Hey Everyone,
TIA : )! THIS IS AFRICA!!!!!
I hope everyone is doing excellent! I am doing more than Fabulous! Happiest I have ever been in my whole entire life! Kayla and I are doing great out here. We Spent a lot of time together by ourselves in South Africa and enjoyed the amazingness of this port (I know that’s not a word but I don’t care lol).
We arrived in Cape Town on Sunday the 8th of October. We woke up at 5:30 AM to watch the pull in to the V & A Waterfront. A beautiful view, you could see Table Mountain and Lions Head Peak along with the beautiful city. We went through customs around 7:30, the ship got searched for stowaways but we didn’t have any! GOOD THING lol! Around 9 AM we got cleared to get off the ship. The adventures began! We headed for Table Mountain to Hike up! It was a long walk just to the entrance of the trail. We started our hike up and Kayla didn’t feel very well so we decided to take the cable car up instead. That was a lot of fun! It went pretty much straight up! On the way up the floor rotated so you could have a great view of the mountain on your way up. When we got to the top it was breath taking. The views from every angle were absolutely beautiful. We got some amazing pictures while we waited for our friends to get to the top (they Hiked) eventually everyone got up to the top and we all had some lunch together. I had salad and pizza that was amazing. After lunch we walked around a bit until it got cold so we headed back down on the cable car. The way down was really steep and a little scary ride. When we got to the bottom we decided we were going to go to the beach for the rest of the day. We went to Camps Bay which is a very very beautiful beach. Which restaurants all down the strip, reminded me a lot of South Beach in Miami. We walked around for a bit then decided to go grab a drink. We sat outside of a restaurant and had a beautiful view. After everyone had a drink we decided to go down on the beach but when we got down there it was so windy the sand hurt when it hit you. This was a cold water beach so the water was FREEZING. In Cape Town they have Cold and Warm water beaches but they tell you that a lot of people hang out at the cold water beaches to tan but don’t go in the water. Which I found pretty funny. After hanging out at the beach we headed back to the ship to lay low for the night.
The next morning we got up semi early to exchange our money over before we left for our overnight trip through SAS. Around noon we went and met our group for our trip. I found out then that the first day was a tour of a winery and then we would sleep at the camp. We got on the bus and drove about an hour and a half till our bus broke down. The tour guide told us that a new bus would come in 20 minutes but in South Africa soon means 20-80 minutes. So an hour later a bus came to pick us up. We went through the longest tunnel in South Africa that was around 2.5 miles long. We finally arrived that the winery for a tour and wine tasting. The tour of the winery was really interesting and cool I got some great pictures! Then we had a wine tasting. We got to try 9 different wines, my favorite was the Rosé. It was very tasty. After the tasting we went to the camp site where we were spending the night. We got a nice tasty dinner and I tried Lamb. It was alright haha. We had marshmallows and crackers over the fire for dessert. Then we hung out with all of our tour guides before bed. They were awesome people. All of them were very friendly and welcoming. Around midnight we went to bed. We were woken up quite early for breakfast that was TO DIE FOR! It was eggs bacon sausage and toast all cooked over the fire!! I had three servings that are how good it was! Bacon in Africa is so much better than bacon at home. After breakfast we took a 15 minute ride to where we got on the river for the start of our river rafting adventure! OH WHAT A DAY WE HAD! There were only 14 of us which made the trip even better. I made some great new friends named Collin, Ashleigh, Jack, and Lexi. They are great! Within 5 minutes of being in our little boats in the water (2 people per boat) everyone was splashing each other laughing and having a great time. Kayla was my boating buddy. She didn’t really have paddling experience but she did well for the day. I was in the back and got to steer which was a lot of fun. We went through some class one rapids which were fun to go through but sometimes a little scary. We got to jump off our boats and swim in the river too which was fun except for I am scared water that you can’t see the bottom. So we had quite a funny thing happen. I was swimming and something touched my foot well let’s just say I have never pulled myself into a boat so fast in my life. I screamed hahaha oh man it was so funny. For lunch we stopped right after the dam which was really fun. We got to climb on the rocks into what they call the river Jacuzzi. You had to climb on a bunch of rocks and you could sit under were the water was coming down. It was super cool. Then we had some nice sandwiches for lunch before we continued on our journey down the river. After lunch till we made it back was fun just really tiring. Seeing the camp site was one of the best things ever because we were exhausted from being in the hot sun all day long paddling since about 9 am till 4pm with an hour break. We headed back to the ship for a bit before we headed out to dinner. We ate at this place called Spurs which was AMAZING! They had thheeeee best cheesy garlic bread I have ever had in my life and I am so sad I can’t have it again. I had a steak and Kayla had a burger. Then we split a brownie Sunday. Our whole meal came to 241.00 Rand which comes out to around 30 dollars (talk about a cheap dinner). After dinner we went and found some internet and then headed back to the ship for the night.
The fourth Morning we woke up and we went to Robben Island. We walked down the water front and got on the ferry that went over to the Island. On our way over we saw dolphins and penguins swimming in the water which was really cool. Once we got over to the island we walked down and god on buses that took us on a tour of the island. We saw the different prisons and where people lived and learned all about the island. Our last stop on the tour bus was at the maximum security prison. It was really interesting and cool to see. The guy talked to us about the prison and he actually used to be a prisoner in the prison. We saw a community cell and then they took us and we saw Nelson Mandela’s cell where the stuff he had was still in there. It was really awesome. Then we took the ferry back to the harbor. We got on the boat and snagged some free Wi-FI and then we went to dinner at Spurs. We fell in love with this place if you didn’t notice. After dinner we headed back to the ship for the night.
The second to last morning we got up and we went to breakfast at Spurs because we heard they had good breakfast and they did! After we ate breakfast we headed to the Aquarium that was right in the port. It was really cool because they had all different fish. Also their Penguin exhibit was so cool and the penguins were just so cute. They have a huge tank that has tons of sharks and giant fishes in it!! After we finished the Aquarium we headed back to get a taxi to go to Green Market Square. When we got to green market square there was so much to pick from! We walked around and tried bargaining with the different places and getting things for good deals and not so good deals. I bought my first beanie that I feel in love with. When we were done shopping we headed back to the port where we looked around for a little bit more before we headed back to the boat for dinner. Then we went out to this bar called Mitchells that everyone had been going to all week. It was a lot of fun but I chose to come back to the boat around 9 to save money. But it was a lot of fun while I was there. I came back to the boat and got some free Wi-Fi then headed to bed.
The next morning my friend Carly and I decided to go to Spurs for breakfast again. It was again so so good. Then we headed went to a market nearby but it was quite expensive. So we decided to just walk to Green Market Square to save some money. IT was a nice walk with some great views except a little scary because they drive on the opposite side of the road here so every time we went to cross the street we looked the wrong way! But we made it safely to the market did some shopping and then headed back for some lunch with one of Carlys friends. After lunch we said good bye to some locals that we had made friends with and then headed back to the ship. On ship time was 600. At 500 we decided to get off the ship to go grab a coffee really quick before on ship time. The executive dean asked us to get her a coffee to so we did. We ran and got one then came back and were on the boat for good.
So in conclusion South Africa was absolutely beautiful and amazing. I would love to come back here sometime. It is just great you just have to be aware and smart. This place that has had so many problems and still does was such a gift to be able to come to. I love it here. This is defiantly one of my favorite ports. I learned a lot and realized a lot while I was here. I would recommend anyone to visit here if they can it is beyond amazing!
I hope everyone is doing great at home. I am doing wonderful and made it thru the sun with no sunburn on my head! My hair has actually grown a lot since I cut it. I love it and wouldn’t change my decision for the world. There are pictures on Facebook if you want to see what I look like.
So now we are at sea for 4 days on our way to MAURITUS!!
LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!
Amy :)
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