Adventures in Cape Town

January 27th – February 2nd was a crazy week. To begin, we left Pretoria at 5:30 on Sunday to head out on our LONG drive all the way down to our new home here in Simon’s Town (30 minutes south of Cape Town). After 26 hours in transit, we made it and it was well worth the wait. This place is beautiful, and we’ve been living on the ocean with a public beach in view of where we’re staying. To the right of us is Boulders Beach; home to about 4000 African Penguins! These guys are ridiculous! Honesty there are so m any of them; they are the equivalent to squirrels at home. You look down the road and you’ll see 10 of them hanging out in the gutter, look up the road and you’ll see a pair just waddling up the center of the road. They’re so amusing!

Anyways, onto our past week, which we’ve suitably named “Adventure Week”. On Tuesday we ventured down to Cape of Good Hope; the Southern most point of Africa! It was beautiful. We didn’t see any of the baboons that we’d been warned about, but our whole group made our way down to a beach where we spent 2 hours in the waves and getting our first real sunburns.

On Wednesday we had an early start (5:30 am) and travelled for 2 hours to go shark diving at Danger Point. Sounds scary, but it was a blast! It started with a boat ride on the swelling ocean waves, where some of us had to fight off seasickness. It was all worth it though once we suited up in our wet suits and heard the guys who were leading the expedition telling us to get into the cage. The adrenalin was definitely rushing as we heard the guides calling, “Divers look right!” It was crazy to go under the water and see a shark swim right in front of you. It sort of felt like some sort of wildlife show. One group even got to experience the shark crash his body right up against the cage! This was a huge highlight for the group.

The next morning we were up early again and after a couple hours on the road we arrived on top of a small mountain overlooking the ocean and the lovely whale-watching town of Hermanus. Our paragliding pilots were ready and waiting and it wasn't long before several of us were harnessed up, attached to a pilot with a paraglider attached to him, and running down the face of the mountain only to be lifted high into the air by the warm air rising off the ocean. The views were awesome and the ride was smooth, although our pilots were usually willing to perform some pretty crazy "aerobatics" upon request! It was definitely a great way to see South Africa.

The following day we drove to Cape Town and hiked Table Mountain. It was a pretty intense trek; almost 2 hours up and an hour and a half down. There was a great view from the top and it was a fabulous adventure.

We then spent Saturday relaxing and doing whatever we wanted to in town. Most of us spent the day taking advantage of the ocean and playing in the sun and waves. All in all, it was an awesome week of adventure and catching up with the group.

Written by: Ben Pavey

Sean enjoying some fresh air on our 26 hour bus ride

The road we traveled

Students enjoying the fresh sea air

Some of the guys enjoying the sun

Group shot at Cape of Good Hope

Dave and Gabe trying not to get seasick for the big dive

Amanda, Deanna, and Marla getting ready to go into the cage

The shark circling the cage!!!

The cage

Lauren looking a bit nervous for her ride

Michelle getting ready to go

Amanda taking off

Sephen getting ready to go



Flying high

Amanda and Sean at the top of Table Mountain