This time for Africa

Ostriches, and elephants, and zebras,  and me! 

(Thanks dad for the idea!)

South Africa was a great place to visit. It didn’t need tall building to make it beautiful, it had mountains in the middle of town and natural beauty. During my first day I went scuba diving. We went right in from the beach shore. It was a really windy day and the dive spot we were originally going to dive at was closed due to rough seas. The spot we chose was still rough but the professionals said it would be alright. The water here was super foggy so it was hard to see much, but I did manage to see a baby sand shark, an octopus, and some large lobsters. The site was a small offshore sunken sail boat over grown with various sea plants. Another day I was able to go to the top of Table Mountain and we picked the perfect day! It was super sunny and pretty much no clouds. All the other days we were there were very cloudy or too windy for the cable cars to go up. So it was good we chose the day we did. We could see all of the area and even our ship way off in the distance. A few friends and I made our way to Simon’s town, about an hour away from Cape Town. It is a very small very cute little town and about a ten minute walk down the road there were penguins everywhere! Some areas you could walk right up next to them and they wouldn’t mind. Simons Town is a about 25 minutes away from Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope, the southern most tip of Africa. Me and my friends Kelly decided to bike there! It was around 45-50 Kilometers up and around a mountain! It was insane and tiring, but so much fun and extremely satisfying when we made it. I do not know how I made it, but I did. And the best part was that my legs never got sore the days after! A miracle if you ask me. The day before the ship left I went Shark cage diving and it was so awesome! The water visibility was good but it was still an amazing experience. You could see more from the boat like when the sharks came flying out of the water with an open mouth full of massive amounts of razor sharp teeth. We could see their black eyes eager to catch its prey (half a tuna that we casted out from the boat) and the big splashes they made when crashing back into the water. Being in the cage was a little spooky since you weren’t able to see the great white shark until its hundreds of teeth were in your face and you were trying to remember if all your fingers were inside the cage. It was an eerie feeling being in the water with these massive creatures that could eat me in one bite. One of the sharks actually landed on top of my cage, we heard the loud crash but I didn’t know what happened until I saw the shark slide down the side and I was staring into its black eye. I would love to do it again on a day where the water is clear to see more while in the cage because that was really exciting!

Unfortunately I did not have enough time to do a safari so that just means I will have to come back  J I really enjoyed South Africa and would love to see more of the area.