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Published: September 22nd 2013
After a great stay in Oudtshoorn I took the route 62 again and drove to Cape Aguhlas. All I knew about this place was that it's the Southernmost tip in Africa. It was on the way, so I thought "why not check it out"?
The drive itself was amazing. After leaving Oudtshoorn, the road goes between and over mountains that are some of the most beautiful I've seen so far. So that was already a great start. That and the fact I really enjoy driving, especially if I have good music to drive with.
Along route 62 I came across a peculiar place called "
Ronnies Sex Shop". It's in the middle of nowhere and No, it's not an actual sex shop. The story behind this place is that a man named Ronnie put up a shop in which he wanted to sell different goods and he called it Ronnie's Shop. As a joke, his friends decided it'd be a good idea to paint the word "sex" in it. Even though Ronnie was mad at first, he kept the sign as it was because it started getting a lot of attention to his business. And over a big
night drinking he took his friends' advice and put up a bar instead of the shop. And it has been there ever since. Now it's a popular pitstop in route 62.
Along the way I stopped in a town to have some lunch (an ostrich burger seemed like the way to go) and then continued driving on the route 62.
At one point I had to take a side road to get to
Cape Agulhas, where I was intending to stay that night. I came across several fields of yellow flowers by the side of the road which made a great contrast against the clear blue skies. I stopped in a few spots to take photos.
And I arrived in Cape Agulhas after several hours of very enjoyable driving through stunning landscapes.
The only backpacker hostel there is "
Cape Agulhas Backpackers". Even though it's the only one, it's very good.
I still had enough time that afternoon to see everything I wanted to in Cape Agulhas.
After settling in and leaving my stuff in the hostel, I grabbed the car and headed out. First I drove to the harbour.
It's an historical harbour with a small signal light at the end. And there are a few fishing boats in the bay. There's also a short wooden jetty.
At certain times of the day it's possible to get in the water in the shore right next to the small jetty and feed huge stingrays that come in and which are accustomed to people (I didn't get to see them though).
Then I drove along the coast about 7km from the harbour to the Cape Aguhlas Lighthouse (built in 1848). From the lighthouse it's about 1km to arrive to the landmark that marks the Southernmost point in SA and considered to be the dividing point between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
After looking around and taking a few photos I kept driving for a few minutes until I arrived in a wreck called "Meisho Maru". It's a wreck right by the coast and an excellent spot to watch the sunset. Needless to say, all the coastal landscapes of Cape Aguhlas and the town (Struisbaai) are spectacular. Definitely my kind of place.
In Cape Aguhlas you can wake up and see the sunrise in the Indian
Ocean and in the evening see the sunset in the Atlantic. A very unique place worth going to even if it's just for one day. Besides the landscapes, there's not much else to do there.
At night I had dinner with a group of girls who were doing a tour of the area (they were all either working or studying in Cape Town). After dinner I had some drinks at the bar with a girl who was the tour guide, a German girl and with a woman who worked in the hostel. So far, one of the best nights I had in SA. The conversation varied between music (a topic I always enjoy) and travels). The woman who worked there had lived for 1 year in Dahab, Egypt and had a lot of stories about diving and free diving (Dahab and free diving are among the top 5 in my bucket list). And I got a few drinks on the house.
I Left the next morning and then drove over to
Gansbaai and then
Hermanus. These towns are both in the same bay. I went there mainly because I wanted to do the Great
White (GW) shark cage diving. Gansbaai has a more of a port town and not so much a residencial area (from what I could tell), whereas Hermanus is definitely a residential/holiday town.
I Spent some time asking around if there was any company that offered cage-free GW diving, but no one does it. Even though there are very few people that dive and free dive with GW sharks, it's not offered for customers, because it's not an activity that has been regulated and it seems it's going to stay that way for a long time.
All the boats that offer the GW cage diving experience go out from Gansbaai. There's no point in staying in a hostel in Gansbaai if you have transportation to travel to and from Hermanus, which is a beautiful town. I stayed in "
Hermanus backpackers" which was pretty good and stayed two days in the town.
The cage diving experience was OK. From the point of view of someone that has never seen sharks before, it's most probably going to be a good experience and definitely a thrill to see a GW up close.
Personally, I wouldn't
have done it if I knew how it was going to be like. And not because of the specific company I went with, because they all offer the same, more or less.
We all arrived at the company around 9am, filled out the paperwork and had breakfast. Then, we got on the boat and had a safety briefing and about what the day would be like.
When getting to the site, the crew start throwing bait in the water to atract sharks. The sharks that come to the boat are always GW, but mostly juveniles. Older, bigger sharks aren't as inquisitive and will not waste their energy in going after a tuna head. The sharks usually stay close to the boat for a few minutes and then when they realize what the bait is, loose interest and go away. So then the crew has to try to lure another shark in.
When the sharks are in the area, the customers get into the cage (which is only partly submerged), 5 at a time and when told, they pull themselves down and watch the shark as it passes close to the cage for a
few seconds. Everyone usually sees the sharks 3 or 4 times for a few seconds at least.
So, like I said, if you've never seen sharks, it's impressive. If you're used to them and would like to be scuba diving out of the cage, it's very dull. I'd much rather go to Protea Banks or Aliwal Shoal where you can see big sharks (although not GW) in their natural enviroment and not from inside a cage. And for the same money or less.
After the shark experience I spent the day in Hermanus and the next day I drove to
Stellenbosch, the wine zone of South Africa.
It rained the whole day so I didn't do much sightseeing during the day. Stellenbosch, besides having a lot of wineyards around is also a university town, so generally it's very lively and ther's always something going on.
The hostel I stayed in wasn't very good. I'm not very picky, but the room I stayed in was putrid. On top of that, the night I spent there I had a person in the room who snored the whole night. I usually don't have much of
a problem with this, but in this case it was so loud that myself and another person that was staying in the room, had to go sleep in couches in the living room of the hostel.
The next morning I was so crossed that I left the hostel early in the morning and drove to Cape Town. I thought of taking a wine tour to Stellenbosch for the day from Cape Town, but it didn't happen in the end. To be fair, I can do the same thing 45 minutes from home, so it wasn't really a novelty. Still, I've heard excellent comments on the wine tours and I think are worth doing.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Those cagey Great Whites
Sorry the shark experience was disappointing but can see why you felt that way. Why is it the guys who snore never have to sleep on the couch.