June 22nd – St. James, Kalk Bay, Cape Point, Ostrich’s & Boulders Beach in Simonstown

Tony & I used our computer to call Richard, a taxi driver that we met the other day who gave us a good price to take us to must-see places outside of Cape Town. Since we had a late night before, Richard didn't pick us up until 11am. It was just Tony, Ali & I that went on this adventure, because Tim wanted to get one more round of golf in.

We started out driving through the Constania vineyards & if we had time on the way home, we would have stopped for a tasting, but we didn't. First town we drove through was called Muizenberg. We didn't get out here, but Richard informed us that this was a big surf city. People from all over come to this town to hit up the big waves. I don't think I'll be going surfing in that water, after seeing all those sharks.

The next town we drove through was St. James. This was a small town, however, we got out here to go see the primary-colored beach huts that are shown across tons of Cape Town books & postcards. This place is usually packed in the summer, but in the winter there were very few people. However, it was an absolutely gorgeous day that we had.

The we drove through the town of Kalk Bay, which was literally right next to St. James. From the car we were able to see all the fisherman's boats along the harbour. This is the home to local fisherman who catch everything from line fish to yellow tail fish, all freshly plucked from the surrounding choppy waters.

Finally, we were getting closer to Cape of Good Hope, where Cape Point rests. Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve rests at the tip of the Southern Peninsula. There are trails within the park that lead to many different wonders. While driving through the Cape of Good Hope, there were MANY signs telling you Baboons are dangerous, do not feed them, move away slowly if you see one. Ali was not liking this at all! We finally made it to where you couldn't drive any further, so we got out and enjoyed the incredible views of Southern Africa! While we were relaxing & taking in the fresh air & amazing views, all of a sudden we hear Ali yell "OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD" - I turn around, Ali is not moving slowly away & there are 2 Baboons following her. One has a baby on her back. Ali got away & Tony & I stayed a little closer to take some good shots.

The baboons went right to the garbage can & we were close to the restaurant. We then left that area where we witness another baboon sitting on top of a person's car, it was so funny, well, at least to Tony & I. Poor Ali, she was not liking these baboons.

We walked over to see what all there was at Cape Point and as we were walking we saw other baboons sitting on top of cars (look at Tony in the background):

We decided to take this weird train up to the top of this hill to see where the 2 oceans meet. When we got to the top we realized that we could have actually walked up the hill. We again saw some beautiful scenery from below of the southern tip of Africa - amazing beaches, the mountains in the background, the blue oceans & incredibly clean fresh air!!! It was just perfect to sit there and enjoy this unbelievable place! They also had this cute light house that we walked up to and found a neat sign that told you how far other places in the world are.

We headed back down the hill to grab some food. We got pizzas & this man told me to eat inside because it's too dangerous to eat outside. A baboon stole someones pizza just like a minute ago. So we ate inside & saw all the baboons checking us out down below.

We then found our driver, & he called us over to say that we just missed a baboon hopping on a women & stealing her pizza. So we took a picture of the mommy & baby baboon eating this woman's pizza.

We were then off to our next destination - the ostrich farm! There were soooo many ostriches, babies, male & female. We went right up to the ostrich, but not too close, to look at these weirdly strange birds. We tried getting them to run, but we didn't have much luck. Ali got some courage & went up to the bird for an up close experience.

After the ostrich farm we were heading back to only see MORE baboons walking the street. We were next heading to Boulders Beach were a penguin colony is at. On the way however, the South Africa game was going on & we were trying to listen to it on the radio. We couldn't get the station, so we were listening to a radio show that had the hosts talk about the game while they were watching it on TV. This is where we got the updates of the score. South Africa was making shots & people were honking horns, including our taxi driver.

Finally we arrived at Boulder's Beach. We saw our first penguin from the colony all waddling by himself. He was soooo cute.

As we walked along this long path to make our way to the Boulders beach, we past more & more penguins in the brushes & shrubs along the path. We finally made it & there were a ton of penguins just waddling around.

There were these 3 penguins that couldn't decide it they wanted to go into the ocean or not. They finally took a dip.

After our fun filled day of cruising the Southern Peninsula, Richard dropped us off at Salt (really nice restaurant in Bantry Bay in the Ambassador Hotel). We were meeting Tim here as well. We first finished watching the South African game, & then headed over to Salt. This place had an amazing view of the sun setting. It was incredible.

We decided to get 2 bottles of white wine, & Tony, Tim, & I got the sea food platter. OMG it was incredible!!! However, the chef first brought us out an Amuse-bouche (a single, bite-sized hors d'oeuvre) of this meat with a sauce & mini salad. We really enjoyed dinner at Salt & then after we just made it an early night & went back to our apartment to pack & sleep. Tomorrow is our last day - BOOO

June 21st - Portugal vs. North Korea Game

After an exhausting, terrifying day with the Great White Sharks, Tony & I decided to wake-up & go out to breakfast at our favorite coffee place, Caturra. I haven't really gotten to eat a big breakfast yet, so I went a little crazy with ordering a cafe latte & the Caturra deluxe which included, 2 eggs, 2 pieces of brown bread, caramelized onions, grilled tomatoes, bacon, sausage, bowl of fruit, mushrooms (which I didn't eat), strawberry juice, & coffee. It was awesome!

We then met back up with Ali & Tim and all headed to Mitchell's Brewery for drinks & Ali & Tim's lunch before we were going to the 1:30pm Portugal vs. North Korea game. This place was pretty cool, good space & lots of TV's. The nachos they got were really good, I did have to try one. The beer that Ali & I tried was a Forester's Draught light, it was much better than Tony's Old Wobbly, which was 11% alcohol. It was gross, he didn't end up getting another. Tim decided to try the Robben Island Ice Tea.

Then it was time to head towards the game. Since Mitchell's Brewery is located in the V&A Waterfront, we actually ended up walking a different way to the Stadium; it actually ended up being less lines & closer than from Long street to Main street.

This game we actually had the best seats in the 200 level, 218 to be exact. Ali & Tim had section 403, so the whole joke walking was they were in the van outside the stadium, or they were the sweepers working at the stadium. We thought we were all pretty funny, however, they actually were exactly the same as us, just on opposite sides of the stadium.

The stadium was packed with Portugal fans.

This game was my favorite game to watch. There was so much action, and 7 goals!!!! We were on the right side to see ALL those goals happen. There were so many fans blowing their vuvuzela's and in unison, flags were waving, & people cheering!!

It was a blast, oh and of course Shakira song playing:

On a side note, I had to run to the washroom during half time, and just so you guys know, these bathrooms here were amazing clean and there was never a wait for women to use the washroom. Again, I couldn't get over how clean everything was!

We met up with Tim & Ali in our meeting place & headed to Long street. As we were walking, we past some sort of military center & Tony got a great shot of a military guy in front of the Humanity sign.

We went to a weird bar, can't remember the name, but we were the only customers. Ali tried to get them to play New Kids on the Block, since they had been playing every other old song possible. I got a glass of extremely sweet wine because they had barely any choices.

So then we decided to try a classic South Africa shot called Springbok. Again, they only had enough for 2, so Ali & I took those & it tasted like a thin mint cookie; they were really good! The boys took a shot called Snowball, Tony thought it tasted like chocolate. We had one more drink there, but had to leave because the music was killing the guys haha

We then headed to find the Indian restaurant that is supposed to be the best in town. We were the first one in there & then stayed for like 3 more hours. This place was very swanky, & really nice. To bad we are never dressed appropriately for this nice places. However, the napkins that were on our plate were actually bibs. So we tied those around our neck & we looked like everyone else. We ordered garlic nan for a starter & then I ordered lamb curry in a nut sauce, Tony got the spiciest meal there was you could order, Ali got a cucumber salad & potatoes wedges, & Tim ordered a creamy curry dish. Tim, Tony & I were in love with this place, the food was AMAZING, just incredible.

After a few bottles of wine, Ali was still really hungry because she's not a fan of curry dishes, so we head back to Fork, where we went at the beginning of the trip. We decided to order the exact same dessert, Toffee pudding bread & Ali got herself some fried asparagus. We shared a pitcher of sangria, however, sangria in Cape Town is made with Brandy too. It wasn't bad, just different. After a few glasses, Time & Ali went home, but Tony & I decided to hang out longer at Fork. The owner said to stay as long as we'd like, so we had the whole upstairs to ourself. After hanging out, we were tired, so we hopped into a taxi & headed back to Sea Point (only like a 10 minute cab ride). It was a fun day & night!

June 20th – Shark Dive – Meeting the Great Whites

From our long night out with our new Alaskan friends, Tony & I were happy that we didn’t have to get picked up till 9:40am to go swimming with the great white sharks. Brendan & Pat got dropped off & we just waited till our van came to get us.

Ali & Tim their day in Camps bay, went to lunch there where they ran into (older English player) while walking down the street. They also decided to have dinner in Camps Bay, where they stayed to watch the Ivory Coast vs. Brazil Game.

Now, to continue on with our journey, there was one other Italian in the van with us, we tried picking up 12 Mexican’s, however, the driver came back & said they had too much tequila last night & to come back. So we went & picked up 2 guys from Jordan, that took forever as well, then got 1 guy from North Carolina, & finally went back to pick up the 12 Mexican’s, but only 2 made it. I was happy because 1 was a girl, so I wasn’t the only girl going on this INSANE excursion.

After a 2 hour drive (going extremely fast), we made it into the town of Gansbaai – this town is between Cape Agulhas & Cape Point. There are 100’s of great whites patrolling Gansbaai’s shores – there are signs all over that say Do NOT Swim. We were with the White Shark Projects. They had a very cute bed & breakfast house that we all went into for a delicious breakfast/lunch. From the little porch we sat outside on eating our food, you should see Dyer Island (this is where all the seals hang out & then when they want food they have to swim across Shark Alley, where if they are lucky they will make it across, but then they need to make that swim back again).

This whole time I was very nervous. I still wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to go into the water but I was just enjoying my breakfast. Then they went through instructions with us & we headed to the boat. I was thinking the boat would have been a little bigger than what we got on to. However, we did see all the people who were from the trip out before us come back in one piece, so that was reassuring. However, it doesn’t help when the boys were saying things like, “Hope you’re enjoying your last meal” or “It’s a good day to be eaten by a shark.”

We all boarded, put on our life vests, & cruised for 15 minutes to get out to the point where the cage was in the water. On the way, one guy held up some raw fish & this bird was flying with us trying to eat the fish from the guys hand – it was pretty cool because we were going SOOOO fast.

Finally, we anchored the boat & while they were pulling in the cage, someone yells SHARK!! We all go to one side of the boat, and when I saw this enormous beast in the water, I looked right at Tony & was like “I don’t think I can do this.” We hadn’t even started throwing out the chum to attract the great whites & they were already right at our boat. This one girl who worked on the boat then started to throw some in & all of a sudden instead of 1 enormous shark, there were 2. One even tried biting the back of the boat where they were throwing the chum in & the guy started hitting the boat to make noise so the shark would not bite the boat.

The cage was now ready for the first group. We only had 10 people & you could only have 4-5 in the cage at a time. I had to first see others do this, and sure enough, Brendan was the first to get suited up in a wet suit, mask on, and hopped on top of the cage and slid in. That was what I thought the scariest thing was – actually getting into the cage. You are sitting on top of this cage, holding on with open water around you – hang on tight, otherwise one slip the wrong way, you are not in the cage but open water with the sharks. So Brendan was in there for like 5 minutes by himself, but then finally Pat was ready along with 3 others. The crew throws 2 huge dead fish heads on a rope right in front of the cage so the sharks come right up to the cage. While watching Brendan & Pat in there, this one shark, jaws opened went right to Brendan’s side of the cage. Again, I was like, I don’t think I can do this. My stomach & body were in knots just watching this.

So after about 30 minutes, they told the us to go suit up. I thought, ok, I’ll just put the wet suit on & if I feel up for this, I’m ready to go. But next thing I know, everyone’s out of the cage, 2 people are in, Tony’s next, so I just go after him. Again, the scariest part was getting into that cage. Once in the water (which actually wasn’t that cold, probably do to the fact my heart was racing), you have to make sure to hold on to the top of the cage & put your feet on the front of the cage, NOT through the cage, just resting to hold you steady. The guys in the boat will then yell, “DOWN, to your left” or whatever side the shark was on. So we would hold our breath, push ourselves under the water, try and hook your foot to the bottom pole & look the direction. We had weights on us too to help us stay under easier.

As they yelled, DOWN to us, our first look at a great white was directly straight ahead of us. He was swimming right to the cage & then as he turned, his HUGE black eye looked even creeper at me than the Lion encounter a few days back. We came to the top of the water, and everyone was yelling, like OH MY GOD! I was breathing so hard, Tony had to make sure I was ok, I told him I was and but you know it we heard DOWN again. These sharks were everywhere & I still can’t tell you how big they are, it was so intense. We had our underwater camera, so hopefully we got some good shots. We were in there for about 30 minutes. The other girl was down with us at the same time, and she had enough after like 10 minutes. But I held strong & stayed for the entire time. The boys were proud!

After a few more views of this amazing creatures from above the water, we then headed out to see Dyer Island where all the seals hang out. We got there pretty quick, but poor Brendan, wasn’t feeling his best. They told him to suck on a sucker, but that didn’t do it for him. Poor guys!

Dyer Island was covered, from top to bottom & in the ocean with seals – they were everywhere!!!! Oh & it smell bad – like a really gross, old, used toilet. However, it was really fun to see all the seals hanging out and to also hear them making so much noise. From there we headed back to dry land. We didn’t get to see any sharks breeching from the water, but I think our shark encounter was even closer than that.

They had treats from us and hot drinks with we got back. There was a guy videoing the whole time while we were on the boat, so we got to watch the video of what we just did which was fun. We also got certificates that said we survived the shark dive. They had some showers for us to use if we wanted to, but only Brendan decided to go for it. Hahahahaha however, Brendan didn’t lock the door to his room & Newman, this guy in charge of the place, walked right in on him. Newman screamed higher than I probably could & we all started dying laughing. It was soooo funny, then Brendan comes out like nothing happened, hahaha. Ahhhh….good stuff.

We had a 2 hour drive back, where some people slept, then we got stuck in traffic, but finally made it home around 8pm, just in time to shower, change & run to a nearby bar to watch Ivory Coast vs. Brazil. We went to this 2 storey restaurant/bar, enjoyed a good curry soup, & pasta, maybe a glass or 2 of white wine, & then we headed home because we were exhausted from a fun filled – frightening day!

Bike & Wine - June 19th

We woke up dark & early - 6am, to catch a 6:30

cab into the city centre. We had to meet at this Eco friendly cafe called Eco Cafe. However, when we got there it wasn't opened so we just waited with a few other people while our guides came. When they arrived, the cafe opened & we all got something to eat. Since the food all took a little longer than we thought, we had to basically walk as fast as we all could to make our train to the Stellenbosch vineyards. We did make on time, phew! These trains are pretty sketchy. We at least had our own car & with our guides, then at one stop police actually came on, so it felt a little better. But there was no way I would ride these trains by ourselves.

We arrived about an hour later & walked over to where we picked up our mountain bikes & helmets. It was just this shack in the middle of vineyards. There were about 15 of us on the tour together, however, after the first 2 vineyards we would brake up into 2 different groups - the Platinum group (which was us, less biking, more drinking) & then the adventure group (more up hill biking).

The first Vineyard we arrived at was called Welmoed. This was a very pretty area & we got to try 5 different wines:

1) Kumkani Infiniti Brut MCC (Methode Cup Classique) - this was a bit bubbly, but good. I don't know if I could handle more then 1 glass, but I did enjoy my first glass. A bottle of this cost R70, which is $9.43

2) Welmoed Chenin Blanc - this was my FAVORITE. It had sweet & fruity flavors & really good. And this bottle only cost R26, which = $3.50

3) Kumkani Pinotage - little heavier than I prefer & kind of bold, but again pretty good. R63 = $8.49

4) Versus Natural Sweet White - pretty good but only could have 1 glass because it was way too sweet R21 = $2.83

5) Kumkani Sauvignon Blanc - this one wasn't my favorite, but just OK R54 = $7.28

Next we biked about 20 more minutes to a winery called Spier. This place was much bigger & had a Spa/Hotel there. Here the Platinum group, us, got to try 3 different wines with 3 different cheeses. The first wine was a white wine with a garlic goat cheese - we actually had tried this cheese before, but it was really good with the white wine. The next was a rose wine with a sharper cheddar cheese. I actually like this rose wine better than the white. We then ended with a Merlot paired with a blue cheese, but instead of blue it had cranberry. Now, I am not a Merlot person, but when I ate this amazing cheese & then sipped some of the Merlot, it was really good.

I thought Spier did a good job pairing the cheeses with these different wines.

From Spier, we traveled literally through the back parts of the winelands. We were on little dirt & narrow paths, missing muddy puddles, ducking from tree branches, & crossing a hand made stick bridge.

We then continued our ride along side a field of vineyards & making our way to the Brandy making place.

We had to slide our bikes through this little space between a barbed wire fence & a gate. We had to be very careful. Here we were greeted with a mix drink of brandy & apricot juice. This was very very good & I thought, wow am I going to like brandy. I learn that brandy is very popular in South Africa & pretty well know around the world for their brandy. After the delicious welcome drink, we moved into our own room where we had 2 glasses of brandy - one was 10 year old brandy & the other 12 year old brandy. Well, Ali went first & her face was priceless - she did not like either one. The lady, Jean, told us to not swirl our brandy, because then it will taste stronger than it should. I think this is what happened with Ali's, it got swirled. Tony was just taking in all the smells of the brandy.

I tried the 10 year old one and I didn't like mine either. I then tried the 12 year old one & it was a lot better. Not that I could even start to finish my glass, but at least better than the 10 yr old one.

We then got to do a tour of the Brandy Distillory, & got to see all the coopper machines that they make it in as well as where they store like 50 year old Brandy.

We also got to see a guy make a barrel that they would store the brandy in. He waws awesome!! I guess this guy was even on Sout African tv for the way he makes his barrel. I guess each barrel maker has their own musical rhythm with creating a barrel. The sounds of the hammer against the metal create this fun an vibrant music. He was great!

From there went rode only 10 mins to another winery that I can't remember but started with a V. We first had lunch there, where we sat outside enjoying the perfect sunny day. The girls split a bottle of white while the boys had a few beers. I ordered a traditional South African meal called bobotie. This is basically spiced minced meat baked with an egg on top and below the meat curried rice. It was unbelievable - I seriously ate it ALL.

Then we went into another room where we got to try 5 more wines, which I can't really remember which ones exactly. However, the reason for this is we met Youngy & Gilberto from Anchorage, Alaska. This guy is going to be hard for me to describe, however, he was hilarious. He first called out that Tony & I were newlyweds, which technically we are & then he said to Ali & Tim that they have been married for 3 1/2 years. It was crazy! He kept having us cheers by saying, "Salud, Salud, Salud, Salud" so we all kept drinking & laughing so much.

He wanted to meet us all out later that evening, so we gave him a time and a place to meet up later. We were like a big happy family by the time the wine tasting was done here.

Finally, our last stop was a Cheetah sanctuary where we saw 2 girls literally petting a cheetah. We didn't have time to get to pet this beautiful animals but it was cool to see them. Then we rode back to drop our bikes off, got a free bottle of wine & headed back on the nasty train to head to Cape Town.

We got home, exhausted, and rested for just a little. We decided to have another Braii with Ostrich,, so the boys grilled that & we made corn & mash potatoes. Man, we do cook a damn good ostrich.

We then met up with our new friends and headed to Daddy Cool bar, which was too cool for us, because there was a private party but we refused to leave so we found a great corner seat & kept the drinks flowing. We had so much fun with Gilberto & Youngy, that we exchanged email addresses & they invited us to their 2nd home in Alaska as well as their daughter's July wedding.

After a few more drinks, we all got up and started dancing - this night was the best! A few funny things that Gilberto kept saying: Tim looked like Tom Cruise, so he was Cruise all night & even though Ali wasn't drunk, he kept pointing his finger at her saying "You are drunk" haha it was funny. We all slept nicely that night :)