As I talked about in one of my previous blogs, interStudy, the program that I am studying abroad through organized a fun filled weekend for all the students to get away and do some sweet stuff. The whole interstudy crew was split in half because there’s just too many of us. The group that I went with had our getaway weekend Oct.27-29th.
We got picked up on that Friday afternoon after classes were finished and trekked along the coast for a couple hours to the coastal town Hermanus. This town is a destination for whale watching as well as shark cage diving. Both of which were activities on the agenda for the weekend. (I had already gone shark cage diving so don’t worry I didn’t go again mom!)
The weather was kind of spotty for the whole weekend so some of our activities ended up getting delayed, but the cool part about that was that we got to just hang out by the ocean all morning on Saturday. Nick and I hopped a couple barriers and went climbing on the cliffs by the ocean, and climbed around on the rocks for a good couple hours. It was SO much fun, and we got some sweet pictures of course.
After hanging out in the town all day we went whale watching on Saturday afternoon, which everyone was excited about, but not quite sure what it would be like at the same time. I kind of picture whales as boring animals which are only cool because they are so gigantic and ominous out there in the ocean. But never the less I was excited to possibly see one jump out of the water Free Willie style or something!
About 25% of the people ended up staying below deck puking their guts out, but the rest of us got to see quite a show! The guide who was on the boat with us said in 15 years he had never seen anything like this before, which was pretty amazing. We saw 3 whales all feeding next to each other, which is odd because typically the whales migrate away from SA to feed because there isn’t much food. And not only that, but one of the whales was albino. For those of us who aren’t whale enthusiasts it didn’t seem like anything special, but in the eyes of a professional it was a very rare occurrence so I was glad I could be there to witness.
After docking back in the bay the next activity was sea kayaking which lots of people weren’t feeling up to after having spent the whole boat ride bent over the toilet. Our group was split into two, and the group I was in wasn’t scheduled to sea kayak until the morning, but since so many people felt sick I took the opportunity to kayak with the other group as well! In hindsight I was very glad I chose to do so.
10 of us headed out into the open ocean in 5 separate 2-man kayaks. Peter and I were kayak partners and obviously were the best ones out on the waves. We took a scenic tour of one of the bays, bearing witness to the beautiful cliffs that I had climbed all over earlier that day, and a great view of the coastal town. Some of us took a swim in the ocean, some on purpose, and other’s not so much. Which was cold, but very refreshing. On our way back there was a playful ‘little’ whale that started to follow us back, getting so close one of the kayaks said they could’ve touched him if they weren’t drenched in fear. At first I was extremely excited at the thought of a whale being directly underneath us and hanging out with us. This feeling of excitement was instantly wiped away when our guide told us that the whale putting its tail above water meant he was likely to breach (jump out of the water) which is extremely dangerous for obvious reasons. Whales are thousands of pounds and we were in flimsy little kayaks! Needless to say we raced to shore as quickly as possible in order to avoid the possible flying massive whale. As it turned out, the curious young whale was following us around because he was just that: a curious young whale. He did not jump on top of us, thankfully, but it was quite an adrenaline rush none the less.
My second trip out on the ocean kayaking was less eventful, but this time around, just like last time, Becca and I dominated the waves as expected. We saw a whale again this time, but there was no threat of breaching so we didn’t see our lives flash before our eyes, quite a relief actually. I’m just going to say this right now, water sports are all SO much fun. I had a great time obviously.
After a quick stop at KFC, which is literally on every corner in this country, we got to go paint balling and quad biking (ATVing) on Sunday afternoon. For those of you who know me, I love playing shooter video games. Now this may be because I am a sick human being or whatever, but I love those types of things, so paintball is the same sort of experience.. But I actually get to shoot people so that makes it even better! We were pitted against these guys whose jobs it is to beat up on people who never play and so quite obviously we got our butts kicked, but it was tons of fun! One of the rounds there were 12 of us trying to protect these two huts that were connected by a walkway. Meanwhile all the professional guys who were all in the armed forces at some point in their lives were trying to storm the houses and pelt us with paint balls, which hurt quite a bit at short range! Towards the end of the round the were all on our doorstep and we were fighting for our lives. We tried everything, opening the door to pelt them, only to be shot probably 15 times within a couple seconds. Failed attempt #1. Tried to shoot around the corner at them, only to be shot right in the fingers. Failed attempt #2. Finally I had a great idea, to sneak around the front corner where they didn’t expect me. As I round the corner the owner of the place was just reaching above his head to shoot in the window at my teammates, so I pelted his belly about 10 times! Seems like a successful attempt right? Well he has 2 teammates right behind him who immediately shot me up pretty badly. Failed attempt #3. We were overrun eventually, but it was so much fun!
Bruised and battered we headed out on quad bikes, which are the same as ATV’s back in the states. We took a scenic route through some vineyards and some sort of orchards which were beautiful. We ended our ride at the top of a cliff that overlooked Hermanus which was stunning. On the way back we ditched the single file rule and passed each other at any opportunity! It was tons of fun, and a perfect ending to a great weekend!
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