Two Oceans Aquarium!

This guy was pretty impressive! 

Lionfish- one of my favorite fish! 

My first shark to see on this trip! 

South African penguin! 

This was such a cool exhibit! 

         

       After having the Robben Island tour planned for the first day, I woke up yesterday morning with nothing set in stone for the day. I slept in a bit that morning, getting out of my bunk shortly before nine o’clock. I was sharing a room with seven other people, but thankfully, I guess I’ve gotten used to sleeping in hostels, so I got a great night’s sleep. Not to mention, my roommates either sleep in as well, or are courteous and quiet waking up. I think I’m the only American in the room, and I’ve noticed that Americans tend to be louder than people from other places (I always try to not be that stereotype while traveling). I spent a good portion of the morning in my hostel, eating breakfast and writing up the Robben Island blog post. After posting it, I lathered up with sunblock and walked back down to the waterfront to hang out by the water, find a place to get lunch, and find something to do that afternoon. I spent some time just sitting by the ocean, enjoying the view of the beautiful water, doing some people-watching, and taking in my favorite city. After doing that for a while, I headed into the indoor shopping center to find something simple to grab for lunch. I found a little café and got a sandwich and smoothie for 50 rand- less than four dollars. Gotta love that exchange rate here! Cape Town clearly draws a lot of tourists from all over the place- I’ve heard so many different accents and languages since I’ve been here. Just within my hostel, there are people from Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and more.

            I’d heard that the waterfront had an aquarium, so I decided to spend the afternoon finding and exploring that. It turned out to be a great place to spend the afternoon. I saw everything from ragged-tooth sharks to sea turtles to South African penguins! They had a tank that had a big tube you could walk through and watch huge fish swim above your head, a touch pool for the kids, and more. It was called the Two Oceans Aquarium; my guess as to why is Cape Town isn’t far from the southernmost tip of Africa, which is geographically recognized as the spot where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean (I visited that spot the last time I was in Africa). I spent several hours in the aquarium exploring, taking pictures, and loving life. When I had walked through the whole place, I walked back to Atlantic Point to upload the pictures I took and relax for just a little while. When the pictures were up, I went and sat on the outdoor terrace here at the hostel and made a few phone calls. The weather here is absolutely beautiful! The temperature has been mostly in the seventies during the day, often dropping into the sixties at night. It’s nice and sunny, with a near constant cool breeze, especially down by the ocean.

            After that I headed back down to the waterfront yet again for dinner. I opted for just heading to the food court in the waterfront’s shopping center, which was absolutely packed, and grabbing a little personal pizza. I haven’t been bringing my phone out of the hostel with me, only my camera, so whenever I take some time to just sit down at the waterfront, I mainly just do some people-watching. I see so many tourists constantly glued to their phones, and it’s kind of annoying. I want to tell them come on, you could sit and play on your phone at home. You’re in a beautiful city. Enjoy it with your own eyes. You can be on your phone later (and don’t even get me started on selfie sticks!).

            I guess that’s enough for this blog post. Tomorrow evening my friend and fellow volunteer Ryan arrives here to Atlantic Point, and the following day we both get picked up and head back to Gansbaai work with White Shark Projects! I can’t wait to see everyone again! This post’s food for thought: “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”- Anonymous