The pick-up was late by some 30 minutes or so, so I wanted to confirm we were going to be back well before 1600. Which of course was not the case, the fact that the return time was the main reason for choosing this particular tour, ecoventures, seemed to have slipped their minds. I could argue for a full refund or make the driver swear he would be back by 1700. That meant I would miss the meeting with Mona and would possible have her bring my gear ready for heading towards the airport. I had the guy triple check we would be back by 1700 and got in the mini-van and took some tablets against sea-sickness just to be on the safe side.
Long story short, I made the conditions crystal clear when we had reached the office for the tours. I would be taken to the backpackers 1700, or to the airport 1800, or they would pay me another ticket home. I was close to losing it when I realized that we were the second of three daily tours, and those who went with the first one was scheduled to be back in Cape Town at 15-1530. In other words the one I was booked for. Eventually we left for the shark site though and after a rough but not that rough ride we were there. As the guide went through the security briefing a shark got up close and as everybody was trying to catch a glimpse the guide grumbled loudly about how people stopped listed when a shark was nearby without receiving any protests.
The shark-cage-dive idea is that you get in a wetsuit, get in a cage (about 2/3rd’s in water) next to the boat in the freezing water and watch as the shark swim by attracted by some form of bait. Sounds sort of lame but I was surprised by how awesome it was when the freaking monster swam by within arm’s reach. Those beasts also have lots of teeth when you look at their open jaws. We took turns and after seeing enough I was shaking of cold and got up on top of the deck to get some shots of it from above. We got back, got some salad-lasagna before getting back in the mini-bus towards Cape Town. The new driver drove like he was stealing cars for a living and managed to drop me off at Blue Mountain at 1715, which was acceptable.
I quickly changed clothes and met up Mona who had done some shopping during the day. We got to the airport with another Excite taxi for some 17€ and managed to check in without any hassle. As I got on the plane it felt like chances are that at least I’ll end up in Europe. For some reason the plan was not the one originally planned but a replacement which unfortunately lacked audio/video on demand so we settled for Amarula with ice for entertainment. After dinner I dozed off amazingly well and fell asleep.