Last week was our week off, so to speak. We were staying in Simonstown, a small town right on the coast. When I say right on the coast I mean it, it was a 30 second walk to one to two beaches, one of which had penguins! And when I say we were in Simonstown I actually mean that we were 30 minutes outside of the town proper. Luckily after all of the walking we've done on Outtatown 30 minutes only causes minor grumbling, which was mostly blown away by the 30 km winds on the first 2 days.
Our first day was spent at Cape Point, the furthest south point you can go in africa. The updrafts off of the ocean were so fierce that we were thinking we might have to hold on to some of our lighter members to keep them from blowing away. We all climbed down to the line that marks the furthest south point that your allowed to go, so now we all have bragging rights.
The second day we spent at Muzineburg (I think that's how you spell it) beach. The high winds made for not the most fun day. The waves were too choppy for a proper shark watch so we swam at our own risk. We only found out the next day exactly how big the sharks were in that area. Most of us went into the water for a while, as long as you could stand the freezing cold, and then came out to face the sand storms that were blowing across the beach. Needless to say we all ended up very cold and with sand in new places.
On the third day we decided to get a little crazy. Most of us signed up to go jump off of a cliff, sorry to all the parents who ever said "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you follow?" The answer is yes, yes we will. We all took our turns running down the hill and then jumping into the sky. O and did I mention there was a parachute, yes we were actually going paragliding and not just trying to kill ourselves, well Britany might have been, she decided to take 2 tries at getting off the mountain, luckily she remains unhurt and only slightly embarassed. Paragliding was a fun experience, a little to short for most of us but with such a big group we couldn't really blame them. Plus they let us do tricks, that made up for the short ride.
Our fourth day we got even crazier. We signed up willingly, some a little less willingly than others, to go shark diving. After watching a fight onshore we went out and watched shark attacks all day. We got into the cages and waited, then saw a shark, then waited some more, then made a sheep noise and then the sharks came. (suprisingly the sheep noise works) Some of us were a little more scared than others, I will personaly deny having to be pulled back into the cage for the rest of my life, and some were just a little seasick. We got very up close and personal with these sharks, Jim more than others, as they swam within touching distance of the cage. A lot of close encounters and a few sunburns later and we were safley back on shore and retelling the days stories to the half of the group from the other boat.
On our last day in Simonstown we went into Capetown, funny how that works, for an authentic market experience. We shopped for the afternoon in Market Square. We got some great deals, haggled some great deals, and then some of our people, cough Allison cough cough, nearly cried after bartering an old lady down 10 rand. Some good times and good deals all around.
Unfortunatly this is where our week came to an end. We had a lot of fun, did some crazy things and we still have all of our limbs. What a restful week it was.
By: Josh Paetkau
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