Cape Town

Day 4:
What a beautiful city Cape Town is. Nestled between the mountains and the Atlantic ocean, it is an immaculately clean city. We are staying at the Victoria and Alfred Hotel, right in the middle of the Harbor. We have a "pet" seal who lives on the dock outside of our room. There are hundreds of beautiful shops and fantastic restaurants all within walking distance.

We left the hotel very early (again - remember this is a Clay Heckler Bootcamp vacation) to take a walk into the mountains with a naturalist to see the endangered Chaka Baboons. It was a great hike, we paused among the baboons and they came right by us, brushing our legs. One of them had a baby that was only 2 weeks old. She was strong enough to hang on underneath her mother who trekked her around as if she weren't there! Totally adorable. They are endangered because they break into people's homes, open their refrigerators, eat all the food and leave behind a terrible mess. So people shoot them or turn the dogs on them. This conservation group had raised money to keep them in the wild by hiring trackers (tribal people who would not have a job) to keep them up in the mountains in their natural habitat. The unemployment rate is 43 percent here, so they are doing a lot about trying to create jobs.

In the afternoon, we went to see the African Penguins and had a lunch on the beach nearby and tried a local specialty called Malva pudding, similar to our alltime favorite: Sticky Toffee pudding. Then our guide, Clive, took us out to the Cape of Good Hope. Although it is not technically the southermost point, it is roughly where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans merge. It was very beautiful, as all of the area is.

Wine Tasting in Franschoek and False Shark Diving

Day 1:

We land in Cape Town, South Africa and depart directly for the wine country to the north. Leaving the airport, we passed miles of squatter shacks. Basically, small houses built of scraps of aluminum siding. It was devastating to think that people could there. Our guide, Ivan, explained that post-Apartheid the banished people returned to the cities to find there was insufficient housing, and created these townships. Currently, the government works rigorously to provide jobs and more adequate housing, building 750 houses per day across the country. We decide we are awake enough to have a nice dinner at our hotel. Look! The menu is fantastic but “Pig’s Trotter” is the highlight, and all five of us ordered them. Before dinner, the electricity in our room kept going on and off so Kristin had to do Laura's make up by flashlight. Quite a comical sight!

Day 2:

We awake early Sunday morning and Ivan takes us on a tour through several of the wineries near Franschoek. The architecture and artwork at the wine tastings is stunning. Also, we have been graced with fantastic weather, clear blue skies and 70 degrees! This is the kids in front of a vineyard called Rickety Bridge. We tasted wines which got better and better including sparkling wine which was served at Obamas inauguration! Exhausted, we returned home for a nap, only to be greeted by friends of Diane Versfeld who had invited us to dinner at their home. Mick drove us through the mountain passes where we stumbled upon some baboons on the side of the road, as common as deer! Their house was looking over a lake surrounded by mountains, completely breathtaking. Mick and Althea prepared a braai (South African BBQ) for us. We loved their down to earth and friendly company.

Day 3:

Unfortunately, awakened at 4:30 for our 5 AM pickup, we drive to the coast near Cape Town to try our hand at diving with the Great White Sharks. It was freezing cold as the boat departed from Simon’s Town into False Bay, named because many ships accidentally entered False Bay instead of Cape Bay. We rode around Seal Island, a small rock almost infested with seals which smelled like rotten fish (the seals were completely adorable). The Great Whites feed at sunrise and their food during the winter is limited to these seals. Professional photographers lined the back of the boat, on their knees, with their cameras poised, as we waited for hours upon end to see the sharks breach the water. We saw a few dorsal fins but one of the sharked attacked the decoy and we got a glimpse of his body. Otherwise, this was a False Shark Expedition. The seals and sunrise redeemed the several hour freezing cold trip. We decided to skip the afternoon trip and went home for naps. Traveling through Africa is grueling!