Cape Town, South Africa

Omg this place was amazing! I definitely plan to come back at some
point. I did so many fun things, but still wish we had another week to
spend here!

Day One:
It was a little foggy, but the view pulling into port was amazing.
Almost everyone woke up at 6 to see the sunrise! There was a really cute
waterfront area about 5 minutes away from the port so we spent a little
bit of time walking around there before heading down the Cape Town
peninsula. Our first stop was The Old Biscuit Mill. It was an organic
food and craft market on Saturday mornings that my friend Olivia from
Bentley who studied in Cape Town told me about. Had a great time! Got a
really pretty African coin bracelet and tried lots of food like ostrich
burger, tuna jerkey and lots of homemade desserts, pesto and South
African beer! From there we hopped on their train system to keep going
down the coast. It was a really pretty, scenic route along the coast to
Boulders Beach which is known for its African penguins! Our plan was to
hike up Lion's Head to see the sunset, but by the time we got back
closer to the city center we wouldn't have had time to hike to the top.
Instead, we went to Signal Hill which is another amazing view. We ran
into our friend Jeanette who was with her friend that was studying
there. He took us off the beaten path, away from the tourist picnic area
to this really cool lookout. We had wine and watched the sunset from
there! After a long day we grabbed dinner at this fun place Mitchell's
by the waterfront and headed back to the ship then went out on Long
Street which is a popular street in the city.

Day Two:
Four thirty AM sure came early after a late first night in port!
Dad, I don't know how you get up that early all the time! We (a group of
19 of us I organized) got picked up at the ship at 4:45AM for shark cage
diving! It was the sickest thing ever!! We got a briefing on shark
diving at the place before heading our on the water. The boat basically
had a cage on the side of it. We didn't need snorkels or anything just
goggles. We split up into three groups because the cage held 6-7 people
and everyone else could watch from the top deck. The guys in charge
basically told us when to go down and we held our breathe and pulled
ourselves underwater by the bars. Because of the wind, the water wasn't
very clear, but the action on top of the water was intense! For each of
our groups, we had sharks literally come at the cage! I bought the DVD
and have tons of my own footage... I can't wait to show you all! Our bus
driver on the way home was amazing. He took us on a scenic route and
stopped at a bunch of cool viewing spots! We were back to the boat by
2ish, but were all exhausted. I slept for a little while then grabbed
sushi (THAT WAS DELICIOUS) with Savannah. I ended up with a free ticket
to this Jazz Safari SAS program that ended up being pretty cool. We went
to a few local jazz musicians homes and listened to them play. Plus, we
got a good home cooked meal out of it! I got back to the ship to a bit
of a scene. A baby humpback whale had gotten stuck between the dock and
the dock. It took hours of help from animal control and port officials
to get the little guy out. Unfortunately, they weren't sure if he'd
survive after all the stress and confusion he experienced :(

Day Three:
I woke up pretty early to go check out a different part of Cape
Town called Camps Bay. It's a really nice beach area, but unfortunately
it wasn't that nice out. Savannah and I walked around and got a
delicious steak, salmon and wine lunch at this place on the water! After
that I headed back to the ship to go to my orphanage and township visit/
tour through SAS. We started out at the Baphumelele orphange. There were
tons of little kids and we were able to play with them for awhile and
get a tour of the facilities. From there we went and rode bikes through
a couple townships which are like small towns/ villages that a lot of
people live in. They are definitely low class by our standards. This is
going to sound gross, but I tried goat head (yup, tongue and all!) and,
believe it or not, it was sooo good! The second township was actually
where a lot of the Denzel Washington movie, Safe House was filmed. It
was really cool to see an up close and personal experience with such a
different lifestyle.

Day Four/ Five:
Got to check a big thing off the bucket list--- going on a safari!
It was called Fairy Glen and was about an hour and a half drive away
from where the boat was docked. It was an animal reserve at a lodge type
place set up in the mountains. When we first got there we had a
delicious meal, got settled in our cute little cabins then headed out on
a three hour game drive. Saw so many zebras, antelope, elephants,
rhinos, lions, ostriches and buffalo! When we got back to the lodge, we
even got to feed the elephants! It was so cool to be so close to them,
but I got freaked out a couple times when the trunk snuck up behind LOL.
They also had a ton of horses including two minis! The next morning we
went out again and saw even more. Our guide, Deon was a great guy!

Back on the boat now and won't be getting off again for 13 whole
days! Crossing the Atlantic to Argentina is going to take awhile, but I
definitely need the rest after all the activity and excitement here in
Cape Town! It's my 22nd the day we get there.. didn't think I'd ever
spend a birthday in South American LOL. Everyone got back on the boat
fairly early this afternoon because Desmond TuTu came on board to give a
speech! He's sailed with SAS before and is really involved/ connected to
the program. Hope you enjoy all the pictures!

Go Red Sox!

xoxo
Katrina