Cape Town, South Africa Part I

Sooo here’s another long post about our most recent port, South Africa. Okay. I lied. Mauritius was our most recent port but I’m not sure if that really counts. We’ll start with Cape Town and see how far I can make it.

Thursday, February 17th a few of us woke up really early to make sure we could watch us pull into Cape Town. Anyone who knows me is aware of my morning attitude, so you know it was going to be awesome if I was willing to get up earlier than necessary. We met in the lobby, sleepy-eyed and in our pajamas and went out on the deck. The front of the ship was closed because of high winds so we got our first glimpse of Cape Town from the 7th deck starboard deck. It was gorgeous. With the city in our sights and Table Mountain in the background, we were soooo excited to get there and start our exploring. Wanting to get a better look, we walked into the Teacher’s Lounge to get the full panoramic view. After not bothering anyone for about 10 minutes, some guy on a power-trip kicked us out. Granted, we weren’t supposed to be in there, but no one else cared and all of our viewing options were closed off. So, we grabbed some breakfast (By the way, breakfast on the ship is boooomb. It’s soo good. The french toast is amazing and by far exceeds my french toast connoisseur standards, and the chocolate croissants…oh the chocolate croissants. Words cannot describe the deliciousness that these gifts to the earth are.) and started planning our day. Until that was, the first announcement came on and The Voice let us know that due to high winds, we would have to postpone our docking for a few hours.

Bummed, but understanding, we all went back to bed for a few hours gathering up energy for the day to come. Then we got another announcement. It would be longer than they thought before we could port and they would be showing a movie in the Union to keep us occupied. Then we got another announcement. By this time, it was getting pretty old. At 5pm they came out with a whole program of activities for the night. Back to back movies in the union, then an open mic. night. That day literally the entire ship went from finding it kind of funny, to being impatient, to being really annoyed. We were all just bumming around in sweats taking naps, eating junk food and watching movies. Your options to kill time on a ship are pretty limited and we already had cabin fever from the week long voyage from Ghana.

Finally, around 9:00pm and the start of Open Mic., they came on to let us know that we should be porting between 11:00pm-1:00am. Everyone was so excited to finally get off. Even though we had to clear immigration with a face-to-face meeting, we enjoyed the entertainment and then all made plans to go out as soon as we cleared, even if it wasn’t until really late. As a sidenote, the acts at open mic. were awesome always. Huge props to those participants. It takes a lot of courage to get up there and they did it at the spur of the moment. Well done!

Anyway, we waited. And waited. And waited some more. At 1am we still weren’t there. Clearing the ship could take at least an hour and a half and then we would all have to get off. We were still optimistic but when 2am rolled around and we still didn’t even have the local pilot, it was time to wave the white flag and try to get some sleep.

We woke up with high hopes the next morning early enough to get breakfast and get a start on our day in port. Of course, the rolling I felt when my alarm went off let me know that we still hadn’t docked. We got a few more hours of sleep after breakfast and around 10:30am, we finally made it into Cape Town. We had to do our face-to-face immigration clearing and I had to get ready for my day’s activities.

All ready to go, I stepped out onto the back deck to see where we were. I immediately fell in love. The city was gorgeous. Especially compared with Takoradi, this dock was phenomenon. The beautiful Waterfront District right there, the city a little beyond that and then Table Mountain and Lion’s Head completing the backdrop behind. People talk about love at first sight in relationships all the time. Now I know what they mean. In a matter of seconds, Cape Town stole my heart. Super cheesy, I know, but there’s honestly no other way to say it.

After clearing, I met up with Hans and Bonnie and the rest of the group to head off to our wine tasting. They had set up a whole wine-tour for us for Thursday. However, when that didn’t happen, we were lucky enough to be able to reschedule for Friday. Some of the wineries had to be switched, but we were still able to go. After we piled into the chartered bus, we drove about 45 minutes to the Stellenbosch region of South Africa where all the vineyards are. The landscape, like everything else I had seen thus far, was breathtaking.

As we pulled into the first winery, Kanonkop, I got my first lesson. Vineyards traditionally grow roses all around the grapes.  Aside from the aesthetic appeal, they serve as a warning to farmers. If disease or insects attack the roses, they know to protect their grapes well in advance. Smart right? Olive trees are also a common finding around vineyards, but you will almost always see roses outlining the fields of grape trees.

We got a tour of the historic winery and then had our tasting. We tried eight different wines, all of which were explained and enjoyed thoroughly. Heidi, our wine expert was so good to us. She was patient and explained everything while giving us the respect of real adults. Before going, Hans gave us a lesson as to what to do and what not to do so I think that helped. That, and we were all dressed well and attentive while she was speaking. I think we did pretty well for a first tasting!

After Kanonkop we went across the road to Warwick. While the first winery had a classic, timeless appeal, this one was more contemporary. It was also classy but had more to offer for a younger crowd. With lush gardens, they offered picnic sights with large umbrellas and lawn cushions. They also had outdoor patio seating and a restaurant inside. This tasting wasn’t as professional, but it was really nice and we had a good time.

After the tastings, we all went to dinner at a Waterfront restaurant, Balthazar. The meal was outstanding. It’s so different going out to dinner in foreign countries where people sit and enjoy their time together. In the States we’re so impatient. The service has to be quick, quick, quick. This meal was a perfect example of how other countries take their time with ordering, preparation, service, the bill, everything. It was very enjoyable, but two and a half hours later, we were all antsy and ready to go out.

We went back to the ship and changed for a night on the town. A few of us from the wine tasting went to this club, Assembly. We got there around 11:30 and danced the entire time until we left at 3:30am. I surprised myself at how long I could go but I guess I didn’t really have a choice. It’s not like you can just go back whenever. As a foreigner, especially a girl, you always have to go back with a group. No one was ready to go until that late so, we just danced and danced and danced.

After a few hours of sleep, we woke up early and went to breakfast to try to figure out the day’s plans. I read about repelling down Table Mountain before I left for SAS, and it’s something I really wanted to do. We had to go see it anyway, so we got a group of us together and set out.

We took a taxi to Table Mountain and from there took the gondola up. It was amazing at the top. You could see everything. And, with the clouds rolling in over the top, it was like smoke flowing down right over you. It was so cool. After exploring the top for a while, we went over and found our Abseiling guys. The five of us were ready to go while this one girl from England was debating. We convinced her to come with us and we all strapped in.

They hooked us up with harnesses to this short cable while we bouldered down to the starting point. That part was hard enough! We had to shimmy and climb down rocks bigger than me! But, it was totally worth it. When we got to the actual starting point, we were standing on the edge of the mountain looking all over Cape Town. We couldn’t even see the rock below us—it just dropped straight off. Ali and the English girl went first as we watched them disappear over the side. Allie Brown and I were second. We were sooo pumped we weren’t even scared. They strapped us into the new line and kept making jokes about being tired and blah, blah, blah. Even using expletives doesn’t describe how f*cking AWESOME THIS WAS!!! Sorry sensitive audience/mom, but there’s really no way around it. It was by far the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. We were literally walking down the side of the mountain, hanging over Cape Town, South Africa. Then, half way down, the rock face just drops off. There was nothing to put your feet on. Instead of repelling down, you just drop off the cliff overhang and gently fall down in your harness. We were spinning around getting the full view of the place. It was absolutely incredible. We waited at the bottom for the rest of the group and then hiked about 45 minutes back up to the top. We were planning on hiking down, but after that nice little stretch, we decided we had had enough and took the gondola back down.

Once back at the Waterfront, we went to dinner at Quay Four and I had one of the best salads I’ve ever had. It had sauteed portabella mushrooms in thyme, garlic and olive oil, with sun dried and fresh tomatoes and feta cheese with a really light lemon and olive oil dressing. Delicious. And then I got a burger and fries too.

Once back at the ship, we showered and changed and were surprised with a wine tasting dinner that Brittney put together. There were 12 of us total and they set up a private back room for us. Asara, the winery, was beautiful. The grounds were absolutely gorgeous and the interior was old and classic, but with contemporary decorations and artwork. The owner’s Harley was in a case in the front lobby. While the tasting wasn’t as professional as the ones the day before, the wine was good and the food was even better. I had another good salad since I didn’t know I’d be having a second dinner, and then Ali, Kim and I split two desserts. We had this triple chocolate thing which was to die for, and then an apple tart with some kind of delicious ice cream on top which was also amazing. I’d go back just for the food alone. Yuuuumy! After dinner we all went out and had a good time. We started at Chrome, and then worked our way over to Long Street and went to Fusion before calling it a night. A few of us were booked on a safari for the morning so we went back and got everything ready to go. I was so well prepared that night. I took a shower before I went to bed, got my bag ready to go, and then made a list of last minute stuff to grab that I couldn’t forget. I charged my camera batteries and uploaded previous pictures to make sure I had enough room. I did everything I could…except set my alarm clock.