We're going to need a bigger boat!

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The Wandering Three embarked on our last adventure together to Cape Town. Upon arrival in the beautiful Mother City we got dressed up in our best Bafana Bafana spirit and took the bus with hundreds of other crazy fans to Green Point Stadium to watch South Africa play the USA in the Nelson Mandela Cup. The whole night was filled with the beautiful sound of thousands of Vuvuzelas!  Our friends who were with us said it was just like during the world cup since it seems people had world cup withdrawal and were going all out! Lucky us, we got to our seats and found ourselves surrounded by some obnoxious American exchange students but it was okay, I just blew my Vuvuzela until I got blisters on my lips! Unfortunately the USA won 1-0 with a goal in the last couple of minutes but the energy was amazing and we had a great time.

We got to bed around 2am, and woke up two hours later to set out on our next big adventure: cage diving with GREAT WHITE SHARKS! We had to drive to a town called Gansbaii two hours away from Cape Town. We got to the office and met our guide; Telia anxiously pointed out that he was missing a finger but we decided a shark couldn't have been delicate enough to only bite one finger off, it would have taken the whole hand, so he must have lost it some other way... We boarded the boat and rode half an hour to our destination to a place near the shore and only about 9 meters deep. The water was so beautiful and inviting but it was much colder in reality. We got into our wetsuit and they dropped some fish head bait into the water and our first shark appeared shortly after. Seeing the first shark was so amazing and exciting and we couldn't wait to get in the cage. We were the third group to get in, it fits 5-6 people and your head is above water the whole time. The back of the cage is attached to the boat and when a shark approaches the captain yells ''DOWN DOWN DOWN!!'' and you just take a deep breath and go under to watch as the shark tries to catch the bait which is being lured towards the cage. The sharks were amazingly close to us; the largest one was 3.5 meters long. We saw a total of 5 Great White Sharks that came and went throughout the duration of our dive. I was the first one to get out of the cage after our first dive and right as I climbed on the boat one of the sharks smashed into the cage. The whole boat shook so I can only imagine what it was like for Olivia who was in the corner of the cage right where the shark hit. I was worried that she would be scared but when she came up for air she and Telia were just screaming and so excited. We dried off on deck then went down for a second turn. By this time the sharks were really warmed up and were just constantly swimming around us. At one point I was watching a shark swim by and I turned my head and there was a huge shark right in front of me just looking at me. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we were surprisingly unafraid of the sharks; they are more scary on tv than they are in real life. Cape Town is definitely one of the best places to dive with sharks as you only have to go 30 minutes on the boat to get to the area where they are whereas in other places you have to travel as much as 8 hours to see them. We're definitely glad Telia convinced us to do it.

The next day we went to Boulders Beach to see the penguins, which was cool, but...we had just went diving with great white sharks the day before... The rest of the week we spent just hanging out with friends and enjoying beautiful Cape Town...and watching a Barcelona game for the first time in 3 months, which they won 8-0!! On Monday we dropped Telia off and she flew back home and The Wandering Three became The Wandering Two once again.

Now we're back in Zonke until the centre closes over the holidays. Oh, and my laptop broke an hour after we got back from Cape Town...shame. Now Olivia has to share.

Love,

The Wandering Two