Table Mountain

Early Saturday morning we headed into Cape Town for our hike up Table Mountain. We hiked to the top via the Plateklipp Gorg route, and I think it would be more accurately described as a climb rather than a hike. There were steep rock steps the entire way up, a far cry from the leisurely walk to the top that had been advertised. It was comparable to spending 2 hours on a stair-stepper at the gym. Although fairly challenging, it was a beautiful hike with endless views of the city and we really lucked out on the weather. This hike hurt a couple individuals feelings (I won’t mention any names) and water stops and rests became quite frequent, but we all made it to the top in one piece. Once we got to the top, we headed over to the edge of the mountain to begin the next adventure, repelling off the side of the mountain.

It wasn’t so much being 3,000 feet above sea level that worried me, that part was fine. It was mostly the wind gusts strong enough to send a grown man flying off the mountain. They suspended the cable car service because of the wind, and our guides informed us that we would be the last people to repel for the day because the winds had become too strong. Nothing gives you a safer feeling than when your guide starts to grow weary. But we had come so far that we were going to repel off the darn thing if it was the last thing we did! Amy and Laura went down together first and after disappearing over the edge left me to risk my life with a foreign man who didn’t speak any English. Great.

 I was only ten feet into my descent when a strong wind gust came and swept me away from the mountain.  I am no expert on the act of repelling, but I do know that when our guide showed us how to do it, he ensured us that our feet would be touching the mountain and we would simply walk backwards. I can guarantee you this is not what I was doing. The wind was so strong that it pulled my feet from the mountain until I was literally swinging back and forth like a rag doll. I could no longer see the guides and the foreign guy repelling beside me had already left me in the dust, so I figured I better keep going. I continued my descent, all the while being knocked around by the relentless wind gusts and occasionally bouncing off the side of the mountain. No, I wouldn’t say that I rappelled gracefully or with any style. I made it to the bottom and compared notes with Amy and Laura to see if there was something I had missed as I was fairly certain what I had just done wouldn’t be classified as repelling. No, I think falling would be a more truthful description. They ensured me that they had just as much trouble and for some reason this appeased me a little. We made our way down the mountain via the cable car and ended our day with a mini pub crawl on Long Street in downtown Cape Town, laughing as we reminisced about how stupid we must have looked swinging from the mountain like idiots. What tourists! Even with a couple setbacks, we all had a blast and it is our favorite activity we've done so far.

Our plan today was to head to Robben Island, but we made it to the Waterfront just in time to see the ferry departing without us. So, we stumbled upon the Two Oceans Aquarium and decided to give that a whirl. We got there just as the shark feeding time was beginning. Strangely, this got us all very excited about our adventure for next weekend – shark cage diving!

Beginning our hike up the mountain

The view as we hiked

Laura and I getting closer to the top

Amy and Laura on the hike up

Made it to the top!

The view from the top of the mountain where we repelled

Amy and I waiting our turn to repel

Here I go!

Down the mountain I go, so graceful

In the cable car on the way down the mountain

Celebrating our hike with a beer on Long Street

At Two Oceans Aquarium on the Waterfront

One of the fellows we will be diving with next weekend

Laura and I at dinner