South Africa

Surfing with the sharks! (My first headline)

Anybody who comes to Cape Town has probably read that this is the best place on earth to get a glimpse of the big white shark (cage diving etc), that poor little creature that got turned into a human flesh loving monster by the wise money makers of Hollywood.

Windsurfers at Sunset Beach

While the white shark is primarily only looking for seals and not for humans, it is still true that about every two years or something somebody becomes a victim of a white shark attack here, usually a swimmer or a surfer on a paddle board. That’s not very much, given that there’s thousands and thousands of people bathing and performing water sports of all kinds daily in the bays around the cape of the good hope. It’s a lot more likely that you become a victim of robbery or a car accident on the way to the beach.

Let’s do this chronically:
First of all my beloved Dorit fears the sharks for me, and she stated doing so way before I got to Cape Town. When I got here and went surfing at the rough beach of Melkbosch, I admit I was a bit weary of what might be out there in the water. The second time in the water, at the beautiful lagoon of Langebaan I was told that the sharks don’t get in there because of the high reef before the lagoon. So I felt pretty safe, until I saw something big moving quickly close to surface of the water and some sort of fin sticking out. Yes, my heart jumped. But then I realised it was just a seal, circling me and my gear while fishing. So playful, a joy to watch!

Shark Bay

A day later at sunset beach I was told that the sharks don’t get close to the beach here, there wouldn’t be anything to hunt for. I only encountered a lovely penguin family, yet another box ticked on my wildlife-to-see list.

Sunset Beach

My fourth day on the water led us to the paradise-like beach of Whitsands further south towards the cape. On the way there we passed by the beaches of Muizenberg, known for the colonial style fishing villages, the warm water temperatures and yet again some deadly shark attacks due to their proximity to a seal island just off the coast. There’s a shark watch on the hills above most beaches and when we drove along, the siren was launched and people fled the water.

DSC_0075

Luckily our beach was on the west coast of the cape and the sharks were not supposed to get there. Still a guy from the hostel I’m staying at, came out of the water telling us (by the name of his mother) there was a shark the size of my windsurf board out there. Consequently I kept very close to the shore and got washed by the breaking waves again and again. Later that day Tonguy, a French guy from my hostel was told by some other French guys that they had seen a 5m shark just south of our beach and everybody quit surfing there that day. Probably just rumours and even when looking at the odds (there hasn’t been a deadly shark attack on a kite- or windsurfer ever at cape town) it’s still scary.

Rietvlei Lake

So no, I haven’t seen any sharks yet, if that’s what my headline was imposing to you. Yet they are still around you all the time, if not physically than at least in your fears and in the discussions of the people. It’s kinda pointless and fairly annoying especially for somebody like me who still drops into the water a lot while windsurfing.
But anybody worrying about me or thinking about surfing in South Africa and also as a note to myself: fear not. Everything else is more dangerous than those rare stigmatized creatures.

5 thoughts on “Surfing with the sharks! (My first headline)”

  1. I enjoyed reading this story so much man! Can’t wait to read about your new adventures! Give us some more photos man! like tons of them please !

    M

    1. Thanks Matt, great to see such a keen follower, dude! I’ll try to post more soon. Since my tablet pc broke down, I have to do it all with my android phone and that takes a bit longer…

  2. Cause I am worrying about you. Well I deeply believe in the statistics I have read and hope you enjoy wind and waves. Have fun and see u in a couple of weeks!!! Can’t wait!

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