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Feb 22 - Skydive Cape Town and an evening at Camp's Bay
On Friday, the day after I returned from the safari, I headed out to Skydive Cape Town to check it out and maybe make a jump. The drop zone organizes a shuttle from the waterfront area when Semester at Sea is in town becuase a ton of the students make jumps there. For some reason, they've all got it in their heads that Cape Town is the place to go skydiving and shark diving! A few even went bungee jumping somewhere. Bungee jumping scares me! So I headed out to Skydive Cape Town and met the people there who were really nice but I didn't get to see Ruan. Ruan was a packer at the Ranch this past summer and is from South Africa but he wasn't there that day. He was going to be there Saturday and Sunday. (I though I might be able to return to the DZ one of those days but when I found out that my bank account had problems, plans changed) When I first arrived at the DZ, they thought I was just another SAS'er here for a tandem but after speaking with them for a few, they accepted me as a fellow skydiver and it was nice to hang out with them. It made me a little sad that SAS turns their DZ into a tandem factory when this ship is in town. They even tell their fun jumpers to stay away becuase there isn't space for them. The good part is that its only for 6 days and the dropzone makes a ton of money and they said they use that to make updates and repairs. I did make a jump! #86! The guy in charge was Timmy and he set me up with a nice rig, an Icon with a Pilot 188 and gave me the full rundown of their procedures, arial photographs, jump run, wind, landing patterns and landing area. I was a little nervous because it was pretty windy but it was a solid wind and I didn't have any problems. We were in a cessna 206 and it was an absolutely beautiful ride to 9k. The best views of Cape Town, the Atlantic coast, Table Mountain and Robben Island. Jump was good, nothing crazy and I enjoyed the spectacular scenery. Great landing in a sandy landing area and had to empty my shoes out because they were filled! I wish I could have stayed longer at the DZ but at 2pm the last shuttle was returning to the waterfront and that was pretty much the only ride.
I met up wtih KP back at the ship and we went out for drinks at a place called Mitchell's which was a brewery restarurant. Zach, the video editor on the ship met up with us and we headed to Camp's Bay to check out the scene there and watch the sunset. We went to a place called Cafe Caprice which I later found out is very trendy and a place where several many celebrities have been known to hang out when in South Africa. Famous people or not, the place was cool and the drinks were good. We had something called a Rockstar Mojito which was really good. Its like a mojito with the fresh mint but made with Stoli Vanilla, mint, lime, sugar, and topped with 'bubbly' which I'm not sure what that is but it was really good! The sunset over the water was beautiful and we headed out tot he beach to take some picutres but that wasn't as pleasant because it was super windy and standing out there was like being sandblasted...it stung and hurt from all the sand being blown around. We stayed at Caprice for awhile, went to another place called Dizzy's someone reccomended and then headed back to the ship.
Feb 23 - Financial Crisis, Green Market Square, Long Street, & Life Goes On!
So...KP and I had big plans on Saturday to head back to Skydive Cape Town; she wanted to make a jump and I would hang out, maybe see Ruan, maybe make another jump and then we would go to Robben Island or Table Mountain. That all went to s*** becuase I found out that my debit card information had been stolen in Brazil and they had cleaned out my bank account! AHHHHHHHH!!! I was in total shock that there was $.49 , that's right, 49 cents, in my bank account. They took it all! Needless to say, plans changed and I spent the entire morning on the phone with HSBC trying to get it sorted out. Easier said than done, especially because I have limited access to resources. It turns out that all of the charges and cash withdrawals were made 10 days after I left Brazil in a city that I never visited. The bank has to do an investigation and all but had determined it fraud. I will get my money restored but it takes a little while and now I have no access to my account becuase my debit card has been deactivated and they won't send me a new one to any of the places on our itinerary. It's all in the process of being worked out and the Dean on the ship is being supportive in helping me with access to a fax etc... but it still sucks! This is a common problem in Brazil but I followed all of the recomendations and precautions and only used my card 2 times! It really makes you feel violated and vulnerable and helpless. Anyways, after I finished dealing with the bank, we decided to just stay in town and check out Green Market Square and Long Street. Green Market Square was cool, lots and lots of vendors selling all kinds of African crafts. The idea there is to bargain which I'm not so good at but tried it out and eventually did buy a really nice wooden bowl. After the market, we walked on Long Street and had lunch at a cute little organic vegetarian cafe called Portobello. The food on the ship can get very heavy and it was nice to have something so fresh. We headed back to the ship around 4 because she had plans to go out to this huge party with some of our other co-workers. It was Pride Week in Cape Town and a bunch of people were going to a big event. I didn't go with, my mood was pretty shot from all of the $ drama and I wasn't interested in staying out until 5am feeling like that (or at all really). Went back to my cabin, cried for a few minutes to let it all out and then decided that I wasn't going to let this ruin my last day here., it was time to be a little pro-active... I ran in to Mario and he told me they had booked a tour to Cape Point with Leigh Ellen and Marie but Marie wasn't going and I could have her spot. Going to the Cape of Good Hope was one of the things I really wanted to do and had been pretty bummed that it seemed like it wasn't going to happen so this really turned my day around. Mario, Leigh Ellen and I had dinner on the ship and then went out to walk around the waterfront for a little while. The V&A Waterfront in Cape Town is really cool, lots of shopping, restaurants, and its always busy. I was very lucky to have run into them and am glad that there are great people around for friendship and support when you need it. As wonderful as everyone at home is, its nice that there are people here to lend a hand and a smile when you need it.
Feb 24 - Cape of Good Hope and a list of thing to do the next time I come to Cape Town.
On Sunday, our last day in Cape Town, I decided enough of the crap and I wasn't going to let this bank garbage ruin the rest of my time in this beautiful city and met up with Leigh Ellen and Marion and joined them on a tour they had booked to Cape Point. We woke up early, had a quick breakfast on the ship and walked through the waterfront to the clock tower to meet the tour group. Going to see Cape Point was on the list of things I still really really wanted to do while in Cape Town. It was a nice tour and we had a good time. There were about 6 other people from various places around the world on the tour as well. We drove in a mini-van kind of things along the coast which was just beautiful, past Camp's Bay and our guide talked about all of the different neighborhoods we passed through. We stopped at Hout Bay, and passed through Noordhoek and Fishhoek as well driving up and over Chapman's peak which is just beautiful. We stopped in Simon's Town and there we got to get out and hang out with penguins! South Africa has several colonies of African Penguins which are just adorable! Next we headed on down to the Cape of Good Hope National Park. Alot of people think that it is the southernmost point on the African continent but we learned that its actually not. There is another point further south but not nearly as beautiful so the Cape of Good Hope, the most south-western point is where everyone goes! We all got our pictures in front of the wooden sign there as every good tourist does. (I submitted it to Parachutist for their Parachutist Around the World segment in the magazine and they already contacted me back that it is being considered for publication! How fun is that??? Keep your eyes out for it while I'm away) There was a big group of people from Beijing, China there on a world tour promoting the Olympics and invited us to be in their pictures! After hanging out at Cape Point for a little while, we started the ride back to the city and saw Baboons and Osterrich! Both animals are native to the area. The baboons are crazy and mean. We saw them hanging out people's cars and swinging around on buildings. The Osterrich were cool too...Mario tried eating osterrich and loved it and won't stop talking about how good it is! I didn't really have the opportunity to try any interesting food in this port. I did have a small piece of Kudu Biltong. Biltong is a kind of raw, dried meat jerky specialty in South Africa. Kudu was the kind of animal. It was pretty good.
After we returned back to Cape Town around 1pm, we were going to try to go up the cable car to Table Mountain but heard that the line was super long, like several hours long. The cable car had been closed for the past few days because of weather and it was also a weekend so I guess everyone decided to go. Instead of going there, we just stayed around the waterfront and did some last minute shopping since we had to be back on the ship around 6pm.
Cape Town was a pretty mixed place for me. I think that I could have really loved it but because of being away on Safari for 3 days, having trouble getting all of schedules together and then the money crap, I have mixed emotions about it. The things I did get to do were absoltuely wonderful, I just feel like I could have done more and already have a list of things to do and places to see for the next time I come here! The city is so full of history, beautiful places, different culture and I feel like I didn't get to experience enough of it. Some of the things on my list for next time are: get to the top of Table Mountain (either hiking or by cable car), visit Robben Island, go wine tasting in Stellenbosh, and visit a Township.
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