14 April (Day 29) (Cage Diving)

I survived!
We had to be at the diving place at 7:30 this morning to go cage diving with great white sharks. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with pictures of previous patrons. Such notable fellow divers include Brad Pitt, OneRepublic (aka that band that played “Apologize”), Prince Harry, Anderson Cooper, King Abdullah of Jordan, and Matt Damon. Matt Damon had just been there the month before, and was coming back at the end of the week! Poor timing on our part, I guess.

We ate breakfast at the center and then had a really quick briefing about the weather and the sighting conditions we should expect for the day. The water was 14 degrees Celsius! After that we headed to the boat. We drove out for about 20 minutes before anchoring. They started to chum the water while we waited. We were told that it could be minutes or it could be hours. It was minutes. We were still in the process of putting on our wetsuits when the first shark showed up, and whoever got their suits on the fastest were the first in the cage.

The cage holds five people at a time, and is attached to the side of the boat. The top is out of the water, and you hold yourself up there until the guy on the boat yells, “Down!” Then you duck under the water and stay down for as long as you can, so that you can see the shark.

I didn’t go until the third group of people. Alex and I were standing together, and she decided that she didn’t want to be the first in the cage (also the furthest from the exit of the cage). So she left me! Next thing I knew, there was a man strapping weights on me and directing me into the cage—alone! The worst part is that Alex bolted so quick that it wasn’t even my group members who came next. There was a couple that came after me, and then came Alex and someone else from our group (sorry, I don’t remember who).

I hyperventilated for the first minute and a half or so. It didn’t help that we’d barely been in the cage before they started yelling at us to go under. I tried to go under a few times, but couldn’t hold my breath long enough. So on the fourth time, when he yelled “down,” I didn’t go. I stayed up long enough to control my breathing, and after that I was fine. My hands and feet were in so much pain from the cold that it was a welcome distraction from my anxiety. I should point out now that my fear is of drowning, not sharks.

This is good, because shortly after I got my breathing under control, I came face-to-face with one. The man yelled, I went down, but I couldn’t see a shark. I stayed down to try and look around to see where it was coming from and the next thing I knew, there it was. I was on the end of the cage, and it had come up from behind and around my end! The guy next to me must not have seen it either, because we both jumped—underwater. It was really cool! I went under and saw the sharks several times before getting out of the cage. That was more than enough for me. While others waited for a second or third turn, I took off my wetsuit and headed for the top deck of the boat.

I’m glad that I went up, because I had a really great view of the sharks from there! Jeff had given me his camera and so I got some really cool pictures. I’ll make sure to get them from Jeff and put them up eventually. I also got to see a baby shark! Kind of. There was a kid fishing off the front of the boat. I guess a baby shark took the bait, but a bigger shark mistook him for bait. So when the boy reeled in his catch, it was half of a baby shark, still alive and wriggling. Gross, sad, and really cool.

All in all we saw eight great white sharks (and a half, I guess) and we were done by 11. The people at the diving company said it had been their best day since summer. We went back to the diving center where they gave us lunch (mmmm hot soup) and we watched our DVD. This one I decided not to purchase, though I think Carrie may have gotten it.

Since cage diving was shorter than anticipated, we made a pit stop in Hermanus on our way home. A lot of the group decided to go to a little market in town, but I opted to climb some rocks by the ocean instead. We were supposed to meet back at the car, but only five of us were right on time, so Pierre decided to have a little fun. We drove off. I guess there is a natural fountain in Hermanus that runs because of gravity or pressure or something too complex for me to understand. Sadly, there has been a drought here, lately, and the fountain was a non-fountain. It was just some rocks and still water. After showing us the non-fountain, we drove back to pick up the rest of the group, and headed back to Stellenbosch.

We were home by 3:30 and spent some time visiting with the girls, talking about our holiday and theirs. Phoebe gave us Lindt chocolate bunnies as a belated Easter gift; she’s so sweet. Then we had dinner with the family and turned in, since the next day was the beginning of school, again.

13 April (Day 28)

The actual Cape Agulhas was not where our hostel was. We had to drive there. Cape Agulhas is the southernmost tip of the continent of Africa, and also the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Obviously we took about a million pictures by the sign, before climbing around on the rocks for a bit. Also at Cape Agulhas is a lighthouse, complete with a small exhibit on lighthouses of the world. As we were climbing the lighthouse (which, by the way, has ladder-style steps at different levels, rather than the spiral stairs to which I am accustomed) we saw a poster with several lighthouses, including a particularly familiar one. The lighthouse in Grand Haven, MI is featured at Cape Agulhas! Small world.

After that we went back to the beach. Anna, Alex, and Jeff finally got to go kayaking, which they’d been dying to do all holiday. Those of us not quite up to that type of strenuous activity opted to go boating. There were small boats, so six of us fit on each. I had never been boating on the ocean like this before. Being that I’m not exactly a big boater to begin with, it wasn’t really my favorite day. I will admit that it was fun, though, and I had a really good time.

Until I ruined my camera. Salt water? Nope. Typical Caitlin clumsiness? You bet. I was trying to climb out of the boat with my camera in my hand when it slipped. I had the rope around my wrist, but the screen smashed against the boat and cracked. Luckily, it was just the screen. So I can still take pictures with my camera, I just can’t review them, or use cool settings, or know when my battery is dying without waiting for it to stop turning on. But I did make sure to get a camera with a viewfinder on it, and it’s kind of like having a normal camera. And the pictures still turn out fine. Plus, at this point it was almost the end of holiday and I’d done the bulk of our major exciting activity.

Following the boat ride, we drove to Gansebaai, kind of. I think we technically were staying in a smaller town near Gansebaai, but I didn’t exactly check my atlas. Which is to say, I don’t have an atlas. This was to be the last night of holiday, so we went to the nearest store to try and buy some beer. Unfortunately, Easter Monday is a real holiday here, and nothing was open. After that we all went back to the hostel. Once again, our group was too big. All twelve of the GVSU students took up our guesthouse, and Sandy, Pierre, and Antoinette were down the road. That was actually really cool, because we all hung around listening to the radio (a real radio station!) and playing pool before dinner.

After dinner we ordered Dom Pedro’s again, but this time I didn’t get Amarula. I chose to try Stroh’s rum. This rum is 86% alcohol, so mixing it with ice cream was about the only way I was ever going to try it. Jake, Jeff, Pierre, Antoinette, and I all ordered them. Someone described it as tasting like rum raisin, which I think is a valid comparison. However, it was the only Dom Pedro I’ve had that you could really taste the alcohol in, even with all the ice cream. Glad that I tried it, but Amarula still has my heart.

After dinner we went back to our guesthouse and played an epic game of sardines. I don’t even like sardines, and I had to be the hider like three times, but it was fun nonetheless. Anna had been dying to play sardines for weeks. I can see why, she’s really good at it. We still made it to bed fairly early, because we had to be out of the guesthouse by 7:15am the next morning.

12 April (Day 27)

I think I mentioned in my last entry that the bed and breakfast in Montagu was REALLY NICE. The couple who owned it made homemade bread and rolls and hot breakfast every morning. Easter morning was no exception. The husband had woken up before dawn, and on a whim decided that he would make this incredible marrow (baby zucchini) and mushroom quiche. I don’t even like mushrooms, and I was in love. At breakfast we also found little chocolate eggs and bunnies at our table. The Easter Bunny will find you in Africa, apparently!

Most of the people in the group found churches to go to this morning. Some went to a Christian ceremony (in English) in a local garden. Others went for a Dutch Reform ceremony in Afrikaans. Jake ventured alone to an Anglican service. Jeff did his own form of worship: he hiked the nearby mountain. Kate and I were the two non-church goers, which was good because we needed to load the trailer. As soon as church ended we drove from Montagu to Cape Agulhas.

It was a pleasant surprise when we arrived at Cape Agulhas to find that our hostel happened to be across the street from the beach! Since it was Easter Sunday, we didn’t have any real planned activities. Sandy, Carrie, Sara, and I decided to walk the boardwalk along the beach. This ended up being another cool day for wildlife for us. While we were trying to catch sand crabs (okay, Sara and Sandy were trying, Carrie and I were watching in disgust) there were several people fishing on the beach. One of the fisherman somehow managed to catch a baby octopus! Sandy, being the educator that she is, walked right up to him and asked if we could touch it. He let us! It was so cool, it’s little sucker suction themselves on your skin and pull along—very cool sensation. Then, as we were heading back to the hostel for dinner, we saw huge sting rays in the bay! We’re talking bigger than I can motion with my arms, and they were just swimming along right at the water’s edge.

Before dinner I hopped online to check my email, because this hostel had a computer. It was like Easter serendipity: just as I was online, both of my sisters and my parents were online, too! So I got to talk to my whole family on Easter. It was awesome.

For dinner, we had bobotie prepared in the hostel. Bobotie is a traditional South African dish consisting of ground meat and eggs, served on rice. It was really good! After dinner we hung out in the hostel, which had a bar. I guess they weren’t anticipating our American love of beer, because we literally bought the bar out of Black Label. We played card games and hung out in the hammocks and just generally had a really fun time. We played a game of “how many people can we fit in one twin bed?” The answer was 5 before we ran out of people willing (and awake) to play. I think we could have done more.

11 April (Day 26)

So the main event for today was a tractor ride. If you have the same mindset I do, that sounds so stupid. I had pictures of the stuff we do in Michigan with bales of hay and driving through fields. I was so wrong.

The tractor ride took us up the side of a mountain, through some forests, up to a sweet little cabin, along some ponds, and it was beautiful. No bales of hay involved. The tractor ride dropped us off in the woods where a group of women had prepared amazing fried bread and potijies. Potijies are pretty much just stews; in this case they had a chicken, a lamb, and a vegetable. I asked for a bit of each on rice, and ended up with a TON of everything. I was uncomfortably full, and then they had chocolate pudding-cake-type thing with vanilla ice cream. Of course I ate that. It was soooo gooooood.

It was incredibly hot at this point, and the man who ran the tractor rides offered to let us go swimming in one of the ponds! So we walked over to a pond that looked like it could have been out of a movie. The water reflected the trees perfectly, and there were picnic tables all around. There were also docks to dive off of, including one about six feet off the ground, suspended between trees. The water was cold, but that was nice since the day was so hot. We stayed there awhile, swimming and laying out.

The next stop for the day was the hot springs. In my mind, I was picturing something very calm and natural. Not the case. It looks like a resort pool, complete with a waterslide. The only thing that makes it stand out is the fact that it was naturally heated water from the hot springs. But after all of the exhausting stuff we’ve been doing these past several days, to hang out in a heated pool was pretty great.

10 April (Day 25)

The main plan for today was to drive from Mossel Bay to Montagu. In Mossel Bay we were staying right near the beach, but Montagu is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Since it was Good Friday, we figured there wouldn’t be much to do in Montagu, so we decided to spend the bulk of our “day of leisure” in Mossel Bay.

Heather and I started off by ourselves to check out the lighthouse. We got sidetracked, though, and in typical South Africa fashion we accidentally ended up cliff side, overlooking the ocean. Not a bad detour. After realizing that we were not headed for the lighthouse, we worked our way back down the cliff and walked toward some tide pools. There we ran into Sandy, Emily, Jessica, and Jeff. Jeff and the other three girls quickly busied themselves with jumping into the pools, while I tried to take pictures of them. They actually turned out really cool, but once again my pictures cannot really do justice to how beautiful the ocean was.

Following their brief dip, Emily, Jessica, Heather, Sandy, and I all went over to a nearby restaurant for a quick lunch. We split seafood pizza and nachos, and each of us ordered a different girly drink. The food and drinks were really good, and we got to sort of debrief about the whole bungee-jumping excitement of the previous days.

After lunch everyone met up back at the hostel and we loaded the bus to leave for Montagu. After a couple of hours we pulled up at this beautiful bed and breakfast. The place only fit our group of people, so we had the entire thing to ourselves. Kristina and I shared a room, and we were lucky enough to get the pool house! There was another separate guesthouse in the back where Jeff, Jake, Anna, and Jessica were staying, and everyone else was in the main house. The rooms were awesome, with clawfoot tubs right in them. Kristina and I had a shower, but a very nice one.

We didn’t have too much downtime, but the backyard crew (minus Kristina, who was unpacking I think) decided that we would try to get a feel for the town before dinner. We stopped by the hostel next door because they had a sign that they were a microbrewery. Upon further inspection, we found that they were having problems with their licensing and couldn’t actually sell us beer. They pointed us across the street, where the pub sold a microbrew called Napier from a nearby town. We thought it would be a good place to come by after dinner, so we asked how late they would be open. The bartender told us they would stay open as late as they needed to be.

It was a good thing we told them we were planning on coming back, because our dinner took three and a half hours! But after dinner almost everyone at least stopped by the bar for a little while. We tried Napier, I am a fan. Jeff also bought us all shots, and then the bartender took it a step further by giving the boys a shot for free. Jessica and I were intrigued, so he poured us one half shot, which we then split into two quarter shots. It was a good thing we did, because whatever we drank was basically paint-thinner. It was disgusting. On that note, Jessica and I turned in for the night.

9 April (Day 24)

Today we didn’t have to do anything until 2pm. Most people went to the beach, but I spent the morning catching up on my writing. I’m not sure if you can tell, but the days have been pretty full, so I was getting really behind.

At 2 o’clock Pierre came to fetch us for another game drive, but this one was very different. We went to Botlierskop, which is a private reserve. They have luxury overnight accommodations and we started the ride at this nice restaurant-type building. We went out in one of their vehicles, a giant safari-style Jeep-type thing. First we were driven to a fenced-in area where they keep their three elephants. Then we drove to a separate fenced-in area where they keep their four lions. All of the lions were rescued from captivity situations, which makes them very different from the lions that we saw at Addo. They don’t really do anything but walk around. They’re not even capable of hunting. When they have to feed them, they tie dead animals to the backs of vehicles and drive them around.

After those two enclosures, we went to the more open portion of the reserve. We drove around and saw wildebeests, water buck, and impalas. I think of all the antelope-creatures, impalas are my favorite. They had black impalas, which are very rare. In the wild they’re an easy target, because predators see in black and white, so they stand out more from their surroundings. But since these are in captivity they’re safe, and they’re really beautiful.

After seeing what was on the flat land, we drove up the mountain. That was definitely the coolest part of the whole thing: driving in that vehicle up the sides of the mountain. At the top we saw one zebra and one giraffe, plus one more water buck. Back at the bottom of the mountain we saw rhinos, which were exciting in that they were the first of our trip, but they weren’t really doing anything. All-in-all, it was kind of a rip-off, but they did give us sherry and some mixed nuts afterward, I guess.

After Botlierskop we were invited to Pierre and Antoinette’s for dinner. Antoinette had made homemade stews and pumpkin for us. They live on a really nice farm and I got to see their dogs. Their daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter were there, too. Their granddaughter is so cute! It was cool to hang out with a family again after being away from our host families. Antoinette had pie and custard for dessert, and we watched a cricket game on TV. It was really chill, and a relaxing night after how busy we’ve been.

8 April (Day 23)

We went to an ostrich farm and got to see a “feather palace.” Back in the day ostrich feathers were really valuable, so ostrich farmers built big, beautiful houses. We didn’t get to go in, though, because someone lives there currently. As obnoxious as this will sound, I have seen much bigger houses in GP, so the fact that was called a “palace” seemed a bit extreme, but it was a nice house.

We got to see two ostriches named Jack and Susie who were 28 years old. I let Susie bite me to see how it felt. We stood on ostrich eggs, because they’re really strong. The only really cool thing I did at the ostrich farm was ride an ostrich. Yep, I rode one. We all got to sit on the ostriches, but only four people could ride them. It’s a good thing we got weighed for bungee jumping, because there was a weight limit for riding and I wouldn’t have known mine if I hadn’t just been weighed. Heather, Anna, Jess, and I were the four who got to ride. Don’t worry guys, I have a video.

After ostriches we drove to Cango Caves. We were supposed to all go adventure caving. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Caves scare me really badly, and I didn’t psych myself up enough for caving to actually do it. There were signs in the front that showed exactly how small the spaces are that you have to go through and I totally chickened out. I decided to go on the standard tour, and so did Kristina, Emily, Sara, and Carrie.

It sucked. We only got to see five chambers, and the group was like 50 people. 50 people in a cave? Not even remotely enjoyable. We couldn’t hear the guide because people wouldn’t shut up and there were little kids on the tour that were being obnoxious and a crying baby. It wasn’t fun. Poor Carrie almost passed out in the second chamber and had to be taken back out. I wish I would have done the adventure caving, but when I saw the posters I almost started to cry right then and there, so I think it’s best that I didn’t. Besides, there are caves in the States that I can go to if I so choose, I don’t feel like I missed out specifically on Cango Caves.

I had worn jeans, a tee shirt, and sneakers to the cave because I planned on adventure caving. After caving we were going to the KKNK Festival, so I brought a dress to change into so I that I wouldn’t bake. The forecast called for 34 degrees Celsius, ick! Well, I packed my dress but not SHOES! So I had a little strappy dress and then sneakers and socks. When we got to Oudtshoorn I left my shoes and socks on the bus, set out barefoot and bought shoes first thing. That’s one thing I couldn’t have done in the states: I walked into the store barefoot and got to walk out with shoes. I do enjoy being barefoot, though.

After I got my new shoes, Kristina and I met up with Alex, Anna, Emily, Jess, Heather, and Carrie. We stopped into a restaurant to eat and then parted ways again. Kristina thought that she left her wallet on the bus, so Anna and I walked back with her to meet Sandy and get her wallet. Then Sandy walked us into the festival. KKNK is an Afrikaans festival with music, art, and food. Kristina and I headed for the craft tents while Anna went for music.

At the tents I picked up a gift for Mom and Hayley, as well as a small drum with the flag of South Africa. I think it will be a cool thing to have in my classroom in the future, and I think I might actually buy a few more little instruments like that back in Stellenbosch. I spent the bulk of my money on myself, though. I spoke to a husband and wife who make beautiful jewelry. I couldn’t afford most of their stuff, but I was really enjoying a ring that had an emerald cut green stone with three small pearls. It was more than I thought I wanted to spend, so I walked away from it. Right before closing, though, I changed my mind. We walked back to their tent and I ended up getting it. It was less expensive than some of their other pieces because it hadn’t been bought yet. I absolutely love it, but I haven’t been wearing it for fear of losing it before I even get home.

The craft tents closed at 6, so Kristina and I went to check out food options. One of the big festival foods here was “chip spirals.” It’s a spiral-cut potato, skewered and deep-fried, then sprinkled with seasoning. Kristina wanted to try one, so we started chatting with the woman running the booth while the chip spiral cooked. We found out that her son is a student and he’s living in Chicago right now to go to school. After handing over the cooked potato, the woman refused to take our money for it! She said that we should tell all of our American friends if we liked it. So we got a free chutney-flavored chip spiral. It was really good!

We walked around while we ate the chip spiral, Kristina got a henna tattoo, and we started to look around for our group. We didn’t have a cell phone, so it was pure luck that we ran into Carrie, and Anna. They got a phone call to meet up with Sandy, and so all of us headed to a music tent. We met up with most of the group there, and spent the next couple of hours listening to a really fun Afrikaans band and dancing. We didn’t like the performer for the next set as much, so everyone headed out for one last run around the festival before we had to meet up at the bus at ten. Anna, Alex, Heather, and I headed for a random bar/club. We only had enough time to stay for one song, so we ran past the tables right up to the front of the stage, where no one else was. We were just in time to catch some random Aaron Carter wannabe named Luhann. We danced our little hearts out for his first song and then sprinted out of the bar and back to the bus.

Perhaps if we had more time I would have stopped at a toilet on our way, but we didn’t. This meant that after a couple of beers I was unable to make it the whole ride home without stopping. Sadly, the ride from Oudtshoorn to Mossel Bay was entirely rural, with no hope of a gas station. So Pierre pulled over for me, and Jake and Anna both decided that they needed to get out as well. I really had to go, so I scoped out the best spot and did my business, and Jake is a boy so he needs less privacy than Anna or I. Poor Anna was not as lucky as I, though. I had taken the best spot, and the moon was almost full; even though we were nowhere near city lights, it was quite bright. So Jake broke out the mini-drum that I had purchased earlier in the evening. He played and we danced so that people driving by would see us, instead of Anna. Tragically I am pathetically uncoordinated, and ended up stumbling and cutting my foot on a piece of glass. It was probably the best road-side bathroom break of my life, though.

Upon our return to Mossel Bay, some of us were still ready to go. So Jake, Jeff, Anna, Heather, and I headed down the street to find a bar. We were sorely disappointed, though. Being the middle of the week in a small town, the only open bar was pretty dead. We stayed for one drink and talked with another woman who was staying at our hostel, and then we all headed back for the night.