The drive to the South African border from Keetmanshoop was notable only for one thing. About 60 kilometres south of the town, the weather which I had enjoyed over the last four days just disappeared and the rain came tumbling down. By the time I reached the customs, some three hours later, the visibility was just about 50m and the rain had turned into a deluge. The temperature gauge now hovered around 12C and the lovely 30C of the desert was just a memory.


Customs on both sides were friendly and efficient when dealing with my father’s car . Unfortunately immigration found it strange (as I did) that SA customs had failed to stamp my passport when I had left the country. This caused some awkward moments, as they were under the impression I had been in the country for close to three months. This issue was resolved when they looked at the other country stamps.


On entering the dramatic crossing at Vioolsdrif I started the long slow drive back to Cape Town. The border straddled a beautiful river surrounded by craggy hills and a large escarpment. Luckily the rain held off long enough to appreciate this crossing. On the South African side the scenery was as sparse as it had been north of the border, but did appear initially somewhat greener.


As I travelled south the weather got worse. The mist became thicker and the visibility worse and I was surprised just how many people were driving without lights . I had intended to stay at country town of Springbok, but I arrived early than expected so I decided to head further south. The nearer I got to Vanrhynsdorp the worse the weather became, so in the end I decided to stop there. I found a nice little B&B (I was not camping in this) in the centre of town run by a very friendly lady called Anne.


Talk of the Town B&B was built in the 19th century and decorated with antiques and lots of nicknacks. Anne was super hospitable which was great as I was cold and wet after unloading the car. That night the wind howled and the rain just bucketed down.


In the morning the sun was up and it appeared that a complete change had happened to the weather but after breakfast the wind, mist and rain returned. I now decided to forgo Lambert’s Bay, as the weather there was no different and head straight too Fish Hoek .


The road south of Vanrhynsdorp was characterised by endless “stop and goes”. This is the South African phrase for roadworks with workers who stop you for a minimum of twelve minutes before letting you progress. Endless and time consuming. However as the weather rendered sightseeing almost impossible, so I was not too troubled.


I eventually managed to travel the 90 odd kilometres to Clanwilliam in a little over 90 mins because of these roadworks and entered the town for a planned break. Clanwilliam appeared as interesting as Vanrhynsdorp, but was again spoiled by the weather. However I did visit the Rooibos Tea House as planned. Here the owners were two sisters who had set up the first business in South Africa promoting and marketing Rooibos tea from independent producers. As Sanet (one sister) explained to me, the local independent producers release on a small but high quality percentage of their production themselves . The rest they sell to the large industrial producers. However, it is their production which is of a far superior quality to what is readily available from the larger companies. She also added that few people, both in South Africa and overseas understand the high quality that Rooibos can produce. Well I was suitably impressed after a tasting. The tea I tasted here was far removed from what else I had been drinking and many innovative blends were also available. I bought several for Dad and had a long chat with Sanet about marketing. It was quickly apparent that the challenges which she faced were not too different to those faced by marketeers in the wine industry.


By the time I had finished at the tea house the weather was again appalling and I headed south at a slow speed. A full five hours later I arrived in Fish Hoek after driving around Cape Town. The sun was now briefly shinning and the temperature was quite cold.


I now had some six days to get organised for South America and hopefully see some breaching Great White Sharks. The main reason for dashing back to Fish Hoek was to see this extraordinary natural event. Great Whites Sharks visit False Bay all year round but from June to August they “breach” or jump in the deep waters around Seal Island some 60 kms off the Muizenburg coast. This breaching happens nowhere else in the world and is a tactic these sharks employ for hunting seal pups. The young seal pups take their first swims from the large colony at Seal Island to fed at this time of year, ignorant of the perils lying some 20m beneath the surface. The deep waters surrounding the island offer the sharks the perfect opportunity to ambush their prey at speed from these deep waters. These breaching have now been made famous by the BBC and Discovery Channel (actually the BBC were filming the months before) and I was keen to see them and the hunts.


Three companies operate out of Simonstown and I was lucky (due to demand) to find a seat on Shark Explorers. I was also pleased to find that they were organising the BBC’s filming for the forthcoming “Life of Sharks” program.


With breaching typically happening during June to August and with the best opportunity to witness the jumps in July, I was pleased I had arrived back in time. I booked two trips, so I had the best chances on consecutive days. These trips were in the morning, leaving at 6.00am and returning around 11.30am. Most of the breaches happen at 7.00am at Seal Island.


Arriving on the first morning I meet the other seven people and we bordered the motorboat at the harbour. Here one of the crew explained that the previous week that had witnessed some 20 to 30 breathings each day, but this week was down to five. They had no idea why this had occurred, but as always wildlife is unpredictable. I was hoping that that was a just a one off occurrence.


Off we went in perfect conditions, calm seas, overcast cloud and plenty of pups. It was a 40 min journey across False Bay to Seal Island. When we arrived, everyone was expectant in these calm seas and some of the seal pups were just paddling around the sea close to the boat. “Madness” quipped one of the crew. But in the next five hours we surprisingly saw only three breaches. One I caught out of the corner of my eye, with the huge 3.5m Great White three quarters out of the water. Two I missed as I was watching the wrong pup.


Unfortunately by mid morning this was obvious that these three was all we would witness so the boat left the shores of seal Island to anchor in the centre of false bay and drop the diving cage. I had already decided I would go in the cage the following day and this turned out initially to be a wise decision as it was only the final pair in the cage who saw the one shark who turned up. With freezing temperatures it was apparently very uncomfortable, even in the huge wetsuits and the view from the top of the boat appeared that day to be infinitely better.


We hung on in the boat until well past twelve and headed back to Simonstown after what was a disappointing day. I had my fingers crossed for the following morning. The next morning at 6.00am I was joined by some twelve other people and the seas were much rougher. As we approached the island many of the other passengers were being violently sick and this continued for the whole day with one lady permanently leaning over the side. However this discomfort was nothing compared with the fact we saw no sharks. Not even a hint of one.


Having seen the 37 sightings reported on the website some ten days earlier, I was well depressed, but as we the crew anchored the boat for the cage, we were suddenly surprised by a “preditation” (as they called it). Some 300m away a large 4m Great White appeared behind a pup and a game of cat and mouse ensued for a full eight minutes. The pup tried to confuse the shark and tire it by swimming in tight circles and figure of eights. The huge predator thrashed about, mouth clearly wide open charging after it. It was exhilarating to watch and most of us were pleased when the shark tired. It was a great experience.


Twenty minutes later I was in the cage and freezing. Unexpectedly the visibility was only a matter of meters and the tuna head bait on a rope used to attract the Great Whites in front of the cage was not visible. I lasted about 25 minutes. I was so cold and that was what defeated me. Many people lasted only 10 mins. But unfortunately I saw nothing. With only the one predication, the crew stayed out in the bay an extra two hours, and on the radio we heard the two other boats saw nothing and left on time at 11.00am.


It was at about 12.20 we saw the first of two great whites, this time incredibly close up to the boat and the first a full 4-4.5m. Incredibly graceful it glided up to the cage from underneath before thrashing its tail and disappearing slowly into the deep. I was on the top deck and got a great view of this majestic animal. The second was smaller but circled the cage divers for longer offering a good view. In the end we were grateful for the extra time.


On the way back to port we stumbled upon a huge school of Common Dolphins and then a solitary Hump Back Whale. All in all it was a great end.