Great White Shark Diving with Obama's Navy deep sea divers

 I just returned from a trip of epic proportions.  I didn't sleep last night because I was being picked up at 4:30am to go cage shark diving and I was extremely excited (plus, went out exploring again with Dena until late in the night). I had originally planned to go whale watching, but whales have not arrived yet, which ended up working out perfectly.  Dena couldn't go because of an allergy to the cold (yea, she's a weirdo but I'll forgive her) and this was my last day of "vacation" before classes start so I didn't want to miss this chance. This was something I always wanted to do in Hawai'i, but never made it happen.  (Tangent: Cape Town reminds me very much of Hawai'i in that it is magically majestic and beautiful and the people can be described in the same way as a result.  The combination of the sun, mountains, ocean, plants, and animals are breathtaking.  One part of the drive today actually made me feel like I was exiting Kalama Valley)

 I knew shark diving was going to be epic and then I began talking with a guy in the group and after finding out he was from NJ (instant connection, always) , he shared with me that him and his 5 friends were actually Navy deep sea divers who were in South Africa as part of Obama's security team.  It was funny to see him tell me this, but when anyone else asked these guys why they were here, they said "work" and did not go into any more detail.  The captain did, however, find out they were all certified to scuba dive and let them go into the cage another time with tanks so they didn't have to come up and down to see the sharks.  While my day ended there, they were definitely going to continue their adventure as I heard talk of strip clubs come up at least a dozen times. 

The main message of "shark lady", who I didn't get to meet, is that the great white shark is misunderstood, maligned, and even hated on our planet because of negative media publicity.  They have been pursued, hunted, and indiscriminately killed over the years to the point where its existence hangs in precarious balance.  The operation of these tours was to actually dispel some of the hype and myths of these beautiful creatures.  The marine biologist compared their behavior to humans trying to get used to an unfamiliar object by touching it and feeling it softly.  Sharks do this as well, but use their mouth and their teeth happen to have extremely sharp teeth.  They are not actually attacking surfers or people, they are just getting to know an unfamiliar object in their habitat.  It is for this reason that most shark attacks (4 deaths on average a year) only end in death because of loss of blood, not because the shark tore apart the person.  Their purpose was to introduce some element of objective perspective to the people who do the diving in order to make a contribution to maintaining the natural balance in at least one ecosystem, in our communal home, Earth.