Hello everyone, unfortunately I don’t think this is going to be the most exciting post for all of you. Mauritius is the Hawaii or Mexico of Europe and S. Africa. I spent my entire time sitting on the beach and sipping rum. I digress, not the entire time, but the vast majority of the time.
The group I was with rented a Villa for the two nights I was there in Grand Baie, which is the tourist center of the island. Harold, our land lord, met us at the local grocery store and drove us to the villa. The villa was very nice and perfectly adequate to our needs. It was about five minutes away from the beach where I spent the majority of the day.
The second day I had an opportunity to cook. It was semi-successful. I made chicken and beef roulade stuffed with sausage, polenta, and seafood risotto. Unfortunately, all the drunkies I was with ate all the food before I had a chance to try it. C’est la vie. Later that night I watched a live Jazz performance which was a great deal of fun. It was at a club within walking distance from the Villa.
The next day I went hiking and cliff diving. A group of us hired a driver for the day who took us to a waterfall overlook. We thought perhaps the place we could jump off of was down a path. After hiking for around an hour or so we decided to turn around. Our driver was very happy to see us as we came out of the trail. Apparently monkeys regularly attack and kill people when the walk the trail. Who knew… We were all fine though!
After that adventure, he took us to the actual cliff diving place. Another brief hike, and we came to the waterfall we would jump off of. It was a 12 meter jump or ~40 feet. Lots of fun. Then it was back to Port Louis to get back on the boat.
PS I'm working on pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to post some soon!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
South Africa
Hey Everyone,
For those of you that don't know. This was my second trip to Cape Town and South Africa. It was amazing! I hope you enjoy my other posts, but for the most part I took it easy here and relaxed a little bit more. I arrive in Mauritius tomrrow, and couldn't be more excited. Hope everyone is well!
For those of you that don't know. This was my second trip to Cape Town and South Africa. It was amazing! I hope you enjoy my other posts, but for the most part I took it easy here and relaxed a little bit more. I arrive in Mauritius tomrrow, and couldn't be more excited. Hope everyone is well!
Hiking
Over the course of my time in Cape Town I had the opportunity to hike two mountains, Lions head and Table. I hiked Lions Head first, which was a great hike, short, sweet, but plenty difficult. Being unprepared as I usually am, I ended up hiking barefoot. It was grand fun! Near the top you are forced to scale virtually sheer rock walls with the assistance of chain’s hanging off the mountain. At the top I enjoyed a few glasses of wine before heading back down.
I also climbed Table mountain which overlooks all of Cape Town (both of them did, but Table mountain is far more impressive). It was actually a lot more difficult hike than I was expecting. Since we started at roughly sea level we covered ~1km of vertical over the course of the 3km hike. Alas, the entire vertical was bunched into brief little spurts. It was virtually flat or straight up. None the less it was a great time! Alas, our view was ruined when we got to the top. The table cloth // giant layer of fog covered the top of the mountain when we got to the top. We, alas, could see nothing of the city below.
I also climbed Table mountain which overlooks all of Cape Town (both of them did, but Table mountain is far more impressive). It was actually a lot more difficult hike than I was expecting. Since we started at roughly sea level we covered ~1km of vertical over the course of the 3km hike. Alas, the entire vertical was bunched into brief little spurts. It was virtually flat or straight up. None the less it was a great time! Alas, our view was ruined when we got to the top. The table cloth // giant layer of fog covered the top of the mountain when we got to the top. We, alas, could see nothing of the city below.
The Winelands
My original intention when visiting the Winelands was to rent bikes and bike to the various different wineries I intended to visit. Alas, this was not to be the case. The clouds that had been threatening my trip all day finally made good as soon as the group I was with had rented our bikes. It began pouring rain as we left for our first winery. Fortunately, we were able to return the bikes and rent a car for the rest of the day. Alas, the time we spent renting bikes riding out, and returning restricted the number of wineries we could visit to two.
None the less we stopped first at Rustenberg winery. It was excellent, hats off to Uncle Kenny. We tried 6 wines, which I won’t pretend to remember. 3 whites and 3 reds. If memory serves the first was a chardonnay. We also tried a Shiraz and a Cab. Finally, I also tried the John X Miriam, which I ended up buying a case of. Absolutely, delicious! Our sommelier also showed us how to properly sniff and try a wine, a lovely experience.
Afterwards, we journey to Speir. We were running extremely short on time and our driver suggested they would be open later. Alas, this was not the case, but they did have a bar open and we tried sampled some wine there. All in all a great day!
None the less we stopped first at Rustenberg winery. It was excellent, hats off to Uncle Kenny. We tried 6 wines, which I won’t pretend to remember. 3 whites and 3 reds. If memory serves the first was a chardonnay. We also tried a Shiraz and a Cab. Finally, I also tried the John X Miriam, which I ended up buying a case of. Absolutely, delicious! Our sommelier also showed us how to properly sniff and try a wine, a lovely experience.
Afterwards, we journey to Speir. We were running extremely short on time and our driver suggested they would be open later. Alas, this was not the case, but they did have a bar open and we tried sampled some wine there. All in all a great day!
Shark Diving
I awoke at ~4:30 in the morning to catch a 4:45 bus to Gaiinsbai (I’m sorry the spelling is probably completely off) to go Shark Diving. For those of you amazed that I woke so early, it did, believe it or not happen. I slept most of the bus ride, but did catch glimpses of a documentary about crazy people who shark dive without cages.
Anyway, I was fed breakfast upon arrival in Gaiinsbai and then driven to the boat we would take to go shark diving. The boat was smallish, but sufficient for our purpose with the cage hanging off the back. When we arrived at the shark diving area, ~1 hour away, the dive instructor gave us instructions and safety tips before we dived. As a precaution he told us that it was the wrong time of season to see sharks, and there would be a decent chance we would see very few if any. At this point I was having serious buyer’s remorse for the trip.
After we suited up and hopped into the cage, I couldn’t have been happier we did it. We saw several sharks up close. Giant sharks, of course I want to tell you they were 4.5 – 6 meters long, but that would be exaggeration at its finest. In reality the largest shark we saw was ~3 meters in length, none the less, plenty large. An excellent experience that I would highly recommend for anyone visiting S. Africa.
Anyway, I was fed breakfast upon arrival in Gaiinsbai and then driven to the boat we would take to go shark diving. The boat was smallish, but sufficient for our purpose with the cage hanging off the back. When we arrived at the shark diving area, ~1 hour away, the dive instructor gave us instructions and safety tips before we dived. As a precaution he told us that it was the wrong time of season to see sharks, and there would be a decent chance we would see very few if any. At this point I was having serious buyer’s remorse for the trip.
After we suited up and hopped into the cage, I couldn’t have been happier we did it. We saw several sharks up close. Giant sharks, of course I want to tell you they were 4.5 – 6 meters long, but that would be exaggeration at its finest. In reality the largest shark we saw was ~3 meters in length, none the less, plenty large. An excellent experience that I would highly recommend for anyone visiting S. Africa.
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