Island in the Sun

My last post was a very difficult one, and was quite dark. This post will attempt to be the opposite. The focus will be the recent visit of my significant other, Alexis. If you don’t want to hear about our awesome adventures together, or see pics of some of the cool things we did, then please tune out now.

I left for South Africa on September 28^th around 2pm.  Alexis landed in Cape Town on the 18^th of May, around 9:45 pm. That means that roughly 7 1/3 months had passed since we had seen each other in person. That is 233 days. That’s 5,578 hours. 334,680 minutes. 20,080,800 seconds. Give or take some time on all of these calculation for math errors on my part. It goes without saying that I was excited to see her. My coworkers could all attest to my excitement. They were bombarded with my plans for her visit, and even suggested some activities of their own on what we should do, for weeks leading up to her landing. .

We spent the first 6 days in the Cape Town area. Part of the time was spent allowing Alexis to adjust to the time change and get over her jet lag. The place we were staying was wonderful for that task. This is the first trip I have even taken where I used the site AirBnB, and I would highly suggest it to anyone traveling anywhere, especially areas that are usual tourist destinations. We visited the HOPE office one of those days for lunch, but unfortunately only about half of the staff were there, and it was not a long lunch because everyone was very busy. The same day we hiked up Table Mountain, which was both wonderful and extremely difficult (those of you that remember my Christmas Holiday adventures post may remember my talking about the hike there). Other highlights included seeing X-men apocalypse (at least it was for me) in a super comfy theater that is called the “prestige experience” (I want more theaters in this style in the states), eating dinner with coworkers, exploring the waterfront area, going to the aquarium, visiting one of my favorite coffee shops in Cape Town, visiting the watershed and shopping, then exploring an exhibit on poisons and venoms throughout history and fiction (we were able to hold a snake at the end. Check out the pictures below), going to Hout Bay,  visiting the World of Birds wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey park, and in general just enjoying each other’s presence and company after such a long time apart. Each of these highlights could be expounded on for paragraphs, but instead I will just talk about a few.

 

Us Holding the snake at the end of the exhibit.

Us outside of the Water Front mall

Alexis feeding a seal at Hout Bay

Me feeding a seal at Hout Bay

  

Alexis standing a little too close to an exhibit
 (as she found out 5 seconds after this pic was taken)

Alexis clearly ignoring the "no touching" signs

     

The wildlife sanctuary was probable one of my favorite stops. It was interesting to explore all of their exhibits and learn about the different birds and animals kept there, but the real highlight was stolen by the monkeys. There was one enclosure where you could enter and walk among a group of 38 (according to their site) squirrel monkeys. We were greeted by signs and attendants giving us the same instruction; 1) do not reach for or touch the animals. We could lift our arm to them to let them climb on us if their approached, but we were not to restrain them in any way. 2) make sure all food and drink is left outside the enclosure. 3) make sure all bags are securely closed. 4) enjoy. When we first entered there were not many others in the enclosure so we did not know what to really do or expect.  We just walked along the path and enjoyed watching the monkeys and tried to tempt some of them onto our arms, but none really accepted. Suddenly one of the handlers appeared and told us to sit on a bench. We did, thinking that maybe they were more likely to approach a stationary target. Next thing I knew, the handler tossed something in our direction and what felt like 20 monkeys followed it onto us (Their site states each monkey can weigh between 1-2 ½ pounds). It was AMAZING. The handler was more than willing to continue to toss peanuts our way as we laughed and giggled and attempted to take pictures of ourselves covered in these adorable little monkeys. Fyi, it’s difficult to get a good pic when covered in monkeys and experiencing extreme joy. The best ones will be below. The exhibit started to fill up after us, so we didn’t get to spend the rest of the day in blissful monkey land. We grudgingly allowed another couple to take our bench (there were maybe 4-5 in a row for this exact purpose) and moved on to see the rest of the sanctuary.

The monkeys found a perch

Baby monkey

It is REALLY hard to get a good pic
while monkeys are jumping on you

The is probably one of the better pics.

After our time in Cape Town, we spent a night at the Caledon Hotel. While there we were able to visit the Natural hot springs on the grounds, as well as enjoy their Spa and other amenities (like steam room and Roman bath). Unfotruntely, due to their computer system being down, we were unable to get the couples mud bath we wanted. In the evening we were able to visit the hotel’s casino, and ended up winning just over 200 rand (we started with R200 as a part of the promotion from the hotel. So we basically came out 20some rand ahead). After the night at the Caledon we headed down to the Hermanus area for 5 more days of activities. These included quad biking, exploring Hermanus and the surrounding area, visiting the care center, eating at a lot of interesting and unique restaurants in the area, seeing more HOPE coworkers (in town for a meeting at the care center), and Shark diving. Once again, I could expound on any of these, but I will explore just the one.

Alexis Climbing on rocks

Dassies, a local wildlife.

You are not supposed to feed them, but once again, Alexis ignores that.
(Shes just trying to feed them grass. She actually was successful).

Some Dolphins we saw from the cliffside in Hermanus

Shark Diving. It was Alexis’ only real request of her trip. We ended up going with a company called Marine Dynamics. It was a really nice trip. We were asked to arrive at their building in Gansbaai (about 45 minutes away from Hermanus in the opposite direction from Cape Town) at noon. It started with a lunch followed by a safety and informational briefing. After that we received our gear and everyone headed down to the boat (there was maybe 20-25 customers on the trip and 10-15 staff members/volunteers). After a 15 minute boat trip, we arrived at the site they used for the dive. There was a boat from another company already in the area, so we didn’t have to wait long to see the sharks. The way the process works is they attach the cage to the side of the boat, and 6-8 people go into the cage at one time. The use a cardboard cutout to simulate a cape seal (a great white’s preferred meal) and a “Chum Ball” as bait to lure the sharks close to the boat. When a shark approaches, the baiters call “DOWN” and those in that cage pull themselves under to try and see the shark under water. During this time, everyone on the boat is more than welcome to take pictures of the sharks in the water. Let me just say, it was an awesome experience. Even from the boat, the sharks are impressive. Every so often a shark would approach the chum from underneath, and erupt from the water in a majestic display of power that was near impossible to capture on camera unless you were very prepared. Most of the time the shark would just swim up and then along the boat following the bait (marine dynamics attempts to guide the sharks along the boat instead of running them into the cage. This reduces damage to both shark and cage). We finally got our turn in the cage, and it was easily one of the top 10 coolest experiences in my life. From the boat they are impressive, when they are swimming less than an arm’s length away, the great white is terrifying and awe inspiring. While Marine Dynamics does not intentionally lead the shark into the cage, it still sometimes accidentally approached the boat straight on. There was twice where the shark impacted the cage directly next to us, and it was incredible. Another highlight of the trip was seeing a whale breach very close to us, which happens very very rarely, according to the guides. Another great thing about Marine Dynamics is that each trip has a marine biologist on board, so we got to learn many interesting facts about great whites, marine life in the area, and the efforts of the company to preserve the habitat. After the sharks, they take you by where most of the Cape Seals hang out, and it was nice to see them. Then it is back to the main building for soup and sandwiches to warm up again. 

(Pictures of this activity to come. Alexis has them all on cameras, and she has to find the cords and then transfer them onto a computer and then send them to me. Trust me though, they are awesome)

Sadly, Alexis had to leave on the 31^st. The last night was spent in Cape Town, where we just enjoyed dinner together and prepared for her departure the next day. Her visit was a refreshing respite for my time here. I have missed her the most in my time here, and being able to share my work here as well, as this beautiful country, was great. Saying goodbye to her was very hard, but our time together was a highlight of this year.