Two Oceans Aquarium, Capetown
05/31/10
Sharks are just like people in every single way, except that we have little to nothing in common, though, I imagine, even sharks would not enjoy paying taxes. Watching them swim at Capetown´s Two Oceans Aquarium, both cocky and unafraid, I realized that they truely are the baddest mothertruckers on the planet. This being said, I could easily take one in a thumb wrestle, but likely lose in a spelling b.
As one shark swam by behind manta rays and sea turtles, it swayed side to side like a boxer moving in a ring. Its movements to me took on a new meaning, as if our plans worked out, we would be underwater with Great White Sharks in less than 24 hours.
The aquarium gave me a lot of insight into the animals we were hoping to meet in the wild. It is believed the highly-specialized body form of the Great White Shark was created through 35 million years of evolution. The longest one caught was 6.4 metres, captured off the coast of Cuba. Experts estimate that they live for 30 to 40 years.
Females reach maturity between 12 and 15 years at the size of 4.3 to 4.5 metres. The males mature between nine and 10 years, smaller in size at 3.8 to four metres. The young are born free swimming ready to kill already 1.2 to 1.5 metres at birth.
Great White Sharks tend to be fairly selective eaters, but are known to taste test a range of items, rarely humans. Their teeth are arranged in five rows. The top jaw typically has 26 teeth, while the bottom has 24. While young, they have relatively small teeth more suited to grasping fish. As the shark matures, the teeth broaden and are more suited for capturing large mammals. This is where South Africa came into play for the Ribatron-don and Boxie-boo.
Off the town of Gansbaal, about two hours from Capetown, resides Seal Island - considered to result in being the best place in the world to view Great White Sharks, even better than Sudbury, Ontario.
I enjoyed the aquarium´s efforts on educating the public about our devastation to the ocean. The over 400 species of sharks that have existed in the ocean for over 400 million years, are in decline. In the last 14 years alone, many shark populations have been reduced by 90 per cent as a result of increased fishing. We are killing more than 100 million sharks per year. A mirror at the aquarium was used to showcase “Planet Earth´s most dangerous predator”, and in my experience, one attractive fellow.
Seeing the sharks motivated us at Capetown´s Waterfront where we barted with multiple salesmen to get what we felt was a great price on shark cage diving, an amount that surprised hostel staff. Including two meals, transport to and from Capetown to Gansbaal (hostel pick up and drop off), we barted down to 1,000 Rand per person, a decent price, since salesmen were charging upwards of 1,800. It was still over our budget, but something we will never forget.
That´s all for now.
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