Dialup what?

Well, evidently we're quite spoiled in the U.S.A, as most of South Africa does not have intenet access more speedy than dial-up. So, I apologize for a lack of posts and especially pictures. I promise to post as many as possible when I return this weekend.

We've spent the last 5 days in CapeTown and it's been wonderful. Last Saturday we took a gondola to the top of Table Mountain and then walked to its highest point, McClearn Beacon, about a mile from the top of the gondola. The views were amazing and several locals said the weather was one of the best days that they could remember. That evening, we met the Howes (mentioned earlier) for dinner down by the waterfront. The food was marvelous, as was the company.

On Sunday, we met the Howes for a 'light'lunch that turned into a 3 hour extravaganza. We ate at a place called Kalk Bay on the Indian Ocean side of CapeTown. After that, we headed down to the boulders in Simonstown to see the Jackass Penguins (yes, they're really called that, I'll provide a link later). We then headed over the mountains onto the Atlantic side of CapeTown and watched the sunset at a great little place called Le Med.

Monday, woah! We went cage diving with great whites! We had a chartered boat along with about 20 other folks. Unfortunately, our pickup time at our B&B was 5a.m., but that was a small price to pay. Not sure of the actual water temperature, but we had 7mm wetsuits on for those of you that dive. There were 7 individual sharks that approached the boat and Britney got some amazing pictures. That brings the amazing animal count for this trip higher than I can count anymore. It's even more impressive than on TV, to be that close to a great white is extremely exhilarating.

Today we ventured to the Stellenbosch region of CapeTown, world reknowned for its wines. We explored some historical homes in the downtown area and then went to the Spier winery for lunch. The food was incredible as was the wine. Spier also has a Cheetah conservation/rescue program. For a small fee, you can actually pet a cheetah, so of course we did that (well, everyone but me, someone had to take pictures). Unfortunately, we missed the last wine tasting while playing with cheetahs, but we were able to have some with lunch so we know what to look for when we go to the bottle shop (aka liquor store) here locally.

The next few days aren't fully planned, there is still so much to see and do in CapeTown. We know we won't fit everything in and we've been pushing pretty hard lately, so we're just aiming to enjoy our last few days in Africa. We have tons and tons of pictures and stories to tell (27GB of pictures at last count) and can't wait to see everyone!