Another weekend, another epic excursion. Just the usual here in South Africa.
Once again, Monday through Friday was not very adventuress on my end. Reading, writing papers, and making flow-charts can really put a damper on being extreme. But, come Friday afternoon about 20 of us boarded the mini-busses for the annual Interstudy Excursion Weekend. Just a 1.5 hour drive from Cape Town is the coastal town of Hermanus. Here, the wonders of ocean wildlife mingle with the constant opportunities for adventure.
We all stayed at the Hermanus Backpakers where we were welcomed by a delicious braai (the South African term for a barbeque). Afterwards it was off to bed in anticipation for the activities of tomorrow. In the morning, we split into two smaller groups with each alternating between exploring the town and sea kayaking in the whale reserve. Obviously the sea kayaking was more fun, so i'll skip the details on the shopping in town. In groups of two (Grace and I made an excellent team) we all got into kayaks and fought the massive waves to exit the old harbor and make it out beyond the rocky coastline. While we didn't encounter any whales close-up, there was a sighting off in the distance and a brief encounter with a seal. Most likely the wildlife was scared off by all the splashing that was going on between all the boats... our boat was obviously superior in all categories of the water fight. Per usual. After a really quick jump off the boats we headed back to the harbor and back onto dry land, if only for a moment.
We quickly ate our lunches and rushed across town to the new harbor where we boarded another boat... this time for up close whale watching! In just twenty minutes of so we found ourselves with a sighting of a pod of whales. Fortunately, we got more than just a distant sighting as the boat was able to drive all the way into the middle of the herd!!! We were literally a few feet from these massive whales as they slowly glided through the water. They never did the impressive jumping out of the water and flopping back down (breaching), but we had plenty of other epic whale activity.
After another night at the hostel, which included a short walk downtown for some live music and a night swim in the ocean, we awoke before dawn to prepare for shark cage diving!!! Doesn't get more extreme than that, does it?
In a large metal cage hanging off the side of out boat, we all took turns edging into the freezing water and getting dangerously close to wild Great White Sharks! As one of the boat crew dumped fish guts and blood into the ocean to attract the sharks, another crew member essentially fished for the sharks by throwing a massive tuna head into the water and drawing these huge sharks within a few feet of the cage. We saw at least four different sharks, but honestly, they all looked the same... large and in charge. Once people started to get sea-sick and the sharks began to loose interest, we made our way back to land where we were whisked away to Death Valley... a place for the fearless to frolic.
If things hadn't been wild enough we took part in riding ATV's through the beautiful countryside and paint-balling against the local terrorist group. Racing around the hillside vineyards, orchards, and farms was an absolute blast and it culminated at the top of a ridge overlooking the town of Hermanus and the ocean. Back at the beginning of the ride we put on our paint-balling suits which, as one of the leaders Sebe put it, made us look like homeless people. We were armed and dangerous homeless people, however, and we all worked to beat the workers at the paint ball range in a game of SWAT vs. terrorists. Unfortunately we lost, but we had a blast crawling around in the woods, getting nailed with paint, and just getting our butts kicked by professionals.
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