AHHHH SHARKS!!!!!!!!

Hi,

My friends and I got these coupon books last semester and one of the coupons was for a discounted shark tour. We decided that we wanted to do that since it would be quite thrilling. Well today was our tour with Hawaii Shark Encounters. We got up crazy early this morning to get on a bus for the 2 hour trip to Haleiwa. We got to the dock and checked in and set on our way to the cage with 8 others. They split us into 2 groups of people that would go in the water and we were all in the first group. We got out there and the cage was sitting there and they told us jokingly that we would have a short swim to the cage but make sure that you're not the slowest swimmer. haha. They pulled the cage over to the boat and then we climbed in. I was shaking when I got in partially because it was kinda cold and partially because I was nervous and excited. We were only in the cage for about 20 minutes but it felt a lot longer. We all got in and they tethered the cage a little ways away from the boat so the sharks could swim around the entire cage. They also threw fish bits in the water around the cage so the sharks would get close enough and they were definitely close enough. Tami and I both had our underwater digital cameras so we took lots of pictures and shot some video. We also had to deal with the jelly fish that were out there. Alex and I got stung the most but nothing too bad just some red, itchy dots. After our 20 mintues was up they pulled us back towards the boat and we got out so the other group could get in. We got out and wrapped up in our towels and watched the sharks in the water as they fed them. I shot some video of that so you can see it because its totally like a Jaws moment. The sharks that we saw were male Gallopegos and Sandbar sharks. We all agreed that we wished we could have spent all day in the cage watching the sharks because it was totally worth it to say that we've swam with sharks. I hope you enjoy all my pictures and video.

I hope you enjoyed these. Who knows I may have sparked your interest in swimming with sharks if/when you come to visit me *wink wink* I'll write again soon. Sending you warm wishes and aloha kisses. Jessica :)