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.
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