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Published: October 11th 2010
Oh South Africa!
Definitely the coolest and craziest port we have been at. It was the most industrialized and Cape Town was a big city feeling. The craziest part of Cape Town was seeing table mountain right in the middle of it. When we arrived on Sunday I woke up at 5 am to see the ship dock. I woke up and everything was still super dark. All I could see across the horizon was lights to big building and a Ferris wheel. After that I went back to bed till six for the sunrise. Sunrise was beautiful. I couldn’t believe seeing it. I was trying to take pictures of it and found out my camera was broken. So I was very irritated about that the whole day. Before we could get off the ship we had to go to a diplomatic meeting. They talked about South Africa, and the man talking mentioned all the crime. He scared a lot of us and Dean David made him stop talking. Once we finally got off we had tons of fun! Our original plan was for 8 of us to go ostrich riding, and then go see the penguins on boulder beach,
then go hike to the top of table mountain. By the time we were leaving the ship about 24 people wanted to go with us. The original 8 of us broke off and we walked around a little part of the A & V waterfront. We saw a Desmond Tutu statue, and a huge coco-cola crate statue. After that we ended up going to the aquarium of two seas. The Indian and the Atlantic sea. It was the coolest aquarium ever. There were penguins, huge spider crabs, and so much amazing sea life. Makes me want to rethink being a marine biologist. After the aquarium we weren’t really sure what to do. People wanted to see the penguins still, and people didn’t. I didn’t since we saw them in the aquarium. So we split into 2 groups. 5 of us went on a water tour and got to look at Robben Island and see the different harbors. It was very windy and cold but totally worth it. After that we took a taxi to go find food. We weren’t really sure where to eat so we asked our driver. He took us to this local place and we all guessed
on what meals to get. Amazingly they were so good. We all just shared with each other. After that we went to the square and got some gifts. Then we went home. It was around 4 oclock when Kelly and I decided we wanted to go climb Table Mountain. Once we got there though, the clouds were covering it and the cable car was shut down so we decided to go back to town. We went to the mall and got hot chocolate with nutella. Best thing ever! We all had dinner on the ship. I was still full from lunch so I didn’t eat much. Then we went out to Mitchells, a bar down the road. I was hungry by that time and got a little pizza. We came back to the ship and slept. I ran into my friend jack, who was getting ready to go out and we talking about our trips and found out we were rafting together. We were so excited. We still had to pack though.
Monday & Tuesday
When I woke up Monday morning I had breakfast with Colin and we were deciding what to do for the day till 12:30 when
the rafting trip began. He hadn’t been to green market square yet and I felt like going back because I needed to write a paper on the marketplace. So we went back there and looked around for another two hours. He got a drum, painting and a few other things. I got a cool picture of an ostrich and some more little gifts. By the time we got back to the ship he and I decided to pack, unsure of what to pack we just threw together a random combination. We then went up to lunch. We ate a big meal because we were going wine tasting and didn’t want to be super drunk. Right before we were getting ready to leave I ran down to my room to get my pillow. Thank god I did because I was super tired on the bus and fell asleep. I also let jack use it because he was tired and super hung over. By the time we got to the winery we were all really excited. We have been told that south African wine was amazing. We got a tour then got samples. My favorite was the Merlot and the Rose. So
by the end of the winery the camping guides we were with recommended getting a bottle or 2 for the night, because that’s what people have done in the past. So we all listened to him and got 2 bottles of wine. THAT WAS STUPID! We enjoyed a great dinner and dessert. Then there were even smores. We all sat around the fire with our bottles of wine. We all stayed up till about 3 in the morning until we fell asleep.
We were woken up at 7:30 for the best breakfast ever. Eggs, toast, bacon and sausage. Some was cooked over the fire and others were not but it was amazing. We all started talking and getting really excited about rafting and before we knew it we all had bottles still left over. This was a problem. We weren’t able to drink on the river and we weren’t allowed to bring the alcohol back on the ship. So we had to wait till after the trip to finish off the bottles. But the rafting was very fun. The canoes were for two people and Jack was my partner. We were the first people the river and in the
lead. Once everyone got in we started splashing everyone with water and started a huge water fight. I was really sad because I wanted to take a ton of pictures yet I didn’t have a camera, so I let a girl take them. Hopefully she got a lot. After we were in the canoes for a while we passed some rapids then had to paddle. Jack and I would swim and then before we knew it, it was lunchtime. Lunch was ham and cheese with potato salad. At this point I’m so hungry I didn’t care. We stayed at the lunch spot for a while and swam around. It was a lot of fun. After lunch Jack and I slacked off. We were tired and stayed towards the back. We both swam a lot more slowing it down too. But we would go through rapids and we ran through a tree once. Somehow he got avoided but ever possible branch hit me. He laughed, so I splashed him. He and I were troublesome partners. BY the end of the trip we were all really tired and ready to pass out on the bus. However we had to finish the bottles
so we just drank them as fast as possible then fell asleep on the ride home. When we got to the ship we all planned on going out for dinner. There was a great sushi place we all went to. I had two rolls and some dessert. I had fried bananas, and my friend had chocolate spring rolls so we split them and it turned to be chocolate covered deep fried banana….hard attack maybe? After dinner we went back to the ship and packed for the next two most exciting days of my life. I tried to fall asleep but it was so hard due to excited and nerves, so I tossed and turned all night.
Wednesday & Thursday
5:30 in the morning we are out and waiting to be picked up. That means I was up at 5 finishing getting packed and making sure everything was in order. I brought my pillow again on this trip because I wasn’t sure what we were given or not. Thankfully I brought it. We were in the car for 6 hours to get to the largest bungee bridge in the world. The bus ride there we talk, we slept, we stopped
and got food. The first stop I was so nervous I couldn’t eat but the second one I was so hungry I had to. I got a hamburger and fries. Probably not the best thing but it worked. Before we knew it, it was 3 oclock and we were at the bridge. Most of us were freaking out. A kid George took 10 shots of whiskey before he went just to calm him down. Words cannot describe how scary it was getting out there. I had a melt down and cried just a little. It was so scary but so amazing. My video is the funniest. Brad got to jump first and they did it by weight and randomly. I was ok when I went but still freaked out. It was so thrilling but words can’t really describe it. But after I got back up I was thrilled that I did it and loved it. Not sure I would do it again but I was really proud of myself. But first thing I did when I got off the bridge was drank a beer and had an ice-cream to calm my nerves. It wasn’t until dinner when people told me
I started to gain color back in my face. That makes me laugh because I was fine, just still shocked that I did something like that. At dinner our guide told us there was a huge problem, a storm was coming in and we weren’t going to be able to make it cage diving if we left at 6 and got to the ocean by 12. So he said we could leave at midnight make it there by 7 and then go and we would probably get it. So we said ok. Dinner was pizza and I had left over I put in box. Probably another smart idea because I took that on the bus incase I got hungry. They then threw us a congratulatory party on jumping off the bridge. Our guide taught us the coolest shot, a hand grenade…just wait CSU. Then before we knew it 12 came around and we were getting ready to leave. We all thought we would pass out on the bus but me and Mason and Emi stayed up till about 7 until we got there. We might have gotten 2 hours of sleep on the bus, but it was only 20 min
increments. It was the worst.
When we arrived at the shark diving place we signed papers and then they had breakfast for us. Eggs toast bran muffins everything you could think of. So after we ate put our suits on we hopped on a boat. About 8 of us went up top thinking it would be awesome. It was so windy and choppy that we were soaking wet by the end. We got out to the place where the sharks were, the guy said it was too rough and we turned back around. We were so sad! But when we got back they had hot soup and scones ready. It wasn’t even an hour within breakfast but we were all so cold that we wanted warm food. So we got on the bus and left for Cape Town. The company said we could have some refund if we wanted or could come back tomorrow. I was torn because I was supposed to hike table top and go to winery but I said sharks. I already was at one winery and I’m sure a lot are the same. So we arrived back to Cape Town by noon. Having the rest
of the day to do things. I was super tired but didn’t want to sleep because it wasn’t worth it. I was only in Africa for a short time and I wanted to live it up. So I went to the mall to look for a camera. I bought one and I love it. Super excited to be able to take my pictures again of what I want and not having to rely on my friends. I then walked around the mall some more and looked around. I got nutelle and hot chocolate again with my friend Emi, then found some internet to upload pictures. But that never worked. I came back for the rest of the day and chilled in my room. Typed some stuff and got ready for shark diving again.
Friday
Final day in South Africa. Bitter sweet like always. Super excited for what is to come, way sad to leave. We get on the bus for cage diving at 6:30 we wait till 7 to see if anybody else shows up. Nope, so only 7 of the 13 of us showed up. Everyone was still either out of hung over that they never made it…
big disappointment. We got to the shark diving place in 2 hours and got to have the same breakfast all over again. Super excited. We made it out to the water this time and actually got to get in the cage. Before we knew it they said down, we took a huge gulp of air and saw a huge shark right in front of us. It was amazing! We saw three different ones about 10-14 feet long. Craziest thing ever, way cooler than shark week. When we were done we got lunch again and the chance to buy the video. It was awesome so I did. We left and we made it back to the boat at 3 o’clock. On deck time was 6 oclock so that left three hours to do whatever. I just grabbed some fish and chips and then went and took a nap since I hadn’t gotten much sleep in the past week and I have a busy week ahead. It was a great day to end South Africa on. Hopefully one day I will go back.
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grandmother
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sshleigh
I do not know if you are getting my comments. Let your mom know. It sounds like you are having fun and learning alot of geography too.