South Africa- Fifth Port
Day 1:
We arrived this morning at 8am. I woke up for sunrise at 6 and I’m glad I did! I got to see Table Top Mountain from afar and it was gorgeous. Then I went to sleep and woke up again to watch the boat dock. There were seals swimming everywhere. The immigration process was pretty long. We had to wait for our sea to be called—I am in the Bering sea and it is needed for getting off the ship and the sea Olympics later. Anyway we got on a shuttle bus and went to the immigration office. We got through immigration and waited for the bus back for 30 minutes before finding out it was stuck behind a tractor so instead we walked back. And it was super cool to see a little bit of the waterfront. I love this port because right outside the ship is a giant shopping mall. Then there’s even more shopping and restaurant along the way all within a short walking distance. So… I did go shopping for some new/more clothes and some seals. Then we went out to dinner that night at Nobu—a very fancy sushi restaurant and it was absolutely delicious! Then came back to the ship and went to bed for an early morning the next day!
Day 2:
I woke up at 6:45 this morning, threw on my bathing suit, threw some things in my backpack and headed to breakfast. Then me and some friends met up to go meet our tour guide for the day. We hopped in a van and drove 1.5 hours to a little town to try to see whales and for a bathroom break. Then we drove another hour to a little town for some shark diving. I don’t know why but we got there 3 hours before our actual shark diving time so we explored a little bit and ran into other SASers. We ate some lunch, which I could not eat any of it, then hopped onto the boat to go out into the sea. We put on wetsuits, booties, weights and goggles and got into the cage. They threw bait to draw the sharks in and you used bars to hold yourself under. It was a very cool experience. Then we went back to shore and ate some more food before heading back. We drove for 1.5 hours a different way from which we came from Cape Town and stopped to look at some penguins! Then drive more along the coast back to the ship. We ate some McDonald’s and then went to change to go out to the bars close by.
Day 3:
I woke up this morning with my phone in my room ringing—my friend was calling me on it. We were paragliding that morning off Signal Hill. The company we were doing it through wanted us to come a little earlier because of weather coming in. So we got dressed and headed to the meeting spot. We got into our harnesses and got attached to our guides. Then I ran off the side of the mountain and got lifted up into the air. I was flying and it was amazing. We got a little close to the hillside which was a little scary but I safely made it to the ground. Seriously amazing experience! Then we went back to the ship, changed and went to get brunch. Again it was delicious and then went to Starbucks to get my favorite fall drink that I’m missing from home. We all worked on figuring out our registration and classes for the spring semester. Then did a little more shopping. Then I went back to the ship, changed into a dress I just bought and went out on my own. I went on a date with a man I met online, he is from North Carolina but studying abroad here for a while. He showed me around that night and we ate delicious food and played pool at a pool bar. Then I headed back to the ship and slept kind of early to get sleep for the next day!
Day 4:
Today was amazing. We woke up and got dressed and walked to a place to get on a bus and go on a wine tour all day. We drove for an hour to go to the first wine vineyard and it was gorgeous, then went to two more after and all of them were gorgeous and everything was delicious. We then drove back to Cape Town and went to a Time Out market there. If you remember we went to Time Out market in Lisbon and there are 9 of these markets in the world and we’ve been to two. After that my body was exhausted so I fell asleep early that night.
Day 5:
Today I was all alone. So many people I knew were on a safari or some other activity so I did my own thing. I got my nails done at the best place inside of the mall. Then I got some spectacular food at a little restaurant nearby. Then I got a chai from Starbucks and did some school tasks. I then tried to figure out what I wanted to do and decided to try and go to the Halloween store but it was closed but over in that area, I met up with the guy I went on a date with for a couple hours and we played mini golf and walked back to the shop. Then I got dinner with my friends at Time Out market again. And again it was delicious then we went out to the pubs nearby. Today I learned that I do love solo traveling but I think I have to pre plan a bit better because once I figured out what I wanted to do, everything was closed.
Day 6:
Today I got to sleep in a little and then had to get ready for my safari! We drove about 3 hours to Aquila reserve. And today it’s raining! It was so fun but also a little miserable because it was freezing and I did not dress warm enough. So not the best weather for this today. The vegetation here is so gorgeous. So we drove around for 2 hours and saw a lot of animals. Then went back and went to the gift shop and back onto the bus to head back to the ship. I had a shower real quick and headed back out to go meet up with the guy I went on a date with again and we went to this giant casino place but we just played some of the arcade games. Then got dinner.
Day 7:
Today I went to the colorful neighborhood of Bo-Kapp near the downtown area and it was so beautiful. Then I went to tour the University of Cape Town which was also gorgeous—I love to see new/different campuses. After that I went back to the ship and stopped at Starbucks to get my favorite fall drink—an iced chai tea latte with pumpkin cream cold foam. Then got back on the ship and had to go through immigration. Then that night we left at 20:00 and were off to Mauritius!
One of my favorite things was watching the boat come into dock and seeing the country appear, from the ocean into full view. Such a lovely experience to arrive by boat! We love you and miss you!
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