The next morning, my last full day in South Africa, was spent at an old, sunken ship and with more seals than I could count. An unspecified number of years ago, a ship was coming into the harbor of Cape Town when a heavy fog rolled in. Funny enough, that same fog was present for the boat ride out to the ship. Cape Town is situated between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. This creates quite a bizarre weather pattern.
Anyway, the water this morning was only 11C, so it was quite frigid. The visibility was only 3m. In comparison, my last time diving, in Iceland, the water had 100m visibility. Because of the cold water, I didn’t see the same type of marine life I’ve seen in the past in places like Australia or Egypt. However, diving a cold water wreck was a great experience. The kelp almost hid the fact that we were diving around a ship. A few clues arose from sea floor, but the kelp created a wonderful disguise.
After our first dive, we were given an hour to warm up back at the docks. The boat was like nothing I’ve ever been on before. It genuinely looked like one of those speed boats in James Bond. To enter the water, we all had to fall backwards at the same time. Because the boat didn’t anchor, if you go one second too late, you could potentially land on one of your fellow divers. During the ride, we put our feet in straps on the floor as we sat holding onto the ropes attached to the side of the boat. On one of the rides, the skipper decided to boost the speed to max and do donuts. Without the foot straps and holding on tight, you’d fly out of the boat. Needless to say, the boat ride was as much fun as the diving.
On the second dive, we dove with the seals! We only went a maximum of 7 meters, but that was enough for the seals to dart between us as we attempted to play with them. Because we were so close to the rocks where the seals hang out, there was quite a strong swell. We got thrown around quite a bit; the seals seemed unaffected. The seals are not shy at all. They will come within a foot of your face and attempt to play. We were even told that they can tug on your wetsuit or regulators. Luckily, (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) they didn’t grab me. However, they would come right up and grind their teeth at me. Apparently, this is a playful act. I’m glad they warned us because it scared the hell out of me the first time. Unfortunately, my GoPro wouldn’t turn on during the dive, even though the battery was full. It was one of those situations where you need to take the battery out and put it back in. Not a luxury I was afforded being that I was underwater.
After a nap and repacking my bag for my impending departure, I decided to take a taxi down to Camps Bay to watch the sunset. I spent about two hours watching the people on the beach, the waves crashing on the shore, and the sun slowly falling below the horizon. Bedtime was early to prepare for my hike in the morning.
Cape Town is home to one of the newest Natural Wonders of the World: Table Mountain. This city is so unique because mountains run right through the city. My hostel was a five minute walk from the biggest party street in the city and a six minute drive from the starting point of the hike. I don’t know any other city where that could happen. Cape Town has been even called the most photogenic city in the world. I can see why.
The hike took about an hour and a half through the gorge. I was warned by quite a few people that it’s a very steep hike. They weren’t kidding. My biggest motivation was the family that started the hike at the same time. We kept passing each other because we were taking breaks at the same time. A seven year old girl led the pack, and I wanted to prove to myself that I was a quicker hiker than a small child. I won. I’m not very proud of the accomplishment upon reflection, but in the moment it felt good.
The views of the top were magnificent. When taking some pictures, I met some new friends as we offered to take pictures for each other. We ended up spending the next two hours together. Instead of hiking, we took the one minute gondola down and got some lunch at the Indian Food Bazaar in the center of the city. It was a nice way to end my trip.