I just got back from my epic
weekend in Cape Town, South Africa. Let me first mention how disappointed I was
to not bring my laptop. The internet there was amazing and I might have finally
had the chance to upload all the images and videos I hadn’t been able to upload
here in Mossel Bay. I didn’t even think of bringing it to the hostel we were
staying at until I turned on my phone and saw the five-bar internet connection.
I was a little frustrated to say the least, but I really have nothing to
complain about. It was one of the most exciting weekends I’ve ever had.
We arrived in Cape Town early
Saturday morning after a lengthy five-hour drive. The time for our departure
and return this weekend, as well as the trip even existing in the first place,
changed so many times throughout the week that when finally had a set time and
date, we were just relieved to finally know our plans. The trip would be from
Saturday to Monday. At first I was a little upset to be missing a chum trip on
Monday, but upon getting home this evening, I found out the boat engines
decided not to cooperate today; trip postponed to tomorrow. Nothing wrong when
things fall gently in place.
We arrived early Saturday
morning and went straight to our first destination; Table Mountain. Thanks Joey
for telling me to climb the mountain. It definitely wasn’t the most exhausting
physical workout of my life. We were climbing one of the seven natural wonders
of the world in the middle of the heated afternoon; genius. When we arrived and
were able to look up at what we would be climbing, I have to say I was a little
intimidated. I didn’t even see the “trail” we would be climbing. All I saw was
a large mountain. We got to the beginning of the “trail” and I just see a bunch
of stone steps. It was myself, Ben, Katie and an older gentlemen who arrived
right around the same time as us. He was probably in his late sixties, early
seventies and dressed completely in white; white hat, white shirt, white
shorts, white socks and white shoes.
As we looked at the trail and prepared
ourselves, I asked the man if he knew how long the trail normally took. His
reply was about an hour and a half. If it took this man an hour and a half to reach
the top, a young, strong, 23-year-old male should be able to cut that in half.
The four of us began our journey.
About five minutes into the
stone-step adventure, we heard the man say,”Only two more kilometers of these
and were there.” Awesome.
Fifteen minutes later, Ben,
Katie and this older gentleman were easily 25 meters ahead of me. Apparently,
stairs are not one of my strong points. I kept thinking how physically fit a
person would be to do this once or twice a week. I also kept thinking about
what a con artist that older man was. He told us he had only climbed this
mountain once before, but I swore I could see that man jumping three rocks at a
time. He wasn’t human.
I needed motivation and
fortunately I had my iPod. I had my headphones, but I also happened to have my
speakers with me as well. I think it’s pretty obvious what option I chose. I
blasted the Eye of the Tiger and the Final Countdown, on repeat, for the rest
of my trek. People walking up and down the mountain loved it; especially the
older ones. A few of them would walk past me with their hands above their heads
laughing and congratulate me on my excellent song choice. Ben and Katie, though
leagues ahead of me at this point, said they could hear the music their entire
climb.
When I finally made it to the
top, it was around 4:30 in the afternoon. I started the climb at a little after
three. The old man was spot on. Of course Katie, Ben and the most physically fit
senior citizen on the planet made it in under an hour, but that’s beside the
point. When I reached the top of the mountain, I had a choice to either go left
or right; always left. Unfortunately, my partners went right. Thirty five
minutes later, I reached the end of the left side of the mountain and there was
no sign of Ben of Katie. I didn’t mind though. I made it up here and I was
going to enjoy it. At one point, a cloud breezed right through me. It felt like
a gentle mist flowing all around me. It was absolutely gorgeous. I had no
choice to just raise my hands in the air and enjoy the moment.
When I reached the end of the
cliff it was close to 5 p.m. We were supposed to be at the bottom of the
mountain by five ad it was going to take me another thirty minutes to just make
it back to the dividing point at the top of the mountain. At that point, I was
going to take my time and enjoy the view. I climbed it up here and had no intention
of not taking in every moment. I kept taking pictures, but this one rock
formation about a meter or so away from the cliff kept ruining my shots. I made
the decision to jump onto it for a better shot; a decision I know I will most
likely get yelled at for. Good thing I’m not afraid of heights. From there I
could see everything. I will try to post as many pictures as I can. After I felt
as though I saw everything I wanted to see, I made my way back.
I eventually met up with my
friends who were a little worried to say the least. They hadn’t seen me at this
point in almost two hours. All was fine though. I was safe and got to see the
entire mountain; can’t argue with that. We paid for a shuttle down and headed
to our hostel.
The next day, we made our way to
Boulders Penguin Beach. When we first got there, I was a little disappointed. I
thought we would have been able to swim with the penguins on the beach; optimistic
thinking, but in fact we had to stay on a wooden platform and look at the
penguins on the beach from a distance. I took a couple pictures and even saw a
couple of them up close, but it was not like I had imagined it. After that
trail, our field specialist Brom brought us to another trail. I was expecting
another wooden platform, but this was a little different. We walked through a
gate and made our way to a beach. The beach was really cool and there were
people everywhere. There were large natural boulders to jump off of and a kelp
forest only a few meters from the shore. It was definitely one of the cooler
beaches I had ever been to.
As we made our way through the
crowds to look for a place to settle down with our things, I finally noticed
something I hadn’t noticed before. There were penguins everywhere!! I don’t
know if my eyes were just not accustomed to seeing penguins and people together
or I was just so disappointed from the first trail, but I hadn’t even noticed
them. They were in the water, on the beach, on the rocks, in the shade, in the
dunes, in the trees, just casually walking in between people and their beach
towels. It was a legitimate penguin beach. Of course my initial instinct was to
pet one of the penguins but I found out rather quickly that they like to
nibble. You could get a within a couple inches of the penguins with no
difficulty, but once you made an attempt to stick your arm towards it, the
penguin would turn its head and take a snap at you with its beak. It only takes
one penguin bite before you get the idea.
It was still really cool to see.
Even though most penguins live in warm weather, it’s a natural thought to
associate them with cold weather and ice. It was definitely not cold and there
was definitely not any ice but there were clearly penguins. I got to swim in
the water and dive through the kelp as well as hang out on the beach with a few
hundred penguins.
After our penguin beach, we made
our way to the Cape Point Lighthouse. Of course we had another few hundred stairs
to climb before reaching the top, but I seemed to fair a little better during
this excursion. I was even the first one to the top that time. If only that
older man could have seen me then. I got some more great pictures before we
made the climb down. As far as Sunday was concerned, we were finished for the
day. The only thing left was my open water pelagic dive the next day.
By 6:30 a.m., we were at the
dive shop getting our things together. After finding the proper gear sizes and equipment,
we made our way to the dock. They packed us in two boats. We picked the wrong
boat. It was a good choice if you liked going fast and flying over the rough
waters doing over 30 knots, but a bad choice if you didn’t want to get wet. The
entire crew was soaked to the core before we even got in the water. It took
about an hour to reach our destination. It was cool to see the water change
colors on the way there. At one point the water changed from a murky green to
crystal clear blue right before our eyes. It definitely was not New Jersey
water.
The whole time out to the
location, I kept looking at the mountains and the cliffs. There were seals all
around us in the water and albatross flying over head. I kept smiling at how
amazing this whole trip has been. It was roughly 10 a.m. on Monday morning and
I was on a boat to go scuba dive with mako sharks and blue sharks in South
Africa. I wonder what my friends were doing? When we made it to our spot, a
mako shark appeared within minutes. The water was rough and a bunch of people were
already getting sick, but I knew once I got under the water, it would be fine.
We got our gear on prepared ourselves. We had to wear booties and hoods because
blue sharks, being extremely curious, like to nibble on anything exposed or
hanging off. This includes ears and hair.
We were explained the safety precautions
and told what to do. The crew filled a tub with sardines and tuna and dropped
it into the water. Our goal was to stay as close to the tub as possible because
that’s where the sharks would be; they were right. From the moment we dropped
into the water, we were surrounded by sharks. There were blue sharks ranging in
one to three meters and mako sharks of similar sizes. There were yellowtail tuna
and long fin tuna. There were Bonita and mahi mahi. Even a couple cape fur
seals made the trek out to see us. It’s unbelievable how big the seals are. You
would never expect it. Apparently the captain hates when seals come because they
are known to attack the blue sharks and tend to scare them away; how ironic.
This dive was a little different
than any of my other dives for a few reasons. First, there were sharks
everywhere. In the end we would see 15 blue sharks, three makos, two seals and
a number of other fish. The other reason was there was no floor. There was
nothing to look at to determine your buoyancy. When you looked down, you saw
sharks and more blue. It was an unsettling feeling.
The sharks were beautiful
though. They swam all around you with no fear. The crew was right about their
curiosity. On more than one occasion I would look down to see a blue shark nibbling
on my fin. They would swim right up to your face and look directly into your
eyes. Every direction you looked there were sharks swimming around you. If you
ever want to feel slow in the water, swim with sharks. They move in the water
with such ease in the water. They were next to you before you even realized
they were there. I would look to the left to see a mako swimming right toward
me and veer off at the last second. They looked like bullets in the ocean. They
are the fastest fish in the ocean, but until you see them take off, you cannot
even understand the speed. On more than one occasion I was able to slide my
hand across the shark’s body as it swam past me. It didn’t seem to mind at all.
I wasn’t there to hurt it and I really think it could tell.
I was devastated when I saw my
air running out. I didn’t want the moment to end. I wanted to stay down there
was long as possible enjoying every second. I was in the open ocean with blue
sharks swimming around me. I don’t even know how many times I had seen it on
television and I was finally doing myself. No cage, no protection, just the
sharks and myself in the ocean. I wanted to just stay there floating as the
coolest animals on the face of the planet swam past me. Unfortunately I had to
eventually come up as my tank neared empty. It was ok though. The dive exceeded
every expectation I could have possibly imagined. It felt like a dream. As we
made our way back to the dock, getting wetter than the trip there, I didn’t
care one bit. I felt like I was supposed to be here.
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