While we were on safari, during our copious amounts of down time, several SASers and I attempted to make plans for the rest of the trip. They included hiking Table Mountain, a bike and wine tour, shark diving, visiting Robben Island, seeing Simonstown, and probably a couple of other impossible things.
I’ll just go ahead and tell you right now… not a single, one of these plans materialized. Not one. I should know better by now not to over plan, but this was a new low.
My first plan was to see my friend Leslie who attends Cape Town University. This one actually did work out. Once we returned from our safari, I quickly regrouped on the ship to go out and meet her for dinner. This walk into the waterfront was the first time I had walked from the ship into town, and I was greeted with this little treat—a signpost with the distance to every major city in the world.
Talk about some perspective—look at all the places we’ve been!
From there we joined some other SASers for a drive out to Stellenbosch for what we thought would be an interesting adventure for dinner. What we were told was that the dinner would include traditional food, accompanied by a dance show, in a treehouse.
Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to eat in a TREEHOUSE!
What we got was an incredibly overpriced buffet, with a singing group in the background, on the ground. Talk about a disappointment. But oh well. The food was great and the company was even better.
That night I was supposed to stay with Leslie, but the plans just didn’t work out—too many logistical issues around where she lived in relation to the ship. So I went back early for a very rare full night of sleep on the ship.
The next morning was a bit of a blur.
Mornings in port are an interesting phenomenon. For about an hour, everyone who is still on the ship without a definite plan will attempt to feel out everyone else’s plans, try and determine the best one, then figure out a way to, as they say, get involved. For those who have plans, the jockeying is just your morning entertainment. For those facing a day alone (which for some is unthinkable), it can be pretty stressful.
This particular morning we had the opposite problem—way too many people wanted to travel together. And we wanted to do something that wasn’t exactly possible given the weather that morning—hike Table Mountain. As you can see here, that wasn’t in the cards because of the ‘Table Cloth’ that had rolled in overnight.
However, some people were determined to make it up the mountain, so the group thinned out a bit before we settled on a new plan. With Table Mountain having gone by the wayside, we opted for the next best thing. Hiking Lionshead!
Yes, friends, I went hiking. And I have pictures to prove it! Good ones, even!
LOVE THAT PICTURE!
The weather was perfect, and the company was even better. We had a great time walking around, taking pictures, being silly, you name it. And we made some risky hiking choices (sorry Mom!), but it was all in the name of good photos.
YOLO!
It took a little while, mostly because we were messing around so much, but we finally made it to the top. You guessed it—more photo ops!
The hike down was equally as entertaining, and thankfully, much faster. Could be due to things like this, but who knows.
Once we finished our decent, we snuck in a quick lunch at the food court on the waterfront to prepare for our afternoon plans of wine tasting in Stellenbosch. In the true spirit of South African plans going awry, we were informed halfway through the tour that it would be cut short due to it being Good Friday. We were also informed that our shark cage diving scheduled for the following morning had been cancelled due to inclement weather.
Devastation.
So, because we had nothing to do that afternoon except drink and feel sorry for ourselves, this is the hilarity that ensued. Hope you’re ready.
Cheers!
We caught a wasp in the tour bus.
We played in a bounce house turned obstacle course.
We did crazy, South African cup drinking challenges—and WON!
We saw gorgeous scenery.
We climbed down to the ocean to see the sunset.
We posed on animals on the waterfront.
And we carefully snuck out some wine from a restaurant to-go… Don’t worry! We paid for it!
Then that night we attended a wedding.
That’s right. A wedding.
In the interest of the bride and groom’s anonymity, I’ll just keep this short. The ceremony was beautiful and I wish them all the happiness in the world.
The next morning, we had to find a suitable substitute for our canceled cage diving. Of course, there isn’t one, because cage diving has to be about the coolest thing I’ve ever almost done, so instead we went with something a little more tame—a nice little drive to Cape Point.
Little did we know that when we were choosing a cab driver, we were choosing yet another failure. I’ll spare you the gory details, and just say that the man was disagreeable at best, and we spent the better part of a two-hour round trip car ride in miserably awkward silence. Silence, people! There was no physical escape. But thankfully, we were all laughing on the inside.
Oh, and the pictures came out great!
So beautiful!
There was even a little shout out to New York at the top! Missing you guys so much!
So after that awful driver, and an hour’s worth of marathon induced traffic, I was feeling a little bit Grumpy.
But thanks to Beefy and especially Newbs, I had an incredible afternoon and a smile on my face once again.
Love you, Newbs!
We spent the afternoon shopping and eating at a local food market on the waterfront—complete with full-service bar. Some wonderful food and South African wine made the perfect end to a not-so-perfect trip. Or at least to a not-so-perfectly executed trip.
And wouldn’t you know it, but God blessed our last day with one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen to date. And let me tell you friends, when you’re living on a ship, you see A LOT OF SUNSETS. Get your ohh’s and ahh’s ready.
SOOOOOO PRETTYYYYYY!
So I was reminded, yet again, that despite what may seem like a tragic loss when a plan doesn’t quite come together, you just never know what amazing thing is waiting around the corner to take its place.
That wrapped up, quite beautifully I might add, our 6 days in South Africa.
Next stop Ghana—a totally different side of Africa.
Question of the Day: What’s the best surprise that had replaced one of your carefully created plans?
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