Hiking Table Top Mountain

On this day we decided as a family to hike to the 2,500+ feet summit of Table Top Mountain. We started off the day by visiting the Green Market Square which is a local flee market with many curio shops. Kaylie and I stocked up on many African goods. Following that around 1:30 PM we drove to Table Top Mountain and began our hike. Since it was such a beautiful day the Cable Car was packed so it was a smart idea to hike up and avoid the hour+ line. Less than 5 minutes into the walk Tom was already complaining because we parked the car closer to the Cable Car and it was going to be a 10 minute walk to the trail. Once we reached the trail however it was a steep climb up. Tom took his time but did make it up in a little over 2 hours. Annie however had to get into deep conversations we every person on the trail slowly our pace. The hike was amazing though as the views of the Cape Town City Bowl were extraordinary. The hike was tiring due to the steepness but was well worth it when you reached the top. Once on Top of Table Top Mountain we had extraordinary views of the City, Atlantic Seaboard, Winelands, Cape Point, etc. Good thing however we read the guide books and brought sweatshirts as the wind chill made it freezing on top. Due to the fact that there were so many people and neither of my parents wanted to hike down we ended up waiting in over an hour line for the Cable Car Ride. The hike made us all extremely exhausted so after going to the African Cafe for a traditional 16 course African meal we all passed out. Now we are resting up for New Years where we are going to the V&A Waterfront for dinner.

Cape Winelands

So after being on the Atlantic Seaboard for a couple of nights we decided to travel out to the Cape Winelands. The drive out was beautiful as we winded through winery to winery. The first stop was a winery called Fairview. It was an old/new stone looking building where we sat in this old fashioned dining room where we were served a 8 course wine meal of 8 wines paired with 8 types of cheese. I wasn't a big fan of the wine but the estate itself was awesome. After that we roamed to a couple more winieries before staying in Franshoek at a little bed and Breakfast called Klein de Oliphants. There we had an amazing dinner of lamb and prawns. Tom drank quite a lot and woke up the whole house that night by making Annie scream. Tom thought he was being sneaky so he went outside and tried to stick his hand into the bathroom window where Annie was taking a bath. Annie did her usual scream waking up all surrounding guests and this was already at midnight. The next day unfortunately it was raining so not much was accomplished except for seeing two wineries. Then again we stayed in an equally as nice bed and breakfast called the Villa Grande in Stellenbosch. Here we went to a great dinner where Kaylie was hit on by a Lionel Richie look a like. The third and final day, Tom woke up early and went to 8 wineries while Annie and Kaylie went shopping. I however was not informed properly on the plan and was left at the Guesthouse with all the bags and no car to store them in. I was stuck there for around three hours. After that we went to a fabulous lunch followed by a visit to the Cheetah Outreach program where Kaylie played with Cheetah Cubs. We then made our way back to Cape Town where we currently have a fabulous centrally located apartment with stunning views of Table Top Mountain. Lastly we went to Jardine for dinner which is rated as one of the Top 100 restaurants in the world. The food was fabulous as we had Tian of Prawn/Salmon, Oysters, Duck, Steak, Springbok, and plenty of desserts and wine. We all decided to make it an early night as we planned to hike Table Top Mountain the following day.

Great White Shark Diving

Great White Shark Diving was amazing!!! It started by us making the 3 hr journey out to Gansbaii. It is the Great White Shark Diving capital of the world. After arriving to the harbor we all boarded the boat after listening to our Dive Master Vien. He seemed to be very well-informed about sharks. First the boats battery did not work so we were all worried. After replacing the battery we were finally off. Driving through the narrow rocks and the heavy waves we went about 3 miles in to Shark Alley, a place in-between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock (The Mecca of Cape Fur Seals as their population exceeds 50,000 there). They dropped down the cage and we are quickly put our wet suits on. While we were being briefed on the top of the boat the first shark came up to the side of the boat, it was about 8 ft long so a small one but still pretty impressive for barely chumming the water 5 min. Next we started to jump in the cage the first 5 got quick site of that shark as it came up to the cage but then disappeared quickly. After around 10 min one of the girls in the cage got cold and jumped out so it was my turn. I jumped in with my Under Water Camera and full-body wetsuit. The water was not cold at all i thought, roughly around 65* and the wet suit made it 75*. After waiting 35 min i became very anxious on where the sharks were, for an instance i was scared it would be a dud and we would see nothing more. Then finally a great big shark was spotted. Around 10 feet long he came right up to the cage and it was amazing to see him underwater. Problem was underwater visibility wasn't that great so you only saw it when it was close up which was indimating. Then both Kaylie and Tom jumped in and again another great big beast came crashing up to the cage trying to chase the tuna bait. The site was incredible as at one point i was less than 2 feet away from the sharks mouth underwater. I think i got some incredible photos underwater but we will not know until they are developed. Overall we ended up seeing around 4 different sharks ranging from 8-12 feet. The sharks came back multiple times and the 12 foot great white ended up eating the bait twice, he was very vicious. After being in the cage for just less than 2 hours i finally got out. Out of all the divers i stayed in the water the longest and was rewarded as many who didn't wait it out missed seeing the Great White Underwater. I was able to see great views from the boat as in the last instances we had two sharks come up quickly. Shark Diving was a once in a lifetime experience and was such a worthy experience. We are now off to the Wine Country for three days.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day we set off early. I wanted to leave at 9:30 but thanks to Kaylie and Annie we didn't get out the house until 10:10. However we went to Boulders Beach, the African Penguin Colony. The drive was beautiful on the way passing by some Dutch wineries and the Silvermine Nature Reserve. The Penguin Colony was really cool as there are over 3,000 penguins on this beautiful beach sheltered by huge Boulders, hence the name. It was amazing to see how many African Penguins there were and how they did not seem to be scared of humans. In fact i got up to 1 foot away from some of the Penguins. Following this we drove down the windy road to the Cape of Good Hope. We had lunch on this beautiful patio overlooking the Indian Ocean. Lunch was delicious with Norwegian Salmon, Lamb, and Turkey. The long island ice teas and wine was great to see. After lunch we decided to hike the trail to the Lighthouse atop Cape Point. This hike was amazing with the views of both oceans. Even better was the trail down to Cape Point which was tight and if you looked to your side there was an 100 foot drop off. Once reaching the farthest southern point, tom and I decided to be adventurous and cross over the fence and stretch our limits. I have to admit it was worth it as we were able to see straight down the cliff to the crashing waves on the cliff. The adventure was such an experience and the views were out of this world. After hiking for quite awhile we decided to leave and on the way back we stopped off at the Penguin Colony again. This time we went onto the beach itself where we truly saw the Penguins up close and personal. Tom, Kaylie, and Myself crossed over through many of the boulders and went to a secluded part of the beach. This time we saw the main part of the colony as hundreds of Penguins were sunbathing, mating (it was breeding season), and just playing around. We got rather close again and even got some of them to snap at us as we put out our sun glasses. The beach was amazing and we drove back to Camps Bay after where we had a wonderful dinner of Fish and Meat. The next adventure is Great White Shark Diving as we are off tomorrow. (More pictures will be loaded later so check back soon)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was calm and relaxing. We visited Hout Bay that afternoon which was rather eventful. Bunch of curio shops and african jewelry shops. We were bombarded by street salesmen trying to sell us African junk such as wire ornaments, african 

drums, etc. My mom fell for the trick and ended up buying quite a bit. Visited a Liquor store where i was able to buy beer and a 6 pack of Captain Morgan coke drinks. Quite eventful with the exchange rate the best wine bottle he had was only $22 so Tom stocked up on some of the best. Christmas Eve dinner we cooked Lamb Chops with yorkshire pudding and vegetables.  Sat out on our balcony and watched the sunset which was beautiful.  We all ended up going to sleep early because we 

had busy Christmas day following as we were going to visit the Penguins Colony at Boulders Beach and the Cape of Good Hope.

First Days in South Africa

Sorry for the delay our computer was not working so we are currently in Apple store getting it fixed. So on with our journey after boarding the plane dreading the upcoming 17 hour journey i saw we had a celebrity on our plane the black guy Warrick from CSI was with his super model girlfriend. Flight was bad like expected as i was squished between dad and sister and had no air-conditioning during layover in Senegal. Stayed in Jo'Burg at Intercontinental which was really nice as we all got massages and women got facials. Flight to Cape Town sucked as we had over 30 babies on the small plane. It was shear crasiness as there was a constant noise of crying. First night in Cape Town was eventful as we went to dinner and Tom set a new record for himself. Ron and Marian and anyone who was at Marys that one time in Laguna Beach know about when Tom asked 20 or more questions to the poor waitress. Well, this time he hassled the poor waiter more than 40 times asking for drinks, spoons, extra spoons, small forks for seafood, napkins, crayfish, wine, water, sparkling water, the list was endless. So far it has been pretty the trip. We slept a lot to get over get lag, went to the V&A Waterfront for nice dinners and shopping. Went to one of the worlds largest aquariums and some different craft markets. Weather is nice sunny and mid 80s today, rained yesterday though. Sure glad not in the U.S. right now with the weather problems. We are going to Penguin Colony Beach today which has over 3,000 african jackass penguins roaming the beach. Now staying at Camps Bay where we have an apartment with great oceanic views, reminds me a lot like Laguna Beach. Happy Christmas Eve we are cooking a turduckden tonight for Xmas Eve dinner and then tommorow off to the Cape of Good Hope for Xmas Lunch.

Flying to New York City

So we set off on Thursday at 9:45 as we had an 1:00 PM flight to New York City via Dulles Washington. Flight was awfully boring but time passed as i slept the whole time. Then as we landed in Dulles we connected on to a small plane to take us to New York City. Unfortunately i was stuck in a two seater with a man who took up half my seat as well as his so it was a dreadful 40 min as i was squished throughout the flight. When we arrived in New York we stayed at our ex-neighbor Marjorie's house which was located right next to Central Park and the Saint Regis. Since the weather was supposed to be terrible the following day we decided to take a walk throughout the city at 1:00 AM. We went into the huge Mac store, strolled by Radio City Hall, NBC Studios, and Time Square, which was a cool site as it was all lit up. We didn't get back till 3:00 AM so it was quite an adventure. We even met a man who walked around with a cat on his head. After settling back in i decided to not fall asleep whereas the rest of the family passed out. It was already 3:30 AM and i had intentions on walking to NBC studios at 5:30 AM so sleeping was not going to walk. Around 5:30 i went to wake my dad as he promised he would wake up to go with me. Unfortunaly he had not slept in the past couple days so he told me to go away. As a result i had to wait until 7:00 AM before we departed for NBC studio. Reaching the Today Show studio at 7:15 AM we waited in line to get a glimpse of Al Roker and the gang. At this time rumors were spread that Brad Pitt was showing up to promote his new movie so we changed our position to get a chance to see him. Unfortunately he never showed up and after waiting out there i have to admit it is not much fun watching the today show in 30* weather. So we strolled back to the apartment as it was starting to cool down and even saw some camels on the way back. So we then decided to nap and when we woke up New York was a blizzard and we were forced to take the Subway instead of a Cab to JFK Airport. Fortunately the trip was fine and we reached the airport awaiting our 17 hr flight.