Life Update

It's Saturday night! Woohoo! Actually... I'm home, it's nearly 10pm and my bed is looking really cozy right now. Lame? Maybe to the 19 year old Ashley, but right now I'm loving it. My weeks have been HECTIC, and it seems the weekends are the only time I have to settle down a bit, get to bed early, and work on my own schedule. Eliot has been gone for the past 3 weeks. And although I miss him so much (and can't wait until he gets home next Friday), it really has been a good time for me to get some true, genuine, uninterrupted ME time (also lots of baby time with my neighbor Chantale's newborn). I haven't been able to reflect on this blog about it, but my head is full of thoughts. A lot of my thoughts are about the future, and what going to school is going to allow me to do. I'm loving learning to be creative and surprising myself sometimes with what I come up with. I want to get started on the future right now, and start planning and building upon what I've already learned. But I also know that I need to pace this and soak up everything I can before I make a move.

I'm getting prepared to go to China this summer for what I know will be a life changing experience. I'm so lucky to get this opportunity and I really want to get the most out of it. It's easy after so much traveling to take for granted these things that come up, but I'm viewing this trip as completely different from my previous China trip (life?) and embracing it as a different experience altogether. I also can't wait to get there with my camera and document it. For those who don't know what I'm going to be doing over there, I've been brought on board to head up THIS program.

I'm also working on my divemaster right now. I love being underwater, blowing bubbles and achieving this next level in one of my favorite hobbies. I'm hoping to finish it before leaving for China, but I'm not rushing it by any means. I am however, looking forward to doing a lot more diving in our FL waters.

Just a little post/update about what's going on with me.

White Shark Experience

So I kind of feel like this is a huge milestone for me. I don't know that I ever imagined myself getting in a cage to "view" sharks underwater. It's definitely something I've always thought about, but as far as actually doing it? I'm scared of sharks. It's a weird mixture of complete fear and fascination. I love reading books about sharks, or watching shark week on the Discovery Channel. I can't learn enough about them. But when it comes to diving? It's always in the back of my head and it terrifies me when I'm in the water.

So why did I decide to climb in a cage that's in water filled with chum and a guy throwing tuna heads off the boat? Well I guess the short answer is because I'm completely crazy. But the truth is, what scares me even more than the biggest man eater out there, is missing out on a great opportunity or experience because I was too scared to do it. So that is what made me climb into the cage on Saturday. Once I'd decided to do it, I was completely committed. But my heart was racing the whole time.

I have to say it was really cool, and given the chance again I would be back in that cage tomorrow. These sharks are really incredible creatures, and seeing them underwater takes away all the ferociousness and scary monster image that we're so often given, and turns them into the graceful kings of the ocean that they are.

All the sharks we saw were Great Whites. We were told in the beginning that there aren't any other large predatory animals in the area at this time of year. In total we saw 5 different sharks, the biggest one being around 3.5 meters (about 12 feet). A couple only did quick passes by the boat and some stayed around to check us out more.






Eliot getting psyched up


Chumming












I think these guys ate most of the guts that went over the boat.




Smiling for the camera

The Last big Thing

So this last weekend in South Africa we've planned our final excursion. It's something we've been wanting to do since we knew we were coming to Cape Town. So, tomorrow morning we're heading up the west coast to a place called Gansbaii to....get in a cage.


That's right we're going to witness THE Apex Predator that's refered to here in these waters as Air Jaws. I can't believe we're actually going to do this and I can't think too much about it because then I might not actually go through with it if I do. We're going through and outfit called the White Shark Projects, just so you know who to call if I don't update my blog on Monday morning. Hopefully we get to see some sharks up close. Yikes!