Sardine Run

Day 1: Durban
Four of us—Robin, Ellen, Mike and me—flew to Durban on the early flight (8 am). We thought we were the unlucky ones, but it turns out we got to spend the day at the beach, swimming and laying in the sun, while everyone else arrived tired around 4 pm. That was my first time swimming in an ocean. We hung out at the backpackers that night, watching rugby and soccer.

Days 2-5: Port St. John's
11 interns and Vanessa, from VACorps, piled into a van for a 5 hour drive to Port St. John's. The drivers of said van were blasting dance/trance music despite the fact that it was 9 am. We drove up and down gorgeous rolling hills as we hugged the eastern coast of South Africa. Finally, we arrived at the next backpackers (Amapondo). That night we just explored the beach (filled with cattle for some reason) and hung out at the bar. All 12 of us slept in the same room in bunk beds, so we told jokes and ghost stories as we felt asleep, and everyone had a great time.
The next day (Monday), we split up into two groups and went out on the water. Steve and Justin, our guides from Animal Ocean, were so helpful. They explained what to do and where to look and were so relaxed about everything. I snorkeled—sort of—for the first time. I didn't really let go of the boat, so I'm not sure it counts. We did see hundreds of dolphins from above water and underwater. We also caught some fish for chum and baited some sharks. Saw mostly Duskies and some Hammerheads. The other group went on a hike in the morning while we snorkeled and snorkeled while we all took naps. We braai-ed for dinner (barbequed South African-style).
On Tuesday, the groups switched and we hiked to “the blow-hole,” a small opening in a rock face right on the ocean. Water bursts out of the hole when big enough waves come in—hence the name. The hike itself was amazing, a lot of steep up and downs. In the afternoon we went out on the water. I actually snorkeled this time, and it was so awesome! Wetsuits make it so easily to float; in fact, it is practically impossible to sink without a weight belt. We didn't see dolphins this time out, but we did see even more sharks. I almost got seasick, but managed to keep it together until we got back to land. The other group made dinner—another braai.
Wednesday, we switched groups, because some people hadn't seen dolphins yet. My group went to the Mud Caves in the morning. We rode in the back of a pickup truck out into the even more rural areas of Port St. John's. Our friend Donnie from Amapondo hopped out of the truck and followed a large Xhosa woman into the forest. We hesitantly walked after them, unsure of what was going on. We caught up to Donnie at the base of a rock wall. There was a 2 foot by 4 foot crooked opening in the wall. Some muddy puddles outside the opening were filled with trash, so the everyone except Donnie was reluctant to crawl into the hole. Eventually we sucked it up and climbed in, still unsure. The Xhosa woman covered us in mud—not like wet dirt mud, but spa mud. We then scrambled up the rock wall and hiked through the forest a bit more to a sulphur spring. Donnie made us drink sulphur water and say something nice about it afterward. Believe me, there was nothing nice about that water. The Xhosa woman then gave us leopard prints with a darker mud from a pond near the sulphur spring. We then climbed back down to the truck and rode through town (we got a lot of stares and laughs) and then jumped in the ocean to clean off. The water was too rough to go out in the afternoon so we just hung out. Donnie made us a potjke (not sure of the spelling). It is more or less a big cast iron pot stuffed with veggies. So good. We didn't see any sardines despite the fact that we were there for the Sardine Run, but we did see sharks and dolphins, so it was all worth it.

Days 6-9: Coffee Bay
On Thursday we drove to Coffee Bay, only three hours. Our driver, a 25-year-old South African, played and sang along to Celine Dion. Again, we just hung out at the backpackers once we got to Coffee Bay. Friday we walked to a Xhosa village, drank traditional beer, hung out at the beach, and then ate traditional food and listened to traditional songs in a different Xhosa village. The pap and veg was quite good. I've heard there's a restaurant in Cape Town that serves the dish. I'll have to go check it out. The next day, the weather was beautiful so we went on a 10 kilometer hike up and down mini-mountains. Our guide went barefoot and was barely breathing heavily. A British girl who was vacationing in Coffee Bay and who had just run a marathon a couple weeks before was even struggling. The hike was worth it though because of the gorgeous scenery.

Day 10: Drive back to Durban and Flight to Cape Town
We drove 8 hours to Durban and then hopped on our flights back to Cape Town on Sunday. It was a great trip but I'm ready to start my internship.

Durban, South Africa