Location: V&A Marina, Cape Point, Kelp
Today was my favorite day so far. I started the day by waking everyone up for breakfast, which was my job as skipper. After breakfast, we cleaned up, packed our bags for the day, and got on a bus. It was a beautiful day. Today was our first day diving and getting in the water, which was exciting, but before that, we got to go on an incredible tour of Cape Town. Our first stop was an unreal viewpoint of the beach. There were huge, rounded rocks surrounding clear blue water, bright white sand, and mountains behind the town. Darien was ready with her little blue camera capturing everything. After spending a bit of time there, we all got back on the bus and were off the next.
We drove up along the side of the cliff to where we got out and could see across an entire bay. Then we went to do something I had never done before and was definitely on my bucket list. WE SAW PENGUINS! It was so cool. We walked down a ramp to get to the beach and were met with so many penguins. They were everywhere. Some were swimming, some were digging in the sand, some were just chillin at the edge of the water. This was a highlight of the day. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to them and carry on with the rest of the day, which was also pretty cool. As we were driving through a park, we saw baboons. There was a baboon and its baby just sitting on top of the speed limit sign right next to the bus. On our drive, we sang songs and looked outside the windows, eager to see more. The next stop was a trail leading up into the clouds to a lighthouse. Hiking up the trail, we had a view of the ocean from either side. After getting to the top, we look down at the water and spot a fin whale swimming along the surface. After taking in this incredible experience, we started our hike back down. Finally we were off to the kelp forest for some diving.
The water was stunning, and despite what I thought, it was not that cold. We had a swim test and then put on our fins and masks to start exploring this gorgeous dive spot. The kelp forest was rich with life and had so many shells to dive for. Zach saw a pajama shark, which I am so jealous of. We collected seaweed samples with Ben. After diving, we headed back to the boat for dinner and an introduction to Oceanography class. Lastly, we ended the day with sail prep, where we got the boat ready to sail for tomorrow morning. It was an awesome and full day.