Took off on the Baz Bus from Cape Town headed east down the Garden Route. Everyone had talked all about the coastal region so I had to see it for myself. Got into Jeffrey's Bay, one of South Africa's premeir surf destinations and checked into Island Vibe. Island Vibe is a party 24/7 with two groups of people, surfers who surf all day/party at night and others who party all day/sleep at night...interesting dynamic. Anyways, tried some of the surfing, but the waves were really never that good since it was pretty windy for the 3 days I was there. J-bay is home to factory shops to all the big surf names so I spent some time walking around the city and just enjoying the beautiful beach friendly weather in January. In J-bay hung out with some real cool local South Africans and an Italian who always seemed to be asking what time it was...ha!
After a few days there, I took off to Wilderness, another coastal city with a laid-back vibe. On the way, the bus made a stop at Storm's River for the bungee jump. I had been planning on doing it, but once I saw it...I couldn't stomach the idea. 210 meters is a long wayy down and just seeing the bridge and free fall...yeah, I got scared. The hostel, the Beachhouse was sick...the dorms had huge terrace overlooking the beach and at night you could just leave the doors open to hear the waves crashing. With some girls from the Netherlands we hired a canoe for a day and checked out some waterfalls in the area...thats where the new FB profile pic is from. Ate some springbok here which was much better than the ostrich I had in J-burg...only meat left is crocodile since you can't eat most of the big 5 :(
Leaving Wilderness I headed to Hermanus to meet up with Sahil and Mike for the great white cage dive. At the hostel in Hermanus met a group of guys who all met while backpacking in SE Asia and were doing a reunion over New Year's in South Africa...they gave me some good advice and a list of things to do when I get to Asia so it was really cool. Arrived at the shark dive place and we got on the boat....seas were rough and as we got out to sea and were getting briefed on the instructions a shark showed up and circled the boat. We tried to bait him, but he went away too fast...4 hours later and lots of bouncing around the company called off the shark dive. Pretty disappointed since nobody got in the cage, but at least I saw a shark from a few feet away. Got a voucher for a free future trip so thats a good reason to get back to South Africa...in the high shark viewing season this time though. Got a ride back to Cape Town with Sahil to hang out for a few days before heading off to Hong Kong.
Highlights: The Garden Route gave me a real appreciation for South Africa. By far one of the best countries I've ever visited and I will be getting back there in the future...any takers for the World Cup in 2010?!? Let me know.
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