Free Truthseekers by Mike Handcock Page B

her they looked handsome, obviously brothers and probably German or Swedish, given the blond hair. Both were very tall and muscular. Stacey started to think this might not be a bad trip at all. Her and two strapping athletic guys in a cage together, adrenalin pumping. In fact she could feel the heat rise inside her. She hoped the cool morning air would not give away her secret.
    Abbey pulled up next to the boat and got out introducing everyone and giving Socks some instructions in Afrikaans. His reply made Abbey give away a hint of a frown, with which John looked at Socks squarely in the eye. Socks turned away and went on with his preparations.
    They soon cast off and headed out through the heads of the tiny marina that housed mostly fishing vessels and into the open waters. The meeting of the Atlantic and Indian oceans was known for its restlessness and this morning was no different. The boat jumped and bobbed as it puttered its way out to sea. It was just twenty minutes to the launching site and Abbey was impressed at how well Stacey was doing. She seemed comfortable with the roll of the boat and Abbey guessed she might have spent more than enough time at sea somewhere.
    It was true, Stacey was a yachtie, or at least that is what her father called them; those who were born with the ocean in their sails. In fact Stacey felt more free on the ocean than anywhere on land and she had mounting excitement as she felt herself getting closer to one of her life’s goals – shark cage diving.
    It was breaking dawn, now around 6am as Socks brought the boat to a complete stop and cast off the anchor to stabilise the boat into the prevailing current. Abbey started to lower the large shark cage on the back of the boat. Both the two men simply sat calmly on the side of the boat. They had hardly spoken and Stacey had noticed they looked almost disinterested in the whole experience. She even wondered why they would bother coming out. They obviously had little interest, or maybe that was just the way these types were. She had introduced herself and had not got even a smile in return. She had come to the conclusion that her vision of romance in a shark cage was to be truly disappointed.
    The shark cage was almost as big as the rear quarter of the boat. In fact it made the boat plane a little under speed. Around the outside of the top of the cage was a safety yellow rubber floatation ring, which would identify the cage as it was lowered and keep it afloat. There were extra buoyancy bubbles as well on each of the four corners. It appeared to Stacey that Abbey and her brother were very careful people and big on safety, something that made Stacey feel strangely calm, even though she and the two men were about to don their wetsuits and climb into the twin oceans and mingle it with the great whites, the most ferocious monsters of the deep.
    The two men had disappeared below deck obviously to change. Stacey waited until they re-appeared and then went below and put on her own wetsuit. She noticed that Socks and Abbey were whispering very quietly and Abbey kept smiling at her. This all seemed very strange to Stacey.
    On her return from below she saw and her nose told her that Socks had emptied some pretty rugged material into the ocean. In fact it was barracuda heads and a mixture of blood and fish entrails. This blood and guts approach was sure to have the hungriest of the great whites circling the back of the boat in no time.
    In just under a minute Stacey and the group could make out three huge dark shapes nudging the rear of the boat. The sharks must have been right below them all the time. Their viewing time had arrived. The sea itself was also in quite a churn and the shark boat, which was only around thirty-five feet, was bobbing up and down restlessly.
    “OK everyone, it’s time to get in the cage. There is enough room for eight in there so feel free to move around a bit, yet be careful getting in. The sea is quite rough today,” said Abbey