Today I went to the mariner's wharf and beach in Hout Bay with two friends. Two twenty minute mini bus taxi rides for around $2 brought us to this functioning port/fish market. We poked around the marina, checked out a couple shops, ate some delicious fried hake and chips and then settled on the beach for an hour or two.

The beach was surprisingly undeveloped given how picturesque it was and pretty underpopulated despite it being Sunday. Just to the right of the picture below were massive sand dunes that looked exactly like those in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Overall pretty relaxing day except for the ridiculous ride home. After being jammed in the back row of a mini bus that legally seats 17 uncomfortable people, one fairly intoxicated woman decided to pick on the Americans. She first jokingly said "I know you are rich, pay for my taxi," this turned into her trying to teach us one of the local languages (Xhosa) and by the end of the ride she had asked me to come on a date with her and not to worry because she would pay for everything. She was probably 40 years old... Can't even begin to describe all of the random happenings on mini bus rides.

Old Biscuit Mill

Every Saturday in a neighborhood called Woodstock, there is a open market with crafts, food, flowers, furniture, and whatever else people can think to sell. I went this Saturday to find out what all the hype was about. It was a bit pricey and kind of a hipster's paradise but all the food was amazing, there were free samples all over the place, and it supplied some of the best people watching so far.

There was a huge tented area with stands selling thin crust pizza, chicken/beef sandwiches, salads, waffles/french toast and any form of cooked egg imaginable. There was also a section with vegatables, tons of different olives, bread/spread, smoothies, chocolate, sausage/dried meet, wine, brandy, etc. And of course they have ice cold beer at 10:00 am.

If you weren't completely full after buying one of the many breakfasts, you could go Cosco style and eat samples all day. Definitely going back in the Saturdays to come.

Lion's Head at Full Moon

Every full moon tons of people make the hour long hike up to Lion's Head, a solitary peak overlooking Town. It was raining yesterday up until about 5:30 pm when we decided to pull the trigger. The forecast said clear skies by 9:00 pm, kind of hard to trust when it also said 10% chance of rain and it was pouring, but we decided to go for it. We taxied over to the base and were half way up by the time the sun set. By about 6:30 we switched the headlamps on and made it to the top by around 7:00.

Once at the top we were a bit surprised at how few people were there due to the rain. We had heard sometimes there were hundreds of people and will probably be expecting that once late spring/early summer rolls around. At the top we ate our parmesan veggie pasta and enjoyed some cheap South African wine. My roommate, Michael brought some portable speakers as well which was sweet. Overall great night as we didn't end up getting rained on and met some cool people at the top.

Shark Cage Diving

Today I went shark cage diving. Woke up at 4:30 am to get picked up by a bus and driven to Gansbaai, a bay SE of Cape Town. The company we booked with was called White Shark Projects and for around $180 including transport they did an excellent job. They provided a complete breakfast and by 7:30 we were on the boat heading to a bay where white sharks are most frequently seen. After 4 or 5 spashes of chum hit the water, there were 4 sharks circling our boat as we were the first and only boat out at the time.

I volunteered our group to go first so we threw on some wet suits with hoods and booties for the 11 C water. A group of 5 people at a time climb into a cage that is attached to the side of the boat and is 2/3 submerged in water. You hold onto bars on the inside of the cage (so as not to lose fingers) and when the shark spotter/tuna head thrower yells "down, down" you pull yourself under water and hook your toes under another bar attached to the bottom of the cage. You are equipped with a mask and when the shark gets close you hold your breath to view underwater.

The cage was 3 meters long, and this big boy was estimated to be around 4 meters. At one point while my group was in the cage it grabbed the tuna head attached to the chum line, tried to dodge the cage to the right and slammed into it with its body. Then to break the tuna free from the line it thrashed up against the cage. I'd say that was the moment where I decided the $180 was well worth it.

We ended up getting in the cage twice during our 3 hours on the water. As other shark cage diving boats entered the area we pulled anchor and headed out.

Clearly everyone had a great time and even went home with all limbs in tact.