T-24 hours till I head home...

We've all had a great time during our stay here, and I'm definitely going to miss Cape Town a lot. It's a bit hard to leave an area you've been living in for three weeks, but it's time to get back to life in the States--not that I have a choice. John left this morning and Gabe followed a few hours after. Jeff and I leave for the airport at around 2:30 in the after CAT (Central African Time) and split ways after check-in.

South Africa has definitely left a strong impression on me. Although Cape Town is a rich city, I've had the opportunity to see some of the smaller areas and experience life outside African tourism. And after meeting backpackers who've travelled to Nairobi, Mozambique, Kenya, and other African countries, I'm hell-bent on visiting as many of them as I can in the near future. The people here are very friendly and curious, and despite a few potential sanitary and government issues in certain countries, no one I've met has felt that the risks outweigh the benefits….and everything is so cheap!

With my savings being the only issue, it's only a matter of time before I'll be back. See everyone home soon. Kavin out.

Jaws & Co.

Friday was our designated shark diving day. Actually, Wednesday was our day, but a storm on Tuesday created high sea swells that prevented us from going to sea for the next few days. Before this trip started, everyone thought I was a nuts to suggest even trying this. The most common response was, "You go first, and if you come back alive we'll think about it." I'll tell you right now, it was one of the safest and most amazing experiences I have ever had!

We were picked up at 10:30 in the morning and shuttled over to Gansbaai (pronounced "haans-bye" with a little bit of phlegm-ness on the "haans" part) where sharks run rampant this time of year. It's winter and the water's pretty cold, but I guess that's the perfect condition for sharks to….you know.

Anway, the company we signed with, Marine Dynamics, is also a conservationist group that tags and monitors sharks so we sat through a few presentations about how they are mostly harmless but are still mistreated by fishermen everywhere. It was good information and I can't say that I didn't learn a thing or two. Little did we know we had a shark expert in our own group--Thanks to Shark Week, Jeff was spitting out facts like it was his day job.

After lunch we got on a boat to headed out to sea. So far, we've been on a couple of boats but none of them were as fast as this one. Most our trip consisted of us holding on the railings as is our lives depended on it, mainly because our lives really did depend on it. I made the mistake of taking out my camera before those rocket-jet engines fired up and was caught attempting to keep still with one hand and a pinky. I can't completely regret it though, I did manage to capture this:

This boat was cruising next to us at the same speed when a some sort of sea hawk flew next to us. One the crew on the other boat held up some meat and the bird flew over to grab it out of his hand.

And then another one came by and did the same thing!

When we arrived at the cages, the crew asked for the first group of six to get suited up. I would have been ticked if something cause the sharks to swim away later in the day so I volunteered our group first. Gabe and Jeff immediately sounded off a confident "NO!", but John was game. Armed with an underwater camera that I had been borrowing, I was able to snapped as many shots as I could while underwater. I ended up taking almost eight photos, and although a few of them are out-of-focus (listen, photographic composition was the last thing on my mind when some of the Great Whites were swimming right at me) I did manage to get a few decent ones. Check it:

The fish were everywhere. Like flies of the water, I had to swat some away when they got too close.

Look at the teeth...

There is something so intrinsically scary about seeing this come at you.

Probably the best picture out of the bunch. I really couldn't pay too much attention to the camera when a 15 foot fish with bear-trap jaws was within arms length.

The famous fin.

-kav

How does sand hurt this much?

Back in the States, most of us head to the snowy regions of the country for recreational skiing and boarding activities. Here, they hit the sand dunes for sand boarding. With nothing else on the books on Thursday, the four of us decided to give that a try.

SPOILER: this post ends with crash clips.

Fortunately for us, it had rained the day before and the sand was tough in some areas. That's me being sarcastic. But for the most part, the dunes were pretty forgiving to our learning curve. By the third and fourth run, most of us were pretty stable on the board. Except Jeff. That boy was just not built to ride a board down a slope.

"Bend your knees, Jeff!" our instructor, Moses, would yell out. "Lean forward!"

As much as Jeff claimed to be doing both, our video evidence shows his knees stiff as a board while he leaned back. Meanwhile, the three of us learned to carve the dunes and make our way to some of the steeper slopes.

All was well until, I decided to aim for this ramp (more like a speed bump) that John built out of the sand. It was at the bottom of one of the steep slopes, but one that I had successfully ridden before. I waxed the board, strapped my legs in, and leaned forward to get myself going. I was about halfway down when I lost balance and face-planted moving forward. I remembered getting the wind knocked out of me and hitting my head as I tumbled.

Then I was in a white, windowless room. I was sitting at a square table holding a spoon with a bowl of milk and cereal in front of me. Fruit loops. I hate Fruit Loops. I scooped a spoonful and put it into my mouth. It was very crunchy and I chewed for a couple of seconds. I went for another spoonful. Then the top of the room turned blue like the walls were becoming transparent. The blue become brighter and brighter till I was no longer in a white room.

As I came to, the silhouette of one of the instructors became more defined with the sky in the background. I remember being very confused when I realized the instructor, Opi, was hurriedly unstrapping my board from my feet and asking me if I was ok.

Oh yeah, I'm sandboarding, I thought to myself.

Then I heard Jeff from the top of the dune:

"Hey Kavin, did you get knocked out?"

"…Yeah…I think I did."

"Awesome, man!"

He's a great guy.

Anyway, the day went on and we continued to do stupid things. Let me show you:

We felt everything the next day...

Pictures:

Waxing the boards...we had to do this after every ride

John getting ready to conquer a dune.

Going helmet-less...great idea.

-kav

Fun With The English

These videos are really late, but the internet's finally fast enough:

We've had some good fun with the English chaps here: We've taught them our games...

And they taught us their songs...

John got really into it.

-kav

La Furia Roja vs. The Bad Guys

Ok so you know how I feel about Cristiano. You might also know how much I love Team España. To me, the game had a clear winner before kickoff had even started. Lucky for me, my compatriots support Spain just as much as I do….except John. Impressed by the Portuguese women he's seen around here, the kid went and decked himself out in maroon and green while the rest of us covered ourselves in red and yellow. Considering he was not the only "fan" in town that day, I thought it was a pretty sad attempt at attracting some Portuguese bombshell.

Anyway, we made it to the game, saw Spain win (as expected), and headed back to the hostel bar for festivities. I love the atmosphere here on game days..and seeing Cristiano get sent home brought happy tears to my eyes!

And now, pictures:

We were all rooting for Spain. Except one...

Some of the Spaniards going nuts after the goal!

An attempted header by Portugal. Casillas stopped it, as expected.

"San Iker" congratulating the other keeper on a good game. Some would call this being blessed.

The best sign of the night...

-kav

Penguins and wine and cheetahs and whales (pt.4/4)

Jeff is dumb. I have a feeling that what he thinks are sharks are actually whales and what he thinks are whales are actually sharks. He's been ready to go shark-cage diving for sometime now, but when asked to go whale watching---and I mean whale watching--he gave me this excuse:

"Dude, a whale could just come up beside you and eat you, and it wouldn't even notice!"

…What??

How do you respond to someone as disillusioned as him? You say nothing, leave the sucker behind, and go find yourself some whales. So the three of us--Gabe, John, and I--booked a guide to take us to a few major whale watching spots around the Western Cape in hopes that we would all see our first big whale.

GROUP SHOT!

Bam.

After some trial and error, we got on a boat and finally spotted a Southern Right Whale at Hermanus Bay.

But it doesn't end there. As we were heading to lunch by another bay (by the way, South Africa is littered with scenic bays), we spotted a group of kayaks being followed by a whale. And then some seals came up to the kayaks. And then a school of dolphins started playing around the kayaks. There was an entire sea party going on by these kayaks and all we could do was sit dumbstruck with our mouths open like a couple of brain-deads. And just our luck, that was the last canoe ride for the day…sometimes you see nothing, sometimes you see every living animal in the sea, there's just no telling.

As Whale Crier, his job was to sound his kelp-made vuvuzela when there was a whale at bay.

Still, it was a great day with great weather and great pictures. It got even better when we ended it with a local beer tasting!

Next event: Spain vs. Portugal!!

-kav

Penguins and wine and cheetahs and whales (pt.3/4)

On Sunday, a few of us took a tour around the region South of Cape Town. Ultimately, our goal was to end up at Cape of Good Hope--the southwestern most part of Africa. On our way we ran into some of these:

and these:

Have I mentioned how much I like penguins? I really like penguins. Going to Boulder Beach was like going to a toy store full of penguins…I seriously considered shoplifting one of the little guys.

The weather couldn't have been better, we ended up hiking by the cliffs, biking through the bay, and seeing a lot more animals than I expected! Here's what we else saw:

Ostriches:

Baboons:

The mama and the baby.

This guy was biting his toenails. I thought it looked hilarious!

Dassies (pretty much as common as squirrels at the bay, they look like gophers and are not shy to come up to you):

More photos:

One of the many scenic bays around Cape Point.

A baby seal! Haters, please resist your urge to club it.

Heeheehee.

I wish we had cooler animals walking around back home. Africa is definitely better about that.

-kav