Capetown

Posted in General Posts by Nathan Clendenin on August 10th, 2005

On Tuesday Will and I explored Capetown with a hike up Lion’s Head, one of the smaller peaks that lines the oceanfront. We had wonderful blue sky weather with just a little chill. Even though we’re at the southernmost part of the southern hemisphere in winter, it’s not that cold. After snapping some shots of Table Mountain and the 12 apostles (sort of like Mt. Rushmore but natural) we drove south toward Cape Point along a beautiful highway that had us wedged between steep cliffs on the left and blue waters on the right. We ended up missing the entrance time to the park that leads to the Cape (5pm) and instead checked out some penguins then headed to a small town where we had a really great seafood dinner and Guinness. We got home late after a stop at another lookout to take some night shots of the city from above.

At 5:15am today we got up for our shark cage diving excursion. They picked us up at our door and drove us all the way to the small bay about 2 1/5 hours away. The fed us and then we boarded “The Baracuda” for a 20 minute ride out the Shark Alley. The minute the anchor was set down we spotted a Great White circling our boat. The captain gave us a quick briefing and we suited up to get into the cage alongside the boat. We would sit in the rather chilly water until the captain told us, “Down, Down,” and we’d take a breath and go under to view the beautiful animals going for the bait they had out in front of us. At one point I was face to face with a shark with only about 2 feet in between us. It was a great experience, and another day of beautiful weather. I did spew in the water from motion sickness but felt just fine after that. Many on the boat had to leave early, due to sickness, on a dinghy that came out to rescue them. Will and I are about to hunt down some good food and relax tonight before I head back to Mamelodi tomorrow.

Originally posted on Vicarious Summer Blog