Africa 2015 - Summary Video

I'm posting a summary video of our African trip below:

https://vimeo.com/133851824

7 continents - 7 marathons

Africa 2015 - Day #13

Big 5 Marathon - 7th and final continent

 

 

Sunday, June 28th

We arrived into Atlanta around 5:30am eastern time in the states on Sunday morning.  We passed through customs and security, threw our checked bag back on the belt and headed to our gates.  I had a return flight to Denver leaving around 7:30am, while Liam had a 8:30am flight back to Raleigh.

Liam and I grabbed some breakfast and again spoke to how lucky we were to have things work out for us on the trip.

Here's to a tremendous, adventure-filled journey to the most southern country in all of Africa (South Africa) ----- a place I would recommend to anyone!!!

Africa 2015 - Day #12

Table Mountain - from the Harbor in Cape Town

Last morning in Cape Town

Table Mountain

 

Our walk to the Harbor from the apartment

Nice place in Cape Town

Last views from the apartment

Night views from our apartment balcony

Saturday, June 27th

Marathon travel day.  Up at 8am in Cape Town.  Down to the waterfront for some souvenoir shopping and back to the apartment for a 10am departure to the airport.  Carl came though again with some Elvis tunes as we bid farewell to Cape Town.  We had a 1:15pm flight to Johannesburg - arriving at 3:15pm.

Once in Johannesburg, we had to get our bags and then go back through security.  Luckily, we had plenty of time - it took a while to get through everything.  Liam and I were on a 7:20pm flight to Atlanta and Greg was on a 8:20pm flight to London.  We grabbed a quick drink and toasted a fantastic trip.  Saturday ended aboard a 15 hr - 36 minute flight back to the states (I later learned that the Johannesburg to Atlanta flight on Delta is the 2nd longest 1-way flight in the world - 2nd to Dallas-Sydney)

Africa 2015 - Day #11

Arriving at our Cage Dive Location

 

Marine Dynamics - our cage dive operator

 

 

Wow - that was close

 

Inside the Cage

That's the shot!

Close-up action

 

 

The Great White - a foot by the cage

8 folks in the cage

Herm - in the cage

Head out of water - no scuba

a victory ride back to shore

 

Seal Island

Great White - feed on the seals in Shark Alley

Friday, June 26th

Today it finally happened - we were successful in our attempt to cage dive with great white sharks (one of the deadliest creatures on earth) - in the most shark-invested waters in the world.

We awoke to great weather.  No cancellation emails today.  Our pickup was set for 9:30am.  We walked down to the security gate for pickup.  A 10-person van arrived to shuttle us 2.5 hours to our diving site (Gansbaai).  Upon arrival we were provided lunch and a briefing video.  We were informed that the morning dive had yet to see any sharks - they were going to stay out a little longer until one came in.

We took a short trip over to a penguin shelter and learned more about their habitat and feeding while waiting for the morning boat to arrive.  After 45 minutes or so, we were ready for our turn at the title.  We were provided a wetsuit, foot coverings, and a huge orange rain jacket.  A 5-minute walk to the pier - we then boarded our boat.

A little nervous for sure, the boat ride to our dive location was only about 15 minutes off shore --- right by Seal Island and Shark Alley, the locations often talked about and witnessed during Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.  Upon arrival to our dive location, I stood up from my second level seat and immediately saw this huge figure passing next to the boat.  Wow!!  A great white - live and in-person.

The crew told us to quickly get in our gear.  The shark cage was already in the water from the earlier dive.  It was a long rectangular-shaped cage that could hold about 8 divers.  It was secured to the boat.  The first group got into the cage as I watched from above.  The cage had a metal footing that you could stand on with your head above water.  The guides would throw out a seal decoy and some fish heads to lure the sharks.  The idea was - the crew would yell out:  "Down left, down middle, down right" - when a shark was approaching.  In the cage, you would hold your breadth and go under water.  There was a foot-hold you could place your feet under to keep yourself underwater.  Then - you could take pictures as the shark swam by.

After 30 minutes and many shark encounters, it was my turn in the cage.  I was positioned in probably the best viewing spot - far right in the cage.  This was the location where the fish heads where continually roped in/out.  Note - sharks were not fed - the fish heads would be pulled away before they actually got there.

Jumping into the 15 deg Celcius water was heart-stopping at first.  It took me a little while to understand the best way to view the sharks.  I had a disposable camera.  Crazy Stuff!  "Down left!" - was called out by the dive guide.  Well - I was on the right side of the cage - but I went under the water anyway and held my breadth.  There, right there in front of me, was this huge great white - not more than a couple feet away.  Within my time in the cage, there was a couple instances where the shark bit down on the cage (not directly in front of me however).  We ended up seeing 4 different sharks on the day.  3 juvenile males and one adult male.

What an amazing experience!  Unbelievable to see such huge creatures underwater - and remarkable how close they came to the cage.  On several occasions, I could have reached out with my hand and touched the shark (I didn't do this obviously - but could have)

We were each given about 30 minutes in the cage.  We then took a boat ride through Shark Alley and were able to get some photos of Sea Island.  Really, really unique stuff! 

What a rewarding way to end our time in South Africa.  We had a 3-hr drive back to Cape Town (a car accident held up traffic a bit).  We then went out for a great dinner.  Some awesome conversation and even better food - all good for the last evening of our trip.

Africa 2015 - Day #10

Panoramic views of the 12-apostles

Panoramic views of Campers Bay

Incredible views around Cape Town

12-Apostles at sunset

Hiking Trail to Table Mountain

 

The fellas at the top of Table Mountain

Herm and Liam

 

Our friends from the safari (Sofia and Maria)

 

A look over Cape Town from Table Mountain

The hiking crew

A look at a cloud-covered Table Mountain

A celebration dinner

Thursday, June 25th

When you don't have the convenience of a cell phone - you really appreciate how much easier it makes things.  I have been communicating with our shark cage dive operator every day (often multiple times a day) - but only through email - and only when I had excess to Wi-Fi.

As we awoke on Thursday, we had been told our shark dive was a go - unless we received word otherwise.  We were to be picked up at 10am.  We started to get ready - meaning - we put a seasickness patch on - to prevent any problems out on the choppy seas.  About 5 minutes into our prep - I received an email from the operator letting us know that the cage dive had been cancelled again.  Now - that only leaves 1 day for the dive (Friday).

OK - on to plan B.  We emailed the girls from our safari and lined up a meeting spot.  We took a cab to the base of Table Mountain and opted for a longer, more strenuous route up the mountain.  15K total - with some pretty steep places and sketchy footing.

We started the hike around 11:20am.  Things were perfect at first - nice views, level ground, and great conversation.  About 1 hour into the hike - here comes the rain and wind ---- and the incline.  We worked our way up the mountain.  We ascended in about 3 hr - 30min.  It was certainly challenging, but all 5 of us bonded on the hike.  We were cold and battered at the top - as we looked out to a sea of fog (meaning - we didn't have much to see).  You would think this would be discouraging, but, this was one of the most fun hikes I've ever been on.  There was a tourist center at the top where we grabbed some hot coffee and warmed ourselves with the heat lamps positioned in the shop.  We ended up changing out of as much wet clothes as possible - and even used some garbage bags to protect our feet from our soaked shoes (reminded me of playing out in the snow back in the day).

The best find once we arrived on top of the mountain - the cable car which brought folks up/down the mountain was operational.  We anticipated that we may need to hike the descent - but fortunately, we took a 5 minute cable car ride instead.  Awesome stuff!

Back to the hotel, a little rest, and then we all went out for a great dinner to celebrate our 15K ascent of Table Mountain - 5 days post marathon. 

Africa 2015 - Day #9

 

Nelson Mandela - "was a hell of a fella"

 

4 Nobel Peace Prize Winners

 

Red Bus ride around Cape Town

 

Great views at Campers Bay

"Boom"

 

Great views to Cape Point

Boulders Beach - African penguins

African penguins

 

A baboon with baby

 

Cape Point

A rainbow into the ocean

Great views to the most southwestern point of Africa

Entering the Park

Wednesday, June 24th

We had booked a shark cage dive for today - but due to the weather, we were notified early via email that the tour had been cancelled.  We had expected this from the forecast and had some backup plans.

Today turned out great - even with the early rain - as the sun actually came out in the middle part of the day.  We went over to the main tourist office around 9am when it opened.  We booked a seat on the red city tour bus and then booked an afternoon tour to Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope.

We jumped on the red bus - which circled the city - giving us a better perspective of the layout.  The main city centre was about 2 miles from our apartment.  We went up to the cable car at the base of Table Mountain.  Table Mountain is the iconic mountain overlooking Cape Town - flat on top - and portraying a chair with the accompanying mountain range.  The bus went by some of the beach areas in town.  We hopped off at Campers Bay and were able to take some great panoramic photos of the area and the 12 Apostles mountain range. 

We completed a 3-hr loop of the city - just in time to catch a pizza for lunch and meet up with our afternoon tour.  We drove out to Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope in a minivan with Greg, Liam, and I being the only participants on the tour.  Really impressive sites.  We stopped by Boulders Beach - a location we were able to see some African penguins - the only species native to Africa (I didn't even realize penguins existed on this continent)

We continued on to Cape Point - the most southwestern point in Africa.  We walked up the hill to a huge lighthouse and quickly ran/walked out to the very tip of Cape Point.  The tour did not actually go out to the Cape of Good Hope - but we were able to get some good pictures from our location.

The return drive to Cape Town was about 1.5 hours.  We had dinner at a sports pub where we caught some rugby action.  South Africa is one of the best rugby nations in the world - winning the World Cup in 1995 and 2007.  We ran into 2 girls (Sofia and Maria) from our marathon/safari trip as we walked around the shops after dinner.  We had moved our cage dive to Thursday - but if it were to be cancelled - we were going to meet up with the girls for a hike up Table Mountain on Thursday.

Africa 2015 - Day #8

A last look at our Safari site

The sun sets on our safari

Great curry chicken - 1st night in Cape Town

504B Kylemore - nice apartment

Great apartment in Cape Town

A look out our balcony

Tuesday, June 23rd

Today we switched from safari/marathon to Cape Town.  We had a 6:45am pickup from our room.  A quick breakfast and then some good-byes - we were off on a 4-hr return to the Johannesburg airport.  Our driver made great time.  We arrived around 11:30am.  Did I mention earlier how impressive the airport is in Johannesburg - easily one of the best in the world in my opinion.

We quickly checked in and then grabbed some lunch.  We had a 1:55pm departure to Cape Town.  (I'm concluding my journal on the flight right now).  We plan to spend the next 4 nights in Cape Town - a great white shark dive, a climb up Table Mountain, and some general site-seeing await. 

We arrived into Cape Town around 4:15pm.  We were picked up by Carl - a driver provided by our hotel.  Carl was a true gem - a 71-year old and a huge Elvis fan.  He had a disk with 1,784 Elvis songs - all variations and locations.  A true free spirit - we had a warm introduction to the city with Elvis blaring loudly on our transfer to the apartment.

We arrived at 504B Kylemore around 5pm.  WOW!  What an amazing place!  Located right on the waterfront and only a 10-minute walk to the major shops/restaurants.  Our apartment had three bedrooms - each with their own bathroom/shower.

Liam and I went out for a quick 3-mile run - a great way to figure out the city.  After getting turned around a few times, we had a pretty good sense of the area we were staying.  And - what a great area that was!  Coming into Cape Town - we had heard about safety and crime.  But, I felt very comfortable here and the waterfront area was fantastic. 

We went out for dinner after the run - a great spot near the water.  I had the best chicken curry I've ever had.  We ended up taking a cab back to our place - as a major rain had moved in  It's winter in Cape Town and weather changes quickly.  Our plans each day were influenced by the changing conditions. 

Good stuff awaits us in the best city in all of Africa!