Caves, Cliffs, and Craziness

This place is so beautiful! 

Taken from inside one of the caves we found

Cliffs of De Kelders 

            The past two days have been no sea days for us here in Gansbaai, but that certainly hasn’t stopped us from enjoying them. On Wednesday evening we went out into town to have some fun since we knew we wouldn’t have to get up early the next day. On Thursday, Tom had planned for the volunteers to go and get a tour of the De Kelders drip cave, which is the only freshwater coastal cave in South Africa. We all wore our swimsuits since there was a spring inside the cave that we could go swimming in at the end of the tour. We were dropped off in De Kelders right by the cave at about eleven, and met up with the tour guide. He said that his family owned the property that the cave was on, and he’d been offering tours of it for many years. At the mouth of the cave we were all given flashlights, and followed the guide along the path. Right as we entered the cave there was an area that was pretty small, which we all had to crouch down to go through, but once we got past that, it opened up a lot more. Anywhere in the cave we could hear the sound of water flowing out of the spring, mixed with the little squeaks of the bats that lived there. We spent the first 45 minutes or so being led through the cave, learning about its history from the tour guide. Lizzy and Beth had originally been a bit nervous about going into the cave. Last year, on their adventure through Southeast Asia, they went into a cave in Laos, got a bit lost inside, and came across some spiders as big as their hands. Lizzy’s imagination even started getting the better of her, and she swore she could hear the cave collapsing around them. After that they said they wouldn’t venture into caves again, but decided to make an exception here in South Africa.

            After we’d seen most of the cave, we returned to the spring, and the guide said at the end he usually gave people about half an hour to swim around. The water was warmer than the ocean, but not by much- it was probably about 65 degrees. At first only a couple of us got in, but after a little coaxing all seven volunteers were swimming around. It wasn’t very deep water- at the deepest parts it came up to about chest level, but it was super refreshing. We were told that the water is perfectly safe to drink; it was 100 percent clean mineral water, some of the cleanest water you could get. We all took advantage of the offer to drink the water- it was really interesting to be able to drink the water that was just flowing there in the cave. Like I mentioned before, we were in the only freshwater coastal cave in South Africa, so even though we could hear the waves of the ocean from the mouth of the cave, the water inside was completely fresh.

            After a fun, refreshing half hour swimming around in the cave, we got out and returned to the light of day. We soon after got picked up again, went to the grocery store to stock up (Monday and Thursday are usually the volunteer shopping days), and returned home. In the evening Jerome dropped by our house to sit and chat with us for a while, which is always nice. Lizzy was actually in the shower when he came by, and she was so sad to learn that she had missed him. She said that, since she’s only here for two weeks, every second with Jerome counts (yes, we love that guy THAT much).

            We’d told the other volunteers that there’d probably be a few rounds of flunkeyball at our house that night, since we didn’t have to get up early, and after dinner Dax (a volunteer from the Netherlands) and Tom showed up at our place. We played a few games, had fun, and stayed outside talking until nearly two in the morning, when we called it a night and went to bed.

            This morning we got up at about eight to go back to De Kelders, not far from the drip cave where we were yesterday, to explore more of the caves and beautiful beaches in the area. With Tom leading the way, we spent about three hours climbing along the rocky sides of the cliffs, taking plenty of pictures of the gorgeous day, and finding our way down to the beach to swim around and enjoy the beauty of where we were. Getting into the water I realized that in the past week, I’ve been swimming in the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and the only freshwater coastal cave in this country. Don’t think there are too many people that can say that. That beach was actually the location of the last shark attack in the area (keep in mind, it happened in the 1970’s), when a surfer was bitten in the arm.

            The volunteers are having another braai tonight, and as usual, we’ve invited the crew to join us. I know that tomorrow there’s one trip to sea, early, but I haven’t heard yet how many spots are available, so I may or may not be going. Either way, it should be another great day here in my favorite place in the world. This post’s food for thought: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson