On Friday we got to sleep in (felt so good) and then piled into the car around 9:30 to go on a trip to Cape Aghulhas, the Southern-most point of Africa. It takes a little over an hour to drive there, and the majority of the hour was uneventful up until we blew a tire on the highway. I was on the side as the tire and actually saw the puff of air as it blew. So then we tried to change the tire (the boys tried but then Emma took over and got it done) but as it turns out the spare tire was worse than the blown tire. It was crazy flat and dry rotted. So then we hung out on the side of the highway and waited for the garage guys to pump the tire. We amused ourselves by photographing the wildlife, a caterpillar and grasshopper and some far off sheep. The tire guys arrived and then we followed them back to their garage to buy a real tire. And then they put a tire on and we started to drive away when we got some phone calls. So then we went back to the garage and they took the tire off, and we talked on the phone some more and then the tire might have gone back on….I’m not sure, there were so many decisions going on… We amused ourselves by being silly.
We finally got back on the road and reached the tip of Africa. We got out near a lighthouse and walked all the way to the point. They have a marker where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet and we took a whole bunch of picture on and around it. We also explored all the little tide pools in the area. On the rocks by the marker people had stacked piles of rounded rocks. I looooved them so I made a few.
By this time we were starving so we hopped back in the van and headed to a fish and chips place by the harbor where the giant sting rays hang out. The food was fabulous. I had a calamari burger sandwich. This was the best calamari I have ever eaten; It was amazing. After lunch we waded into the harbor and threw out our bag of bait (some fish and anchovy oil) We didn’t have to wait long. The sting rays appeared almost instantly. Andy was really excited because the water was the clearest he’d ever seen.
These sting rays were huuuuge; at least six feet across. They would come right up to you and even at times bump into your legs with a surprising amount of force. At one point one bumped into me and I went to step back only to realize that another one was directly behind me. I then had to literally jump over the entire sting ray in order to keep from stepping on it. These rays are calm and not really dangerous but they do have poisonous barbs and can hurt you if they feel threatened. We were out in the harbor for at least an hour luring the rays over and petting and even feeding them.
Andy had us all get back in the van before it got dark for the drive home. We stopped by the grocery store to grab a few things. (Side note: Magnum is a huge ice cream brand over here; which makes me laugh because it’s a condom brand in the US.)
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