Blog Day 23 Sun 29th May 2011
This morning we are up early to watch the big game of the weekend, The Crusaders vs. The Reds. The game kicks off at 7.45 but after all the torrential rain during the night we get up to find that there is no electricity or running water. So we go down & Matt informs us that the power is out & it will probably be off until at least early evening. Not a good start to the day. We get talking to Matt and manage to blag a free Ocean Safari trip, by telling him about Dan’s dad’s tour company. We say that we are down here checking out accommodation and activities along the Garden Route that future touring parties may be able to use. Matt realizes that this could be a good thing for him and one phone call and a short drive later we are down at the harbor (we will defiantly be using this line again!). We get there & it’s a mad rush as the boat is ready & waiting, once onboard we take to the sea & head out to go & see the dolphins. We follow a group of them up and down the coast as they play in the surf. We get to go up onto a small viewing platform on the boat. From here we get an uninterrupted view of the dolphins jumping out of the waves. Stunning stuff! Once we’ve taken loads of pictures of the dolphins we head off to the Robberg Peninsula where we are to see literally thousands of seals all playing around in the sea & sunbathing on the rocks. The guide informs us that the seals can project themselves out of the water at quite a speed, and have been known to jump into the boat. Fortunately this doesn’t happen to us, and after getting some more good pics we head away to see if there are any whales around. There aren’t. We head back towards the bay and the guide tells us that they have a fun way of getting us back on dry land. He tells us to hold of tight and brace ourselves, as the captain floors it straight towards the beach. The front of the boat is pointing up in the air, and no-one can see where we are going, which is a little worrying. We hit the sand and the boat comes to a sudden stop half way up the beach. This is extreme whale watching (without the whales). After exchanging business details we head back to the hostel for a bit, where we end up having a power nap as there is still no electricity or water. Around 3ish we head into town to see if we can watch the England vs. Barbarians rugby game as some of the restaurants have power back, we go to the Surf café & get about 10mins into the game before the power cuts out. We spend the next 50mins driving around trying to find a place that we can watch the game as we are wearing our England jerseys & were really looking forward to it, but it is not too be & we end up back at the hostel just as power comes back on, luckily we get to see the last 20mins of the game, which England end up throwing away.
About an hour or so later Lendal (barman from Knysna) and a few other guys pull up. This sparks off a few bevvies, a couple of games of pool and of course a few people picking cards!