If I had to pick a favorite city of the trip so far, Cape Town would have to be it. I knew from the minute I saw flamingoes in the drainage ditch from the bus heading to town from the airport that we were in for a treat. It literally has everything you could want. There were mountains, beaches, a city, night life, cheap food, and incredible wildlife excursions.

The first day we headed to the beach. With Table Mountain to our backs and the Pacific Ocean to out front, the view was absolutely incredible. The following day we decided to venture up Table Mountain. After a 4 minute rotating cable ride, we entered what seemed like heaven. We stepped of the cable car to plateau above the clouds with views I can’t even put into words. Next to the mountain was Lions Head peak that had a cloud condensing on the backside and rolling over the top like a wave crashing onto a beach. Marge and I spend hours wandering the top of the mountain finding one great view after another before finishing off the day with a few beers as the sun fell below the clouds along the horizon.   The following day I was ready checked off one of the top things on my bucket list, cage diving with great white sharks! The van picked me up at 3:00am and headed about two hours away to shark bay. After making friends with some Canadians and Aussies, we got on a boat and headed out about 20 minutes. The skippers chummed the water as a whole tuna head on a rope was tossed out into the water. Before we knew it, the first great white was circling the boat as the first 5 divers entered the cage for their encounter. As the shark approached the cage the only things that left our mouths on the boat consisted of “holy shit” “shark!” “O MY GOD” and the occasional “WTF are we doing?”. For the first two groups in the cage, the sharks were relatively slow moving and graceful. The sharks ranged in size from 8-12 feet. When it came time for the Canadians and I to hop in the cage, Jaws decided to show up for the ultimate live show.

  After we got in the cage a 15 foot great white shark broke the surface of the water mouth open and came crashing down about 5 feet in front of us. The clarity in the water was pour, but I popped my head up just in time to be eye level with the beast as it breached in front of me. It was a sight I will never forget, the excitement etched into my memory forever. He came around several more times, and even breached again before our turn was over in the cage. To top of the day, we headed out on Long street with the new Canadian friends I had made. The five of us went out for an incredible dinner at Momma Africa restaurant. I had kudu steak and Marge had crocodile. With live African music, African animals on our plates, drinks, and new friends, it was one of my favorite dinners I have had on this trip.   The next day, the Canadians and I rented a car to head down to the Cape of Good Hope. We stopped at the penguin colony at Boulder Beach. There must have been a thousand penguins just chilling on the beach doing their penguin thang. It was definilty a sight to see. When we went to the second part of the protected area we were able to walk right up to them to visit and take pictures. Following the penguins, I noticed a sign for some larger birds, an ostrich farm! For some reason I have this deep love for Ostriches and think they are the funniest animals known to man. Deciding against the tour of the farm, I noticed we could buy food to feed the two main ostriches they had on display named Bonny and Clyde. I bought 4 bags which gave us 30 minutes of ostrich interaction and pictures just topped off my day and reinforced the idea that I have to have one as a pet when I’m older. To finish out the night we all headed back to long street for some drinks.   On one of our last nights, Marge and I went shopping at a local camera store. I could have never guessed what happened after that. We bought a few things in the store and we were offered a couple drink tickets upstairs at the Samsung expo they were having. When we entered the gallery upstairs we were greeted with unlimited champagne, live music, and waitresses offering everything from caviar topped bruschetta to pekin duck wraps. We then got unlimited glasses of wine as we chatted with the photographers that took the pictures on display on the rooftop terrace on Long Street. I have no idea why they wanted two budget Americans at their event, but I sure enjoyed the free dinner, drinks, and photo booth. We both left with a full belly and a staggering walk, all for free!