Most extreme stitches

The shark tank story Hello, how are you doing? It’s time for another extreme cross stitch story – yippee! I was nattering away last time about my top 3 extreme cross stitches, the first one being on an adventure to the Falkland Islands. My next takes place in a shark tank. No, really. Yes this is for real. People look at me side ways when I say I love sharks. Jaws has always been my favourite film and while on a trip to South Africa I caged dived with great whites. Since then I’ve been a bit more shark mad than before. In fact, those great whites reminded me of my dog (they’re grey and white and love to throw around a toy made from rope). For my birthday a couple of years ago, I was gifted a shark diving experience at Deep Sea World in Edinburgh. So off I went, cross stitch phone case in hand, to spend the day under the water. Although I like looking at sharks and fish, I’m not a great fan of being in the water with any of them. In fact, until about 6yrs ago I’d only go in the sea if I was holding someone’s hand. I made the diver at the aquarium aware of this and he very kindly offered to hold my hand to stop me screaming into my mask and regulator. On the outside... After some great instruction, I was in my dry suit and we lowered ourselves into the water - it was AMAZING. Well, it was amazing until I got to the bottom of the ladder, and while being watched by several families from the viewing tunnel, I got attacked by a small colourful fish who was determined to have brief relationship with my rainbow cross stitch. All that flashed through my brain was “Do NOT punch a fish in front of that family”, luckily the professional saw the sheer panic in my eyes and artfully wafted the colourful little fish away. After that the sharks were a doddle! Fun in the tank We slowly walked along one side of the tank, right next to the viewing tunnel. I got out my cross stitch and did a couple of stitches (yes actual underwater stitch) for the camera and then made sure I took a selfie. Everywhere I looked there was a shark – it was weird to see one swim over my head, it really bought it home that I was in their world. I did it! After walking up one side of the tank we had to jump over a small wall to get to the other side, but the divers had to make sure there weren’t any sharks coming as they would happily barge us out of the way to make sure they got through first. Surprisingly I got over the wall without incident – I’m one of these people where clumsy happens to me. If anyone is going to get hit in the head with a football, it’ll be me! Then we slowly walked back towards where we had started – my head was on a swivel, constantly looking out for the next shark and trying to make sure that little feisty one didn’t come back and get me. Yes, that is a shark above my head! I can’t remember how long we were in the water for, but I remember being cold when I got out. The tank is filled with (filtered) local sea water, so it was never going to be warm. But it was an amazing experience – my only worry was that the photos we’re going to turn out! I am so glad to have all the photos as proof. So, where are you all doing your stitching? Till next time!