I'm Allergic to Not Hving Fun

Hello hello hellooooooooo

Long time no talk huh? Haha don’t really know why I said that…oh well. How is everything going?!?! Hopefully good! We are almost to Ghana…we actually arrive tomorrow. Gahhhh it’s just one port after the next. I still haven’t caught up on sleep from South Africa. Oh well haha.

Comments – First off I just have to say that this is a place that almost every one of you would have loved (some of you not so much, but I won’t name names lol). I kept thinking how much my friends back home would love this place and I really with you guys could have been here to experience it with me. Really miss you guys and I can’t wait to get home and chill!! Kayla – well sorry I don’t watch the Beverly Hillbillies haha, I’m sure I could quote movies you don’t know too. Yeah I miss Henderson Hills more and more everyday…I can’t wait to get back to it!! Shopping = blahhhhh!!! Oh my gosh it was so amazing being in the water with the Great Whites! LOVED IT!!! Oooooo look at you being funny…missed you too dork haha.

Picture – The picture I chose for this section obviously had to be an animal picture! I got really lucky with the quality of this shot and am fortunate that it turned out the way it did! These elephants were part of a big group of around a dozen that we saw on our first trip out and the male on the far right with its ears flared definitely got annoyed with us and started charging the 4x4. Definitely scary when something that big decides it doesn’t like you and starts being a tough guy…oh well that added to the excitement. Made the whole experience feel more real when we really are out in the bush with nothing between us and the animals. (click on the pic to make it bigger)

Alright so Africa round 2, there is just so much to write about!! This post is all about a 3 day safari that I was fortunate enough to go on during my stay in South Africa. Don’t really know where to start so this might be all over the place haha. I already told you guys about days 1 and 5 in Cape Town so this will focus on the 3 days in between…here goes!

My second day in South Africa started extremely early with a 3:45 a.m. wakeup (we had to be in the Union at 4:00 for check-in with our group). Needless to say that was an experience in itself…you guys can only imagine haha. After our entire group showed up (of course there were stragglers) we loaded onto a bus and headed to the airport. The first leg of our journey was a 2 hour flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg (referred to as Jo-berg by South Africans). We arrived in Jo-berg around 8:30 I think? I don’t really remember because I slept on the plane and was still waking up lol. The next leg of our journey was a charter flight that went from Jo-berg to a place called Hoedspruit which is just an airport. Okay well our experience in the Jo-berg airport was definitely one to be remembered. There was some confusion between the charter company, the airport, and then our SAS group which resulted in a 30 minute layover turning into a 2.5 hour layover including losing boarding passes and switching gates. I personally didn’t think it was that bad (nothing like our layover experience in Atlanta on our way to Israel…remember that Dennis and Mom? Oh wait…I forgot. You guys were under the influence of sleeping pills so that probably didn’t seem like that big a deal to you all. Haha sorry couldn’t help it) but there were some pissed off people in our group. Oh well I just kinda went with the flow.

Once we actually got to our plane it was a smooth 35 minute flight to Hoedspruit which was an old military base that is now used for charter flights to drop people off for safaris in the nearby areas. It was absolutely huge but it was also kinda weird because we were the only plane in sight. Had the whole place to our self! Just a really cool experience getting off the plane and being all alone on an airport tarmac with our 4x4s waiting for us! The lodge had sent the vehicles to pick us up and transport us to the lodge for check-in. We loaded up and headed off within minutes of arrival. It was sick!! We were in the African bush…and it was AWESOME!!!!!

The safari that I was on was located on a private game reserve called the Kapama Game Reserve. It encompasses an area of more than 24,000 acres and provides a natural environment for animals to live in and remain safe from outside influence. The reserve actually has 3 separate lodges located within its boundaries and the one I was fortunate enough to stay at was the Kapama River Lodge. Okay this hotel was by far the nicest hotel/resort I have ever stayed at. Everything was open air so you felt like you were actually out in the bush but it was all super nice at the same time. Everything was wood so it had a nice rustic feel…man I was right at home! Loved every minute of it!! We had to travel about 20 minutes into the park to reach the lodge so we got a nice little intro safari on our way there. Man we were all so pumped…I’m getting excited just typing about it!!

We arrived at the lunch around noon I think. We were given a brief intro about the layout of the lodge and safety measures. You see there are fences but wild animals can still get inside the perimeter of the lodge and they are free to roam around. For instance, on the path from the main lodge to where our rooms were located, there were constantly kudu (a type of African deer that are bigger than what we have in the states) and one kid even saw some little monkeys. Crazy huh?!?! So we checked in and dropped our backpacks in our rooms before hitting up lunch. Our schedule for the next 48 hours that we were there consisted of the following:

5 a.m. wakeup
5:30 coffee, tea, and pastries
6:00 game drive
9:00 full breakfast
1:00 lunch
4:00 afternoon tea and dessert
4:30 game drive
8:30 dinner with our guides

This schedule was absolutely amazing! The highlights were clearly the game drives but the huge chunk during the day was so nice to relax and just chill in the open area lodge. We really bonded with each other and spent a lot of time playing cards and other random games. Oh and how about getting tea twice a day?!? And it was good tea…not the crappy cheap stuff, actually good quality tea…yeah I was in heaven!! And it wasn’t just tea…it was like a full buffet of sandwiches, snacks, and desserts as well. So in a way I was eating 5 meals a day and loving it!! Oh and on our game drives we stopped for snacks in the middle so that was like 2 more small meals on top of the other 5! Gahhhhh life was so good!! Who cares about the 5 a.m. wakeups?!? We all woke up quick when we remembered that we were in Africa living it up!!

Alright so clearly you all want to hear about the game drives because I mean that is the reason we were all there. I don’t know where to start but here goes. I am just going to outline for you all some of the basics and list everything I saw and then tell some of the more unique stories. Then I will save the other stories for you guys when I get home and can tell you in more detail. Deal?

So for each game drive we were with the same driver and tracker so that we didn’t focus on the same animals over and over and we made sure to see as much as we could. Our driver’s name was Frikkie (yeah coolest name ever right?!?! I was definitely jealous) and our tracker’s name was Enock. Two very cool people and if you ask me we had a great pair to work with. The group in our car consisted of Dr. Robbins (our trip leader), Melinda, Melissa, Brittany, Kathleen, Caroline, Rebecca, Kevin, and me. Our group was stinking awesome and we had a great time horsing around and seeing so much cool stuff. The 4x4s were totally open air and we basically just drove off on random trails and searched for game. All of the drivers used radios so that if they saw something cool then they would radio other people so that they could come and see the same thing. You know like the rarer stuff. It was actually a very successful system and there were some other restrictions and stuff but that can wait till later.

Funny story about the title of my blog - on our first drive our guide asked us if any of us had any allergies because we would be exposed to alot of bugs, plants, and trees. No one said anything so I just shouted "I'm allergic to NOT having fun!" Everyone laughed (which was the point...duh!) so for the rest of the trip everytime we saw someone Frikkie would turn around and ask me "So Tyler you having an allergic reaction or are we good?" Haha it was a little joke in our 4x4! Just thought you guys would like to know!!

The Kapama Reserve is set up in the way that nature is allowed to run its course without human interference. With the exception of the cheetah program (a species rapidly becoming extinct) the animals are left alone and the only human intervention is keeping poachers out to protect the animals. The animals aren’t fed, they feed themselves. Our guide, Frikkie, described it like this, “You know all that stuff you see on the Discovery channel? Yeah you can find it here. This is the circle of life. Animals eat other animals and the herbivores eat the grass.” Crazy huh?!? We were even told that the night before we arrived one of the cars had witnessed 4 lionesses take down a water buffalo and then eat it. I mean we literally had the potential to see any and everything and we couldn’t wait to get started!

Throughout our various drives we saw so much stuff. We saw Kudu, called the black ghosts of the bush….basically just really big deer with horns. Giraffes…lots of both males and females. Warthogs…every time we saw one Caroline yelled “Pumba” (well not yelled because then we would scare them away but loud enough so everyone in the car could hear it). A pair of Terpins in one of the watering holes. A mongoose on top of a termite mound snagging some dinner. A couple random wildebeest. Several termite mounds that were centuries old…one was even bigger than an SUV…definitely bigger than our 4x4. Cape Buffalo…several dozen…known as the most temperamental of the animals in the bush and considered the most dangerous of the Big 5. A chameleon climbing on a tree. Over a dozen African elephants including an albino baby (creepy looking) and an enormous male who did not like us and was extremely aggressive. Never charged but Enock and Frikkie were clearly uncomfortable. A cheetah in the wild…our guide said this was the rarest thing we could see and we got to see it on the first night…didn’t get to see it run but it was still super cool!! Hundreds of Impala that were everywhere!! Definitely the most common animal we saw. We saw the “Zazu birds” as our guide referred to them as…you know the blue bird from the Lion King…so that was cool! Plenty of zebra…they were everywhere…and they interact well with other animals so on multiple times we saw warthogs, giraffes, and zebra all together with each other. A couple random jackals…they don’t really like attention. A really big porcupine…like freaking huge!! So yeah we saw so much stuff!! Now I will tell you about some of the really special highlights of the trip.

On our first morning game drive (so really the second day we were there), the weather was off and on rainy…nothing like a down poor, more what you would call the occasional spit. Some people were complaining but Kevin and I were like “Yeah buddy!! Bring it on!!” The rain wasn’t anything significant enough to give us trouble and it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because of the clouds and that feeling of rain in the air, a lot of the animals were more active and in more “playful” moods as Frikkie put it. So we are driving along and we round this bend and there are three lions staring at us about 25 yards from the 4x4. It was a female lion that Frikkie estimated being about 6 years old, and then her two 9-month old cubs! That’s right, I got to see two little lion cubs playing in the wild! And when I say playing I mean playing. One of the cubs was female and one was male so it was a little brother/sister combo just tagging along with their mom. Like I said, the weather was causing them to be more active so we got to see the little cubs jump on each other and wrestle around, then they would both try to jump on mom and she would just hit them off and keep walking. Haha it was so sweet seeing this little family group, and the coolest part was that it was so random! No one had seen them before us and we literally just rounded a corner and caught them playing. The female lion cub was definitely the coolest to watch because while the male was messing with the car (he had serious little lion syndrome), she would hide in the bushes and then jump him from the side when he wasn’t looking. It was so funny!! Definitely one of the cooler things we saw.

Okay then we got to see Hippos having sex!!….that was definitely an interesting experience cause the male is pretty much drowning the female lol. This was definitely a really cool site because in 10 years Frikkie had only seen this once before and Enock had never seen it. They were just excited as we were so that is how we knew that we had really stumbled onto a treat. Something that very few people get to see in the wild.

Perhaps the biggest treat that we got to experience on a 4x4 game drive was the second night we were at Kapama, or the last evening game drive that we took. We had already seen a lot of stuff but we had no clue what we were about to see. We were driving along when all of the sudden Frikkie heard something over the radio and floors it. Like instant acceleration and we were like “Oh this has to be something really good cause he is hauling!” We are buzzing through the park when we get to a spot where another jeep has his spotlight on something. We pull up next to it and realize that they had found the big male lion that lives in Kapama!! This might not seem like a huge deal to you guys but here is the back ground story. We had been told upon arrival that we weren’t going to be able to see the big male lion because he was on his “honeymoon” and they hadn’t had a visual on him for the past 5 days. They knew that he was somewhere in the river area because that is where he goes on his honeymoons but there was no way they could get the 4x4s back there and they didn’t want to disturb the “honeymoon” because that is considered human intervention. So from the beginning we had been sure that we weren’t going to see the big male and we had been okay with it. So just imagine how happy we were when we come over this hill and see this giant lion laying on the ground! Oh my gosh he was HUGE!! I mean you see pictures but getting to see one of these giant males in real life was absolutely amazing! He was gorgeous. His mane was so cool and his paws…let me just tell you…there were stinking massive! I have no doubt that he could easily rip my face off with one swipe of that huge claw! Pretty cool man, pretty cool! So then the 4x4 who round him left and another one showed up but we were in charge of maintaining the visual so we got to stay and watch him. Okay then something even sweeter happened. Mufassa (that is what we were referring to the giant male as because nothing else seemed appropriate) heard something in the bushes and jerked his head up. He looks toward whatever he heard and started to roar. I mean like legit roar. Gah it was SICK!! I got to hear a big daddy male lion roar in the wild!! Yeah it was indescribable. The lion was basically like “Yeah I own this area…back off!” How awesome is that?!?! We watched this guy for like an hour and never once did we get bored…just something that we tried to take in as much as we could before it was over.

That was obviously a vague list and then some random stories but don’t worry there are plenty more. Including our wild attempt at trying to find a leopard, elephants charging the car, water buffalo challenging us, flat tires in the middle of nowhere, getting stuck in the mud, and so much more. Don’t worry I will just save those stories for this summer cause it would take too long to tell them all now! And I will retell the above stories in greater detail with pictures and videos!

Now everything I just told you guys refers to the first three game drives I went on (first day night, second day morning, and second day night). Now I will tell you about the third day morning game drive because that was a totally different experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity! We were given the option of taking an Elephant-baked safari the last morning (if we paid more money for it of course…nothing is ever free anymore lol)! Well I mean how many times will I get the chance to be in the middle of the African Bush and ride around on the back of an African Elephant for 2 hours…the answer…not many! So of course I did it! Couldn’t pass it up man…it is super rare to get to ride African Elephants because they are more temperamental. If you see pictures of people on elephants it is usually an Asian Elephant (which I neglected to do in India because I was holding out for Africa!) because they are more common. We were also told that there are very few places in the world that offer the chance to ride these giant African elephants and this was one of the them. We were assigned two people to an elephant plus a trainer. So really all we had to do was enjoy the ride and take pictures! My elephant’s name was Somapani and his trainer’s name was Isaac. Somapani was one of the bigger males of the group and it was sweet to get to ride an animal that is so massive. We rode around for like 2 hours and got to see the elephants do tricks before and after. I will tell you guys about that later though. Getting the opportunity to see these massive animals was absolutely incredible and then being fortunate enough to ride them was even better!

Here is the deal…we saw so much cool stuff and I have so many stories that I really can’t even begin to describe it…I did my best but this is something I really don’t know how to describe in just this blog. I know I have said this before but this was by far my favorite experience so far on Semester at Sea and I will tell you a much better version of this when I get home in May. What I just blogged about was like 1/10 of what we saw so just wait and I will tell you so much more in person! So whatever questions you have just save them until then!!!

The scenery we got to experience was absolutely amazing. With the exception of the lodge we were literally in the middle of nowhere and I was right at home! There were no city lights, no car noises, just us and the bush! Gahhhhh it was awesome!! Loved being out in the country again and just getting to experience nature. Driving around and seeing everything that we did, I really saw nature praising God. I know that sounds weird but everywhere I looked; I consistently saw the evidence left by God’s hands. How great is our God?!? Look around! Even at home in the states look around. The trees, grass, flowers, animals, smells, sounds, everything! What a gift from God. Seeing nature undisturbed by human influence and the way God intended it was breathtaking. Seeing the circle of life and how God literally thought of every individual detail during the steps of creation…I mean how sick is that?!?! Something that is so simple that we take for granted every day. Nature!! Walk outside…look around…and just take it in. Remember who created the earth around you, the same Creator who made you and me individually.

Love you guys so much and I hope everything is going awesome!

T

Bikes, Boats, and Sharks Oh My!!

Howdy ya’ll!!

How are you guys?!? I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and I am sad I didn’t get to experience it with you. How is good old Oklahoma? Hopefully awesome…don’t know why it wouldn’t be haha! As I begin to write this it is April 5 and we are actually still stuck in South Africa due to weather but we aren’t allowed off of the ship because we don’t know when we will be cleared to leave and there is no other way to keep track of us. This day is also significant because exactly 1 month from today I will be home. Crazy huh? I feel like I just got here…but at the same time I am really missing home and all of you guys! So much has happened to me in the last 78 days that it is just weird to think that there is just 1 month left!

Shout outs – Shirley – bro we are gunna have the sweetest stories after this summer. It is gunna be EPIC!! And yeah I hadn’t heard of Mauritius but man am I glad I got to go there! It was crazy fun and I definitely wouldn’t mind going back. How is good ole Memorial going? Bet you are just itching to be done with it huh? I remember that last stretch after Spring Break…all I wanted was for summer to come and then college to start lol. Esther – ummm excuse me how was I wrong? We have pictures to prove it ya dork…you were definitely stuck and without Evan, Jarrett, and I using common sense and simply engaging your four wheel drive to simply drive away, you would have been stuck there until you realized that your car had four-wheel drive. Hahaha gah that story NEVER gets old…and it’s not that bad. I mean I got the ranch suburban buried once…that was a fun walk back lol. Heard my parents got to see you the other week…wish I could have been there! Can’t wait to see ya this summer! Natalie – Yeah girl it was an AWESOME day! And no one even thinks twice about any of the girls with no hair. It is just normal for all of us on the ship! Some of my really good friends on the ship did it and they have no regrets!! You wouldn’t have regretted it…you would have LOVED it!! Wish you were hear chica!! Can’t wait to come bug you in Norman and distract you from studying when I get back!! Chris – Dude bro I really wish you could have been with me in South Africa...you would have absolutely loved it!!!!!!!! I am so jealous that you are going to get to spend an extended amount of time there this summer!! You are going to absolutely LOVE IT brotha! Haha your summer sounds like my last couple…it’s alright, there are always small jobs that pop up and God will open doors. Besides you have so many contacts in the church that I bet you get more small job offers than you want lol. Dude I wanna chill with you so bad! You are definitely one of the first people I am calling when I get back and I will do my best to distract you from studying as well haha!! JT – yeah Neptune Day was tight! Definitely understand why you liked it so much!! Yes Mauritius is definitely a tourist economy…but the coolest part is that you can definitely still experience the local culture if you try hard enough! The people were super chill which I really enjoyed and it was so cool to chill with them. It is also kind of a melting pot of people as far as local origins so it was cool seeing so many different influences in music, dress, food, etc. I really enjoyed myself! And yeah there are definitely other foreigners that visit and it is an annual tourist industry! I can totally see why too with the beaches and forests and mountains! Very cool place! Esther again? – Well you definitely called it because I was totally shaking my head and mumbling that under my breath when I read your “p.s.”….that takes skill girl cause you totally called it. Too bad you are wrong!! I am not the planner girl and the more you guys call me that…the less I wanna plan stuff. Which would include the ranch…so I would stop calling me the planner…haha you crazy girl! Hope all is well!!

Thank you guys so much for posting!! Gives me a nice taste of home and it is nice to talk to you guys!! Love you all and hope you all are doing awesome!! Can’t wait to see and hang out with all of you guys!!

Oh and this is a random story that you Henderson Hills people will appreciate (especially Brett Middleton if you are reading this). So we are sitting at dinner on the ship the other night and we actually had fresh bananas which is rare on the ship so my table had grabbed a bunch of them. Emily was sitting next to me peeling her banana and she started singing (it was one of those things where it was super quiet but a little louder than she thought) the following: “Form banana, form form banana. And form banana, form form banana.” So naturally I was like “Peel banana, peel peel banana. And peel banana, peel peel banana.” Then Shannon who was also at the table was like “Go bananas, go go bananas!! And go bananas, go go bananas!!” (All of us are like dancing and going bananas in our seats at this point, because I mean Helllooooo…that is what the song tells you to do!) Then we all just died laughing, oh my gosh it was so funny!! It was just so random but no one missed a beat and we all just started laughing when it was over. Hahaha gah I love this ship!! It’s just so laid back and everyone is so spontaneous! Love it!!!!

Okay so South Africa was by far the best 5 days I have had on this adventure so far. It was absolutely AMAZING!! It was so hard to get back on the boat knowing we had to leave. I did so many different things in the time I was there and had some many unique experiences it will be impossible to tell you guys everything. I will do my best but there is just no way it is possible…oh well gotta save something for the summer right? And the stories will be easier to tell you all when I have pictures to go along with it. So if I am not clear on something or you want to know more just ask me when I get home this summer.

Picture – the picture I chose for this blog is definitely from Shark Diving. I mean I had to include one about it…duh!! This pic was taken on our way out to the cage from the top of the boat. From left to right it goes me, Courtney, Steph, and Shannon. We were so hyped up on adrenaline when this picture was taken, all we wanted to do was get in the water lol. (click on pic to make it larger)

So day one in South Africa was a day of extreme sightseeing if you will. We arrived in Cape Town and had a guest speaker upon arrival before being allowed to get off the ship. As soon as I was allowed to I was off the ship…I mean we were in Africa hello!! The port area where we were docked was absolutely gorgeous with the open ocean and then Table Mountain looking over the port area. Oh and for those of you that are interested (particularly Chris Wilson) one of the brand new soccer stadiums built specifically for the World Cup this summer was about .25 miles from our ship so that was cool to see. We weren’t allowed to go in and I only saw it in passing but it was definitely a very cool stadium from the outside.

Okay so very quick after arrival I met up with the group I would be Shark Diving with that day. That’s right Shark Diving!!!!!! I willing got into a cage in the water with GREAT WHITE SHARKS!! Oh my gosh it was SICK!!! I still can’t believe I got to do it!! How crazy is that?!?!? Anyways we met our tour agency guides on the pier and as soon as everyone showed up we were off. Our group consisted of about 35 people so it took two big vans to transport all of us. We were taken about 2.5 hours outside of Cape Town to a little town called Gansbaai which is known as the Great White Shark capital of the world. If any of you have ever watched Shark Week on the Discovery channel, yeah most of that footage about Great Whites is filmed in the waters outside of this bay. Ahhhhhh it was so cool cause we were actually there!!

Upon arrival at the place we were given a light lunch and then split into boat groups. One boat took 11 of us and the other boat took the other 25. I ended up on the 11 person boat which I was kinda bummed about at first but it ended up being WAY better. For one we were able to be in the water more because there were fewer of us to cycle through, AND our boat ended up seeing more sharks and getting better activity than the other group! Guess someone upstairs was looking out for us or something lol.

It was about a 20 minute boat ride out to the actual dive spot and we were all so pumped up on adrenaline that it didn’t feel that long at all. Once we got there they attached the cage to the side of the boat and started chumming the water while we all started putting on our wetsuits and getting dive masks. The water was 55 degrees Fahrenheit so it wouldn’t have been possible without the wetsuits. Within minutes (literally like 2-3) of the first bucket of chum hitting the water, the first shark of the day showed up, a medium sized male. Six people could get in the cage at a time and man they jumped in fast once that shark showed up. The guides on our boat did a good job of making sure there were constantly people in the cage and even when it was time to rotate, one person jumped in as soon as someone came out.

The cage was set up to where the top was on hinges to allow easy entry and exit from the boat. The top foot was always above the water, except for the really big waves, so we didn’t have scuba gear or snorkels. We would just keep our heads above the water and when the shark spotter saw one coming close he would yell “Divers down!” followed by which direction and we would hold our breaths and go under to see it. It was so intense!! Sometimes we would go down and the shark would be swimming right alongside us and other times we wouldn’t see it at first and then it would all of the sudden swim out of the gloom and be right there. Intense huh? It was like Hollywood special effects…first you don’t see anything, then all of the sudden this massive shape appears. Ahhhhhh I still can’t believe I was in a cage surrounded by Great Whites!! It was just so cool!!

Like I said earlier, my boat got really lucky with the number of sharks we saw and the quality of our viewings, in the 2.5 hours we were floating with the cage we saw 5 different sharks. The coolest was this really big female. We knew we were lucky because our guides got really excited when she showed up. These guys do this 364 days a year (nothing on Christmas or New Years) so when they get excited about the size of a shark you know that it really is a good sized shark. I mean this baby was huge!!!!!! They said it was around 3.2 meters…that doesn’t sound like much but think about what a meter really is. Then think of a shark that big with rows of teeth that comes right into the cage and thrashes against it.

Oh did I not mention…on multiple occasions we had the sharks attack the cage and thrash around. Yeah it was probably the most exhilarating thing ever. My first rotation in the cage I was on the end of the line in the corner when the first shark hit the cage. He came in for the bait and the guide maneuvered the bait so that it was closer to the cage…yeah the shark got the bait and then decided he wanted the whole thing and not just a little bit. Well that involved thrashing and he came face first into the cage on my corner. So I am holding my breath under water looking at this shark when it took the bait then headed toward me with an open mouth and started ramming the cage and thrashing. We are talking its jaws were opened around the cage literally less than a foot from my face. Less than a foot…from a Great White with an open jaw snapping open and shut!!! What?!!?!? Talk about an adrenaline rush! There were bubbles everywhere and all you could see were teeth flashing and the body moving from side to side….it was SICK!!

This happened multiple times with our boat group and I kinda felt bad for the other boat because we saw some really cool stuff. During one of the thrashes by one of the sharks the tail actually slapped through the cage and hit Steph so she was pretty proud of that…I mean she did get slapped by a Great White! I would be pumped too! It was also funny because at one point I was next to Courtney and this shark surprised us by coming out of the gloom right for us and she screamed underwater which was absolutely hilarious!! The best part was after all of the good hits and passes we would come up to catch our breath before going back under and we would all be like “Whooaaa!!!” and “That was so sick!!” and “Holy crap can you believe that just happened?!” There were obviously other really cool parts but it would just take too long to describe everything! Oh and two of the girls on my boat got sea sick cause the seas were pretty rough but that just meant that I got to be in the water more so I didn’t mind lol.

Despite being in 55 degree water (which is soooooo cold!) and having to hold our breaths, you didn’t even think about either when we were underwater looking at these sharks. I held my breath so much longer than I thought I could and the only time I was ever cold was when I was on the boat letting the other group have their turn. Being in the water with them was just so captivating that we weren’t thinking about anything but watching that animal and waiting to see what would happen next. Seeing these animals in the wild was absolutely indescribable. They were so graceful swimming through the water it was absolutely gorgeous! The really are beautiful animals and it was cool because never once did I ever feel like they wanted to hurt me. They just wanted the tuna heads we were using as bait and were attracted by the smell of the chum. Definitely gave me a new perspective on an animal that is so publicly feared. Don’t get me wrong I still wouldn’t want to just be floating in the water outside of the cage because seeing those teeth right in front of my face was definitely a scary, exhilarating, freaking awesome experience all at the same time! It was definitely worth every penny.

After returning to shore we were given some hot chocolate and coffee and then we were able to watch the video of our experience. Now I know I did an awful job of describing this but I did buy the DVD of the dive with all of the highlights so that I could show you all this summer! So if you wanna see something wicked sick then ask me this summer and I will be happy to show you the video and you can see them coming into the cage and thrashing right on top of me and in my face. Sooooo…sorry this was a bad description and I know I left out a lot of details and small stories but I promise I will tell you all everything this summer lol.

After buying DVDs and T-Shirts we loaded back into the vans and headed back to Cape Town for the evening. By this time it was close to 6 and we didn’t arrive back to the ship until after 830. We were all super hungry and wanted an authentic African meal so Shannon, Steph, Grillz, Mikey, and me jumped in a cab and told our cab driver to take us somewhere authentic. Our driver was awesome and he was super nice about driving us around and making sure we were good to go. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but it was super cool! There was a live band playing traditional African music which added to the feel of the place and the food was absolutely amazing!!! I had a venison burger (which I think was Springbuck maybe?) and a chocolate shake for desert. Some people had ostrich, others had pasta, it was just a great variety of food. After our excellent diner we returned to the ship and called it a night because all of us had to be in the Union at 4 a.m. the next morning to leave for our safaris!! Whoop Whoop!!

Alright so that was day 1 in South Africa, now I am going to tell you about day 5. I know that is weird and I am sorry for skipping but I will definitely tell you about days 2, 3, and 4 in my next blog…promise. Okay so day 5 in Cape Town was also sadly my last day in South Africa. Bummer I know but I guess it had to end sometime right. For my last day I was on an SAS sponsored trip that was a bike tour through the wine lands outside Cape Town. The trip left at 9 a.m. and it was a little over an hour drive to the place where our tour started. Our trip consisted of 17 people which was a perfect number because it was an easy group to control, and there were a lot of adults which was okay because they were able to keep up and it didn’t slow us down or anything.

Okay the wine lands were absolutely gorgeous!! The town we started in was very small and it reminded me of a little town in Colorado or something because it was tucked into a little valley with these mountains and hills on all sides. Gahhhh it was so cool! And the temperature was perfect! Not too hot but not too cold…just perfect! We spent about 45 minutes walking through the town while the guides prepped our bikes. Eventually we were assigned bikes based on bikes…okay these bikes were so nice!! There were actually mountain bikes because part of the tour was on a gravel/dirt road so road bikes wouldn’t work too well haha. I couldn’t believe the bikes were so nice…it was a nice surprise. The tour started out with a 24 km ride up through the hills and down the valley behind the town and eventually dumped us out on the outskirts of town at a winery where we enjoyed lunch. Honestly the lunch was kinda small and I would have preferred some more food but it was delicious and the scenery couldn’t have been better. I mean we were in the middle of a vineyard!! Very very cool setting to enjoy some lunch!

After lunch we finished the ride with a 6 km stretch that was mainly up and down hills so it was a nice challenge to end the day. When it was all said and done we had biked 30 km which we were told translates to a little less than 22 miles. I don’t know if the conversion is perfect but 22 miles?!? That is a pretty good chunk if you ask me… and it was through some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. Gahh it was just stinking incredible!! It was nice because we got the scenery and a really good workout which is rare on the ship. Sure there are like 3 elliptical on the ship but it is so boring running indoors. So outside of short sprints on the port side 7th deck it is hard to get much exercise except for in port so I personally really enjoyed this trip! It was a great way to say goodbye to South Africa! After everyone reached the end of the bike stretch we made a brief 45 minute stop in another little village (that I also can’t remember the name of) to get some drinks at a little bakery and just sit and chill. The ride back to the ship was about an hour and then a little more because of rush hour traffic, Cape Town style. We arrived at the ship right before on-ship time so we got in line and boarded the ship. Saying goodbye to South Africa was NOT fun and I already wanna go back haha.

After getting on the ship there was an Easter service in the Union which was really nice. I definitely missed Henderson Hills and it was weird not being with my family but at the same time I was with a different body of believers. It was a simple service and it was so cool to get to experience Easter Sunday with fellow shipmates. Being reminded of what Christ has done for us is absolutely amazing! I know everyone has been hearing it for the past week but gah how lucky are we? Christ died for us!! What did we do to deserve the greatest gift of all? Nothing…we did nothing, and we are still nothing without Christ. It still blows my mind thinking about it! The best part – HE IS RISEN!! HE IS RISEN!!! He conquered death for sinners like me. Think about that…what love! How He loves us! “When all of the sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory! And I realize just how beautiful You are, and how great Your affections are for me!!” (David Crowder) He loves us so much that words can’t describe it!!!

I hope you guys had an amazing Easter! Remember the love that Christ showed us through His death on the cross and the AMAZING gift He gave us! Have a great week!

T

Luke 24:1-12