May 12, 2013 (8:03 P.M.)
Shannon and I had an amazing week. It was really awful to
see her go on Wednesday; I almost didn’t let her. I feel as though we didn’t
have enough time together, but I’d rather of had that than no time at all. I
don’t know if I could have gone seven months without seeing her at all and I’m
so grateful she was able to fly out here to see me.
When she arrived, we made our way to our hostel called Two
Oceans Backpackers. It looked a lot nicer on the website but the price wasn’t
bad and it was right in the middle of the city. On the first night she was
there, we went out to eat on the Waterfront – a really pretty collection of
bars and restaurants right on the harbor with Table Mountain in the background.
After dinner, we headed over to a bar and grabbed a couple drinks.
Despite the
bar being slammed, we walked up and found two seats right in the front. We sat
there for a while and ended up signing our names on an American dollar we taped
on the wall next to everyone else’s.
On Thursday we woke up and headed over to Simon’s Town and
Boulder’s Beach. It was a little different than the last time we were there
because there were no people on the beach. We had the entire beach to ourselves
and were able to relax on the sand as a couple penguins walked around us. It
must have been out of season for the penguins or something because there were
not as many walking around, but we still got some funny pictures and video of
some curious penguins.
From there we had lunch at a local café and made our way
back to Cape Town. With a long day on Friday, we stayed in and woke up early.
We packed up our stuff Thursday night and on Friday we made our way back to
Mossel Bay. We were excited to leave the city. Apparently Shannon and I are not
city people because we were relieved to finally be out of the city. It was loud
and dirty and those Vuvuzela horns you would see at soccer games never seemed
to end.
On the way back to Mossel Bay, we stopped at South African
Forest Adventures to give zip lining a try. They really need to work on their
directions because in no way would Shannon and I have thought to walk into a
casino and head into their “backyard” to find the zip lining building. If I
didn’t call, we would have never made it. Once we got there, it started to rain
and we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to do it, but the guides did
not seem fazed by the ongoing drops and we were quickly rigged and ready to
start.
We were given a quick tutorial about the proper way to do it
as well as shown what not to do and before we knew it, we were zipping down the
line. I quickly understood where the name came from. There was another couple
with us too, but that was it. Including our guide team of two brothers, our
total number was at six.
There were a total of 9 lines positioned throughout the
forest; each one leading to the next. Some drops were steeper and longer than
others, but our guides were professional and warned us about when exactly to
apply the brakes, etc. With the rain coming in through the trees, we were
warned to hit the brakes faster than normal because the water tended to dull
the braking effect. The whole thing took about 45 minutes, but it was really
fun and we enjoyed it a lot.
From there, we continued our journey back to Mossel Bay.
About halfway through the trip, I needed to stop for gas and
was forced to take a random exit of the highway. It was during this side
excursion that we passed a sign reading “Fairy Sanctuary.” Shannon spotted it
and I think curiosity just got the best of us. We had to know what a fairy
sanctuary was. After following the various signs to what I was beginning to
assume was nothing more than a trick to rob American tourists, we arrived at
the sanctuary. As we walked into the “enchanted forest” of this woman’s
backyard, we were immediately surrounded by hundreds of eyes. They were fairies
and magical creatures of every shape, size and color in every direction. With a
route to follow as well as signs that read, “Do not pick flowers because
fairies might be sleeping under them,” we made our way through the sanctuary.
After walking through the yard and into the house/gift shop
a well, I would be comfortable saying there were probably more than 100,000
fairies on the property. The number fairies on the premise seemed to just rise
with every turn; it was a little intimidating. Some of these things were kind
of cute, but some of them were the creepiest things I’d ever seen. The walk
couldn’t have taken more than a couple minutes, but at least we satisfied our
curiosities. We left the sanctuary and made our way back on the road.
By the time we got into Mossel Bay and checked into our
room, it was close to dinner time. We had originally planned to stay in on
Friday because of our early morning chum trip on Saturday, but due to some
unknown – and quite dodgy – circumstances on behalf of the head field
specialist, our trip was postponed until Tuesday morning. The whole trip was
set with volunteers and skippers and passport information, but at the last
second, the field specialist cancelled the trip without leaving any room for
response. It was random, insulting and annoying, but there was nothing we could
do.
With everyone in the mindset to stay in regardless, our
whole group decided to stay in and play some poker and pool. After a long day
of traveling, I could see the relief on Shannon’s face when we said we would be
staying in. Overall it was a nice, relaxing, successful night. Shannon and I
went undefeated in pool (thanks to some lucky circumstances) and Shannon was
one of the winners for poker!
On Saturday we woke up and headed to Eden Adventures at
Wilderness National Park. We got a crew of seven people and canoed down the
unbelievable river toward the waterfall. With canoes of two people per canoe –
and our one friend Ben handling a solo kayak – we leisurely cruised down the
river. When I say leisurely, of course I mean for Shannon. I think her oar was
afraid of getting wet because it seemed as though I was doing most of the
paddling. We did get some amazing pictures though. Shannon took one of the
river and surrounding wilderness. It was so clear and calm; you couldn’t tell
which side was the water and which side what the forest. So I don’t get yelled,
Shannon did paddle a lot on the way back and we made great time together.
Saturday night we headed out to the bar for a little bit
with everyone, but didn’t want to stay out too late because we had a cage
diving trip early the next morning!
Sunday morning, despite Shannon’s protests, we headed into
town for our Great White Shark cage diving experience. The weather was great
and we made the short trip to Seal Island to start our day. Shannon and I
jumped in the first group as soon as the first shark showed up. When we were in
the cage, the first shark came pretty quickly. I was supposed to be filming
Shannon and her reactions to the shark, but when it bit the cage directly in
front of her, the only thing I could do was laugh. She screamed, I laughed and
the whole thing was awesome. I figured I would get plenty more chances to
capture some pictures, but unfortunately for us, that first shark didn’t stick
around too much longer. We got a couple more pictures, but we ended up waiting
in the water for a long time with no sharks making any appearances.
Of course the second we got out and the second group jumped
in, five sharks appeared. It was ok though because we got some amazing photos
from the boat and I was able to get a number of photos with Shannon and the
sharks in the background. Also, if we were in the cage for the second group, we
wouldn’t have seen our first natural predation breach from a great white shark!
We were just casually watching the ocean while the second group was in the
water when all the sudden, a great white completely left the water about 30
meters from the boat. Shannon and I were looking in the perfect direction as
the shark flew from the ocean and flipped in the air. I had been waiting for a
breach since I got here and had been listening to everyone else’s stories about
their own experiences, but had yet to see one for myself. I was ecstatic! Plus
Shannon and I saw our first breach together!
On Sunday night, Shannon and I hit the beach with everyone
to play a little ultimate Frisbee with the rest of the interns. She played
amazing. I believe she caught four touchdowns in helping us capture a win on
the first game. As for the second game, it was rigged and never happened and
the other team is a bunch of cheaters.
After dinner, Shannon and I dominated the board game “30
Seconds.” The game follows a Taboo sort of outline where one person has to
describe something without using certain words and the other person has to
guess what it is.
We destroyed it. Or clues to each other may not have been
correct, but that didn’t stop us from dominating.
Shannon –
“This is the capital of Australia”
T.J. –
“Sydney!”
Shannon –
“Yes!”
(Canberra is
the capital city of Australia)
We still got
the point.
Monday was one of my favorite days with Shannon. We woke up
early and headed to Garden Route Game Lodge for our cheetah walk with Kim
Schoeman. Kim brought the cheetahs right out and we were able to walk the
cheetahs and take as many pictures as we wanted. Shannon was hugging them and
the cheetahs were even purring. Apparently their one of the few large cats that
still have the ability to purr. After the walk, Kim gave us a personal tour
through the facility where we saw the Big-5 and a number of other animals. The
Big-5 in Africa are named after the five most deadliest animals to hunt and
they include the lion, water buffalo, rhino, elephant and jaguar. We even had a
little scare with the lion’s pen that Kim seemed oddly comfortable with while
Shannon and I were a little bit scared. W got to see wild cheetahs stalking
prey, springbok grazing and the house where the volunteers stayed.
Shannon and I spent the day with the family whose story
would later go viral on the internet. I wrote the story on the cheetahs while a
film making intern created a video. We sold the story, video and photographs to
a local site and the story spread internationally. It was amazing to see my
stuff all over ABC News and Yahoo News, etc. but it was even cooler to know
Shannon and I were just there earlier in the week. The whole thing was surreal.
After that, we made our way to Botlierskop; one of the
prettiest places I’d ever been. Shannon and I had an elephant picnic schedule
but we were not expecting what we saw. In the middle of this reserve, with
three elephants grazing in the background – a father, a mother, and their baby –
there was a white-linen table clothed table set up with everything we could
ever want. With a bottle of champagne and water cooling off in the ice bucket,
there were two chairs set up next to each other with a big bowl of fruit
displayed on the table. For lunch we had a salmon wrap with cheeses and
crackers, a deli spread, brownies, biltong and bread. The whole thing felt like
a dream. We couldn’t help but feel like royalty as we drank our champagne and
watched elephants grazing behind us.
After lunch, we were able to feed the elephants by hand;
even the baby. We could feed it to them via trunk or place the fruit on top of
their massive tongues. The guides took plenty of pictures and Shannon and I
loved it. After lunch, a car was sent to pick us up and we were brought back to
the lobby. It was absolutely amazing.
On Tuesday Shannon and I were supposed to go on the chum
trip, but Shannon didn’t feel too well, so we decided to sleep in. It was much
needed. We had been running and around and driving all week and needed some
time to sleep in. We woke up late and lay by the pool. It was a really nice day
and a perfect way to end our trip. Everything was packed up that night and on
Tuesday I sadly drove Shannon to the airport.
