South Africa was awesome, it started out with waking up super early to catch the sunrise and I don’t regret it one bit. Cape town is gorgeous! This port was by far my favorite, so much to do and so little time. As we open the door to the deck 7 balcony you get hit by an amazing view of Table Mountain! The sun wasn’t out at this point yet but there was enough light to see the beautiful view. It was also very chilly as they were beginning their winter when we arrived. Phil, Matt, and I just had a great photo-shoot as the sun came up.
When we got off the ship, it was just Phil and I for the entire day, and yeah…we ball hard, we decided to rent bicycles for the day and bike around cape town, I honestly think that was the best way to see that city rather than take a touristy bus. Thankfully our bikes were hybrid bikes (don’t really know what that means) but they worked and rode like a dream. We biked along the coast for hours against the wind in every direction, up and down mountains and hills jamming out with the jambox blaring on my back. I got plenty of looks when people were trying to figure out where the music was coming from.
The photo’s I took during the bike ride also were some of the best I think I’ve taken. We biked for hours; the cost line along Cape Town is a sight to see and should not be missed for those who plan on going there at some point in their life.
After returning the bikes, Phil and I were in search of some sustenance. We went to a place called Mitchel’s and it was great, we also ran into Glenda (she was in charge of the campus store) we had a few drinks and some food with her that night since she was getting off the ship to go home. I love that lady to death, craziest person I’ve ever met!
The next day was action packed!! Shark Cage diving with Great Whites! Yeah, this took some balls, I was pretty stoked about doing this till I saw a video of a great white getting inside another cage just the day before we went, and it was no small shark, it just busted through the cage like it was a toy! It even made it to NBC and CNN!! But anyways, we drove two hours to gaansbai to start this adventure. The countryside of South Africa is also very beautiful, this country is the most beautiful country in the world in my opinion! After we arrived, we had a small breakfast and made our way onto the boat.
Myself and just about everyone else was on edge! Couldn’t imagine seeing one of the deadliest animals in the world in front of my face. We started to leave a chum trail for the sharks to pick up on the scent. It took right about two hours till we saw our first shark but when we saw them, they didn’t stop! It was 7-8 sharks we saw that day and all different sizes, about the size of killer whales! Near the end when we were about to wrap up a shark actually did come inside of our cage and Phil decided he would touch it!! I’m still pretty jelly cause he got to touch it haha. We drove back to the ship and went out to dinner and called it a night!
The next day It was just me and Sarah! We planned on skydiving, 4 wheeling, paragliding…just about everything that gets adrenaline pumping but none of that happened due to weather so we ended up going to see the cape of good hope, cape point and the penguin colony!!! It was also a very good day, we trekked around down town for what may have seemed like hours till we found someone willing to take us, it was pretty cheap for all the things we got to see. Once again, best pictures ever!!!
Over the next few days, we had an overnight wine safari! This was an adventure, we did this through the same company that took us shark cage diving and had a blast! If I were to tell this story it would take days so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
All I know is that I wish I could go back and redo it over and over again. The safari was breath taking, seeing all the animals in the wild! And for the last day, we decided we were going to climb Table Mountain…while the table cloth was on (huge ass cloud covering the entire mountain all the way near the base). So we begin our trek while its still mildly sunny. Then it starts getting windy which isn’t so bad, then we start climbing inside of the cloud, rocks are starting to slowly get wet and slippery…wind starts picking up more and more, 35-40 mph winds while we are tackling these horrendous rocks. We were told by our cab driver that we were stupid and that we should not do it, but of course by reading this blog by now you should know me pretty well - I do some crazy shit!
After about 1.5 hours of climbing, we summited! We literally ran up this mountain, a few of the slower girls in the group made it later but the sense of accomplishment was there! Couldn’t see a damn thing past 5 feet but we made it! Now the harder part was going back down, once again slippery rocks everywhere and I decided to wear my Jordan's to climb this "hill".
It took quite a long time to get down since the wind almost blew me off the mountain or the numerous times I slipped and had that feeling of imminent death. After making it down, I realized South Africa was soon to be only a memory; we went back to the waterfront to have some lunch and then made it back on the ship. South Africa is definitely a country I absolutely want to return to! Alrighty ladies & gents, my fingers are tired!!!
Until next time, expect the wildest post for Ghana, cause shit literally hit the FAN!
-Raj Patel
