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Published: September 18th 2008
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Hermanus
Looking out to Hermanus from Cape Point I don't feel like a backpacker just yet, I've been lucky enough to be staying with Andre (who lives with his Mum) in a nice area of Cape Town, so I'm safe and my stuff's safe and I get a room all to myself ! Whoop Whoop!
Cape Town is a very modern place, but at the same time you can see sights which make you look twice. Within only a few miles, you can drive between detached houses with double garages, safety gates and green bands and the next minute you're driving through shanty towns where the people just seem to be hanging around, playing in the street. Washing hangs from every possible area, including between trees on the mainroad. Horses are tied up near the roadsides and today i saw a barber shop, which was actually in a steel shipping container! In the wealthier estates, the houses have the high electronic main gates, electric wire fencing, security 'beams' and gates over doors and windows. It seems the norm to have them. Drivers here are lunatics - yes, even I say that and you know how bad my driving is. Cars weave between lanes, undertaking, hooting horns and the
state of some of the cars on the road - its amazing they still go. Andre offered me the use of his car in my last week here, but driving an unfamiliar car, trying to stay on the road and reading GPS - I would have no chance!
Sunday 14th .... We drove out to Stellenbosch today to visit the vineyards. Andre knowing all the 'in' vineyards, we visited two - Hidden Valley which was very hidden - in the middle of a valley in a valley in a valley. We were heading for Ernie Els's Farm - a famous South African golfer who has more money than to know what to do with, so he apparently bought a wine farm. But it was closed. Boo! We also went to Spier - you can buy that in ASDA! crazy! We headed straight for food to Moyo - the most amazing lunchtime experience yet - we were taken into this huge marquee and in the middle was a stage where they had SA dancers and they were playing music and drumming and singing - was great! There was a massive buffet and such nice foods, all south african cuisines. I
Robben Island
From Table Mountain passed on the wine, as was feeling a wee bit drowsy from lunchtime wine tasting! ( oh and I did check my watch and the first wine was consumed at 12.15pm, so I'm not quite an alcoholic - yet!).
Monday .... Today was a rather dull day in comparison to my time here so far. I started my PADI course and today was all theory, sitting in a very stinky and cold reception area of a dive shop - not quite the glamour I had imagined! So we did the entire book today in video format. eeish! Not bad, but a tad boring by section 3. I can now use my recreational dive chart thingy and i know about my pressure groups and my safety stops! woo, get me! hahaha...
I also experienced my first time in rush hour traffic. We left at 7.15am in order to get there in time for the 9am start, a drive of about 30miles to get to the dive centre, which is also close to where Andre works, so very handy for us both as he's my transport. Though if i had to do his commute to work every day, i would
quit. my god... I'm so pleased I can cycle to work every day (or at least I did...hee).
Tuesday... (and yes, I had to check that was the day!)... my first dive! OMG! We were meant to be doing our dive in the navy pool about 5 mins up the road but it was shut for maintenance so we had to drive all the way over to the other side of the moutain (about an hour away) to Camps Bay to use the pool there. Was very nice though.. as open pools go. Probably a bit more posh than the one I know at Grange over Sands. We used the saltwater pool first - there was an old guy swimming in there, with only trunks! We all turned up with our 7mm rubber double dive suits - with hoods and boots and gloves! hahah. He was clearly a local and stark raving bonkers! It was blowing a hooly and raining, not the weather I would think ideal for an open water pool swim! We then moved into the dive pool - a lot deeper but also better visibility - this time you could see the bottom and it
WINE!
gimme, gimme, gimme! was a long way dowwwwwwn!
We're out diving for real tomorrow in the open water in False Bay! Not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not - i guess once I'm used to the concept of breathing under water, it will get easier and more enjoyable. Our instructor Gemma said that a beer after diving is fantastic, just cos of the increased exposure to the nitrogen ... so i'm off to the pub now!
.... Wednesday! The beer was grrreat, went down too easy! So another day, another dive... and I will be honest, i didn't want to do it. We did more theory and quizzes on the morning and I just didn't want to do the dive. My first experience of diving yesterday was cold weather, rain, a dirty open air pool and a leaking mask - the latter I think makes the difference between a good and bad dive experience. My mask could have been the start of the end of my dive career, after only a day. It leaked, I thought i was gona drown - it was horrible. That together with the first experience of 'breathing under water' and the reliance on
Some wine tasting
What better way to spend a Sunday! a tube clamped into your mouth (i was almost biting through the rubber..)... no no no, today i was not filled with confidence - i was dreading it and I even told my instructor that it would be the day that would make or break - I may not even show up on the final day if I didn't think I was up to it. But guess what - it was AMAZING !!! We did our open water dive, in the Indian Ocean, we had sand, we had wildlife - ickle fishes and kelp and jelly fish and starfish !! Yes it was great, I could dive, my new mask was fab, it didn't leak - I could equalise, I could control the breathing and I didn't panic when we did our skills refresher - the worst bit is taking your reg out and hoping you can clear the water OK when you get it back in your mouth! We did 2 dives, up to 7m today. Tomorrow, we dive from the boat and up to 18m - our 2 dives that will seal (boom boom) the PADI Open water diver qualification!
Thursday... we didn't make it out today,
weather was really bad and visibility would have been poor - so after 2 hours in rush hour traffic and 20mins in the Diver Shop, I was told it was all off and to head home! er... a little tricky with no transport! So i hitched with 2 divers from Wales who had been hoping to dive too that day! All great fun, we compared our experiences of Cape Town so far, was all good banter! Took the day as a chance to do absolutely nothing - caught up with some washing and some tv time and write this! So who knows if tomorrow I'll get to do the final 2 dives and get my full PADI in time for New Zealand...
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