Fernwood

I was looking forward to a restful day before we got picked up at 3 PM but my sweet husband thought we needed to cram one more bucket list item into our schedule. This item was to cage dive with sharks.

We were to be in lobby and ready to be picked by 6:45 AM. Our driver was 30 minutes late and then drove like a mad man to the marina where we would board our boat for our shark diving experience.

There were 5 other people who were crazy enough to risk their lives with us today.

We boarded a boat and were soon on our way.

During our trip to the dive site, we saw a ton of sea life including whales, dolphins and seals.

We got to the dive spot. The crew started to bait the sharks by throwing fish parts and blood in the water.

Soon there was a Bronze Whaler shark circling the boat. Four people were placed in the cage while we watched from the safety of the boat. This group remained in the water for about 20 minutes. They exited the water and all were shivering. The water was 54 degrees-pretty chilly.

We got into our wetsuits. I was happy that they were thick suits but they were difficult to squeeze into.

The sharks were a bit scarce for a while so we waited until activity picked up before we got in the cage.

When the sharks were again spotted, we were told to get in the cage. Surprise, surprise, I was the first one to get into the cage followed by Bob and another couple. Although the water was pretty murky, we were able to see the sharks. They were a bit skittish-guess this is better than being aggressive. This did result in less of an adrenaline rush than we had anticipated.

The water was really cold! We were told that we would only be in the cage for about 20 minutes. Some people did choose to exit the cage but Bob and I soldiered on and refused to cry uncle. I was shaking so hard from the cold that I kept hitting my random buttons on my phone so when the sharks came, I missed several photos/videos of them. Finally after 45 minutes-yes almost an hour-we were told to exit the cage.

We ended up seeing 7 sharks. I am so glad that Bob pushed for us to have this experience!

We made it back to the hotel at 1:00 PM. We jumped in shower, finished packing and called the bellman to pick up our luggage.

We headed down to have lunch. We ordered and were just catching our breath when we were told that our driver was at the hotel. He was 30 minutes early! When our lunch arrived, we quickly downed our lunch and met the rest of the group minutes later in the lobby.

We entered our van. Cheri and Jenni were wise enough to say we should check the luggage. Sure enough, three of the Kerrs pieces of luggage were not in the van! We are thankful that this was discovered at the hotel instead of the airport.

Once checked in at the airport, we made our way to the lounge. We met the Pritchetts in the lounge after Jenni did a bit of shopping.

After our 11 1/5 hour flight from Cape Town to London, we waited for the Pritchetts and Genesers to exit the plane.

We wished Jenni a Happy Birthday.

We were going to a different gate/terminal than the other two couples so we bid them goodbye.

We had a few hours before our next flight so we made our way to a lounge. I worked on updated this blog.

Soon it was time to board our next flight which was scheduled to be a 9 1/2 hour flight.

I got food poisoning on the flight. By the time we reached Seattle, I was very nauseous. My brain was not functioning and I managed to lose my passport.

At baggage claim, an immigration officer said that since I had a Global Traveler card, I just had to have my retina scanned.

After we collected our baggage, we were picked up by Rob.

I was so glad to get home. I went straight to bed.

Overall, this was a fantastic trip!Read more