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We left early for our early morning scuba dive. This was a strange dive. We were diving in the 2 Oceans (Cape Town's) Aquarium's Shark Tank, a 20 foot deep huge tank with 5 very large sand tiger (or ragged tooth) sharks! We grabbed a breakfast at the V&A Waterfront and went over to the Aquarium. The Aquarium doesn't open until 9:30 am, so it was nice to be there at 8:45 am for our private viewing of the shark tank before anyone got there. We got a brief from our Dive Master, Richard, and proceeded to the dive deck. Completely suited up with a full wet suit, fins, and tank, we were ready to dive into the 68 degree water.
After 10 minutes of getting comfortable about being surrounded by these beasts with dozens of large teeth hanging out of their mouth, we dared to swim with the sharks! There was a 2 knot current - required to keep water flowing over the fishes gills for oxygen (although the sand tiger sharks do not require this, as they are one of 2 species that have the capability to pass enough water to breathe). We swam against the current as dozens of fish swam by us. Jaimie noticed a rather large fish which had been bitten into the side - scary. We did remember to ask Richard when they fed the sharks last - he said they only feed them 3 times a week (I was hoping it was 10 minutes ago :)). They do occasionally eat other fish in the tank which they are happy with, as these sharks are later released back into the Ocean, and will have to fend for food themselves.
After 30 minutes, we looked up and saw the area clear. We ascended and hopped out of the tank, happy to have been able to get so close to sharks without incident :) Like the Cheetah conservatory, this wasn't just a fun ride for us. We leaned a lot of about the sharks, and their endagerment. 100 millions sharks are killed each year, many for Shark fin soup, which is very popular in Asia. The sharks are taken out of the water, their fins cut off, and then thrown back (where they will die shortly). Horrible.
On our drive home, we stopped in a small beach town for dinner. We lucked out on this one - which Jaimie spotted from the road. It was very crowded, which we hoped meant good food. It tasted great - I had a chili sauce chicken "pancake" (crepe like), and Jaimie had a fish curry.
We drove back to the Farm house. It was 9:15 pm, so, of course, no one was at the front desk. Predicting this, we had run to the ATM to get cash for our room bill. We let ourselves in, and phoned the cell number listed out front, to tell them we were leaving early in the morning (and just left the $ under the phone which they drove by to pick up a few minutes later). Weird hotel experience! :)
Food: Inexpensive and good! The restaurants seemed more international then anything else. The game meats were delicious (especially the popular Springbok) . In general, I would say the food was prepared very well. The water's "safe" in Cape Town, so with the exception of Jaimie's food poisoning :) (see tomorrow's blog), we could eat without fear (we enjoyed fresh veggies!) Wine of Choice: 2005 Delheim Chardonnay Limited Release Memories: A view from above (on top of the tabletop), eating crocodile, springbok, blesbok, and ostrich meat, a good air conditioner!, freaky statues in the museum, incomprehension of the poverty level of millions living in squalor, petting a Cheetah, cheap wine tasting, AC is not standard in rental cars, penguins with a fro, the shark almost running into my head, no one at our hotel, Cape point, Jaimie getting really sick from out last night's meal (she's fine now - don't worry :)
Economy: The world's largest producer of gold and platinum. Platinum accounts for the largest export in value. Of course, De Beers and the diamond mines are here as well. Agriculture is only 3.5 percent of the GDP, with citrus, corn, wheat, and dairy the leaders. Over the years, they have had double digit inflation until the late 90's. Since the 2000's, it has mostly been under 10%. Climate (Februrary): Perfect (if not a little hot in the wine country without AC :)!!! It was 85-90 during the day and 60 at night. Our clothes dried overnight - so it was obviously very low humidity. We loved it. Exchange Rate: 1 US = 6.06 Rand Recommendation to friends: 8 out of 10. This place is like an inexpensive Hawaii for me (even land prices are cheap!). If it was closer, and didn't have millions of poor living in squalor, I would give it a 10. The rambles of apartheid have left a bit of political and economic instability, so I wonder about the future of this gem. As the government and people's efforts continue to improve the lifestyles of those in the townships, this place will continue to mature - and the cheap prices may not be seen anymore :)! View Cape Town (1) Photo Gallery View Cape Town (2) Photo Gallery Day 60 - Stellenbosch < | Index | Photo Galleries | > Day 62 - Arusha © 2007 Blue Ocean Studios, LTD. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Services | About | Contact Prints | Return Policy | View Cart World Travel Galleries | World Travel Blog | Links |
When we had "checked-in" yesterday - we asked for a 7:20 am breakfast, as we had to leave early. The girl said no problem. The girl appeared to be more the maid than the "front-desk" person. When we asked a few questions, she referred us to the owner who wasn't there. When we had arrived the night before, no one was there (we had a key to the front door). And now, in the morning, no one was there (and no breakfast). A strange stay to have no real contact with anyone - pretty much just a nice bed and room to stay in. 
Of course, during my regular Q&A before we do anything crazy, I asked about previous incidents in the tank. He did mention that one person jumped into the tank during one of these sessions and landed right on top of a shark! That wasn't the way I wanted to start, so I gave a peak under the water before we hopped in - all was clear. After Richard got in, we both hopped in and moved to the side of the wall. It was a bit nerve racking to have him talking to us on the surface, for what seemed like forever but was probably just a few seconds, while the sharks swam underneath us. Besides the sharks, there were a few other fish inside the tanks - large Yellowtail, a large sea turtle, many large sand rays, large eagle rays, a few dozen other large fish I couldn't name, and something called a Muscle Jawbreaker. I remember this name, because he told us not to dangle our hands in the water because the sharks are hand fed, and these Muscle Jawbreakers could also put them into their mouth and crush your bones in an instant! Ok - mental note - keep hands to yourself!
We began our descent into the beautifully crystal clear water. It was a great dive experience to go into completely clear water - you can see so much more detail of each fish and :) shark. After our quick descent to the bottom, we just sat there to get adjusted. Within a few seconds, our first shark approached us about 5 feet above us. It was large, about 7 feet long and 400-500 lbs large (all five were about this size)! Of course the first time, (and pretty much each after that :), I had my eyes affixed to the sharks as they passed to the side or overhead. We were resting on our knees, so we would just lean back fully and watch the shark go by us until it was far enough away that we felt comfortable again, each time quickly glancing back in front of us to make sure no friends were sneaking up too :). 
During our swim around the tank, which was cylinder shaped with a large solid rock center, we found the gigantic sea turtle. It was beautiful to see, it must have been resting in the corner, but was now swimming to the surface for a breath of air. The water was beautifully clear, so getting a closeup view of the turtle underwater was very fun. Of course, sharks are passing in both directions, as they don't need to swim against the current for the oxygen. We were hugging the inside part of the tank, as we went around in a circle. One female shark seemed to like going in the opposite direction about 3 feet above our heads each time. I switched places with Jaimie (who was on the inside the first time around), as I felt safer with her closer to the instructor (who had a blunt baton which hopefully would do whatever we needed should there be an issue). During our second trip around, I was glancing back at the sea turtle, when Jaimie tapped my arm. I looked at her, she was pointing in front of me. As I turned, I gasped a huge breath of air - that female shark was about 1 foot in front of me with it's teeth at the height of my head!!! So much for her pattern of 3-4 feet above us! Not sure when Richard had seen it, but the baton quickly came up, and he was nudging her shortly high of my head! Close encounter! 
We continued around the tank, where we found a shark's tooth that we got to keep. Sharks go through 20,000 shark teeth in their life - so no one was going to miss this one :). Jaimie also picked up a razor tooth from a eagle ray.
By now, it was 10:30 am, so the aquarium was crowded with kids and tourists like us. The aquarium's exhibits were beautiful, sharks, humongous crabs, sea snakes, penguins, octopus, eels, etc. The tanks were so clean - you could see the detail on each fish so well. With a limited time and a long tour around the cape ahead, we left at 11:30 am to start our drive.
We drove south from Cape Town, along the South African coast. The road was similar to the California coast (which we were so happy to see - vs. our horrible drive along the non-vista'd Chilean coast). It had sandy beaches, cliffs, and endless ocean views. One strange thing we encountered was a speed limit of 90 km/h, while there were sections of the highway which were 80 km/h. The road was windy, twisty, and on the edge of cliffs at some points - we had to drive 40-60 a lot - so it was just weird to see the 90 km/h sign. We stopped off in one of the coastal towns near Cape Town for lunch. It enticed us with good prices and a wide variety of food selections, but it turned out to not be the best food. You win some and you lose some :) 
After lunch, we continued our tour, stopping occasionally to get out and admire the wonderful views, and sometimes to nap (it was a long day :). Besides the views along the way, we ran into a few families of baboons along the road - just hanging out and entertaining the tourists :). 
We finally arrived at Cape Point, the "most south westerly" point of Africa. The Cape Point was perceived as the most southern point for years, and was named the Cape of Good Hope as the misty rough waters of the Atlantic met a channel of warmer waters here. While some thought this was where the cold Atlantic met the warm Indian - it isn't. However, it is where the warm mixes with the cold, which meant calm waters ahead for ships travelling to the Indies. 
Given our Mt. Kilimanjaro climb in a few days, we opted to take the furnicular for $5pp roundtrip to the old lighthouse. Up here, we were able to see Cape Point, a beach below, and the old lighthouse which was abandoned after a ship crashed in 1911 (as the lighthouse was covered in clouds). The current lighthouse was built below this one - but we didn't have enough time to visit it. We headed back down the furnicular, happy to see the end of the earth on this continent as well :). 
As if we hadn't had enough fun, along the drive on Cape Point, we came upon a Penguin Colony at sunset (there was also a wedding on the beach). We stopped to take a peak at the Penguins - and Jaimie tried to pet one of them. They didn't like that, and snapped at her fingers (luckily didn't pierce blood, but she said it hurt a bit :). Don't try to pet penguins, only cheetahs :)
We were able to talk with our waitress about the local scene. We had a glimpse of the "townships" unbelievable conditions the last 2 days while driving past (rather quickly). Townships are where the blacks and coloureds (mixed/Indian) were sent in the beginning of the apartheid in 1948. The shacks were the most decrepid we had seen in all of our travels. They were spaced about 3 feet from each other on all sides. Up to 15 people live in these, which are about the size of a normal hotel room (or less). They go on for longer than one can see (the ground was flat, so we couldn't see far) - some of the townships still house close to a million people. Apartheid ended 14 years ago, but economic conditions have kept some parts of it continuing for many people. We asked her how these people ate, as there was no obvious land to farm that we could see. She said some work, but many steal and beg. She talked about how her car was broken into 4 times in 2 months, how she stopped repairing the rear window, as it kept being broken, and how she's had her linen stolen from her clothes line! Tough conditions. We were also there to experiece their electricity woes - rolling blackouts due to unplanned growth, and lack of availability when any portion of a plant had maintenance or an incident. In the papers, they talked of a possible 3 months of rolling blackouts during the (rather mild?) South African winter. Our waitress said she volunteered in the local township to help, and that while the people were day-to-day happy, they were very angry at the government, and she fears for the future. Scary. 
Final Thoughts on South Africa:
People: The people spoke english, so automatically that was 2 thumbs up :). The people we interacted with were very friendly. There are the townships - which have a lot people living in extreme poverty. Those that worked seemed very friendly etc. Of course we ran into the regular street people that you see everywhere. Some were nice & some weren't (same as any large city). This used to be Dutch and British colonies, so you can feel those influences as well. Not having a better spot to mention this in, a significant note is that HIV/AIDS is in epidemic levels, with 5-6 million people in South Africa having HIV/AIDS. 20% of the 15-49 population and 40% of child bearing women have HIV/AIDS.