Swimming with Sharks, Trekking Table Mountain, South Africa

Our heads were heavy when the alarm sounded at 4:30. Still pitch black outside, Sean, Katie, Holly and myself stumbled into a van after loading our luggage onto the truck. The van dropped us to a bigger van, full of sleepy foreign faces and we drove until the sun had risen. We arrived in Gansbaii at around 8am and were welcomed with a coffee and a breakfast spread. Riyan, our driver and guide for the day then briefed us on what the morning was to bring us! Excited, nervous and still a little sleepy we all jumped onboard the boat and headed out to shark alley.
The water was rough and we were skipping waves and crashing down hard against the deep sea, before the 25 minutes was up my head became heavy and shrunk between my knees. Within moments of arriving at our destination I was vomiting off the side of the boat whilst trying to squeeze into a saturated, cold and uncomfortable wet suit. The first five people jumped into the choppy ocean to set their sights on a great white. The men slushed fish insides in a bucket making a broth which spills into the ocean and attracts the scary predators, whilst dangling a tuna head as the visual bait. 
Each time the large fish swam by it was quite easy to see from the boat so with the direction they hold their breaths and go under for the viewing! Before too long we were up, and I was eager to get in the icy water to distract myself from the sea sickness and violent shivers. Within moments of emerging ourselves in the water an incredible, graceful and captivating creature came into view. His eyes flickered as he was looked at us beyond the cage, it was exhilarating! We had a few more turns of heading under into the deep blue to get a good look at these incredible great whites as the swiftly swam by before getting back on board to let others in. 

I headed straight back over to the other side which I claimed as ‘sick bay’ to patiently wait as my teeth chatted from the cold and I heaved over the side. Fortunately we all had another turn in the water and this time they even came closer.. It was such a beautiful experience being so close and not at all did I feel threatened or scared.. Simply awestruck and grateful. 

Just short of mid day the motor started back up and headed on into dry land. Thankful to get off the boat I ran for a hot shower feeling frosty and still sea sick. We were treated to a tasty lasagne lunch and a cold beer… Which my stomach rejected before loading back into the van and heading to Cape Town… Our final destination in Africa! 
We were finally dropped at our new hotel; Ashanti, just after 4pm, eager for another hot shower to wake us up and refresh us before our final group dinner. We met the group in the foyer at 6 and walked just two blocks onto long street to dine at a local restaurant; Arnold’s. Sean and I opted for delicious game to celebrate the last night on ‘tour’. I ordered a tasting plate of ostrich, gemsbok or oryx, crocodile curry, warthog ribs. Sean ordered a gemsbok wellington. After a massive day we were super keen to get to bed and get a good nights sleep! 

We woke around 9, packed up our bags and checked out of the Ashanti lodge. Opting for Uber as the safest and cheapest means of transport in Cape Town we caught one to our air BnB that we had booked online and a short drive away. Pulling up and knocking on the door, it was a little disconcerting when we had no answer.. And no wifi.. And no phones. Fortunately a friendly neighbour offered to call them and when there was no answer he took us inside for coffee and wifi. Half an hour later and still no response we banged vigorously on the door one last time and were extremely relieved when the door opened!! (She had been in the shower). We dumped our bags in the quirky, colourful and clean house and took up the neighbours generous offer to drive us into town for our Robben Island tour. 

Just in time we met Chloe, Jess, Katie and Hollie at 1pm in line and jumped on the ferry to take us to the island! The ride was about 45 minutes, crammed with other tourists we set off through the harbour passing by lazy seals and distant whales! We were then ushered off the boat and onto a bus to drive around the extremely small island which has been transferred from a place to dump victims with leperocy, to a jail that housed Nelson Mandela as a political prisoner for 18 of his 27 year sentence to now a museum. 

Extremely insightful and interesting, it was a really good tour which was hosted by a former political prisoner himself. We were taken into several different quarters and had a brief look at the small village before getting back on the boat and back to the main land. Just shy of 6 we all decided to have an underwhelming meal and some beers down on the waterfront before calling it a night. 

After a beautiful nights sleep in a comfy big bed sean and I woke to our sunny little house which greeted the big beautiful and bold sight of table mountain! After a quick coffee and some tasty eggs in town we ubered to her base ready to climb the beast! It took us about an hour, sweating it out as the winter’s sun was shining down on us! It became steeper as both the incline and view was stealing my breath! Finally reaching the top the view was absolutely epic, What a beautiful city!!! We explored all of the different viewing points which varied with mountains landscapes to infinite Oceans to sprawling cities!!! 

Jumping on the cable car for the decline it was just as thrilling as it circled around and within minutes we back at the base. Heading back to our house on foot for a quick shower, we set off to a restaurant named Rick’s Amercain Café to meet the girls and take advantage of happy hour cocktails and cheap tequila! A delicious evening of berry mojitos and tapas plates, followed by a funky cafe by day/bar by night we had one final drink and farewelled each other one last time.