All the sharks we saw were scavengers, staying well away from anything alive and thrashing, instead clearing up the debris. "The white blood cells of the ocean," our captain said.
Shark number one was soon joined by a few slightly smaller sandbars and also a 6ft barracuda! The boat drifted off, attached to the cage by a rope, and the ridiculous nature of being in a box three miles out in the Pacific, tossed around by the waves and surrounded by sharks suddenly dawned on me.
Sticking my head out of the water to see if it was actually true I saw all the people still on the boat pointing and shouting. About 30ft from us a humpback whale had breached the surface, was taking a breath, and with a flick of his tail dived back under. I ducked straight back under too, and although I couldn't spot him you could hear him singing!! Not quite as tunefully as on those whale song CDs you can buy, but he was certainly giving it a good go. A few bubbles of breath drifted up past us from the depths before all was again quiet.
All too soon our time in the cage was up, and group two was in the ocean as we hosed ourselves down with the boat's "shower". But the fun wasn't over as we watched the sharks slide gracefully around. Then the whale was back! He took a breath and swam right under the boat, on his side, one eye looking up at us. "I've never seen a whale come that close, and I've spent more days on the water than on land," the captain said, a line he surely uses once a tour. "Unless you become a marine biologist, you'll never get closer to a whale than that." Well, maybe he was being honest.
Our trip back was with the waves, so a little less rollercoastery. "Now we just have to spot a sea turtle and our holiday will be complete!" I commented. "They're on that beach over there," replied our guide. We wandered over and, sure enough, there was one lazing on the beach, one swimming about, and a third crawled onto land just to appear on this blog.
The bus journey back was through crazy rush hour traffic, hot and annoying. But I had swum with sharks, and eyed my fellow passengers with a ruthless and predatory gaze before meeting Jack, Amanda, Raimundo and Tere for cocktails and appetizers at the beach front Hilton.
I'm the most dangerous thing around here.
Mummy whale.
The cage.
Inside with Hannah...
And here comes shark number one.
He's ready for his close-up.
The barracuda, hanging out with his sharky friends.
The view back to the boat.
A sandbar shark comes around for another look.
Two sharks and my limbs (fully inside the cage).
Self-portrait in the Pacific.
Hannah enjoys the life on the ocean wave.
Back on land with the fame-seeking turtle.
And, for completeness, the Hilton keeps some pet penguins.
