Today started out with a drive to Simon’s Town, a beachy area on False Bay about a half hour drive from Cape Town. Our first activity was snorkeling in the underwater kelp forests, inspired by the Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher that was filmed in the area. We started out in the Cape Town Freediving company headquarters where the team gave us an overview of what we’d be doing, told us about some of the sea life we’d see, and taught us how to put on the two-piece wetsuit. Then we got fitted, got our masks and snorkels, and headed back into the bus to drive to the snorkeling site.

Once we got to the little cove where we’d be snorkeling, we grabbed our masks & snorkels, put the top half of our wetsuits on, and divided into smaller groups with three different instructors.

The water was freezing, but those were some very solid wetsuits, so after hands and ankles adjusted in a couple of minutes it felt really nice. And with those super buoyant wetsuits, it became easy to just float head down and glide along with the waves, taking it all in. We stopped a few times for the instructors to pass around some various starfish and shells they pulled up from the sea floor, but otherwise it was a free hour of exploring. The buoyant wetsuits made it challenging to dive down, but we could grab onto the strong kelp itself to pull ourselves down like a rope, which made it easier to get closer to the colorful life on the sea floor.

I’m not sure any of us actually met an octopus teacher, but the kelp forest was so surreal, and the rainbow of urchins made it such a unique place to snorkel.

After getting changed out of our wetsuits, we got back on the bus and drove a short distance to Boulders Beach, home to a colony of African penguins. We walked down a path with a bunch of tourist shops to get to a boardwalk where we could view these adorable little guys just going about their lives. So, so cute! Could’ve watched them waddle around all day.

After being dragged away from the penguins, we got back on the bus to drive down to Cape Point Nature Reserve, the southernmost part of Table Mountain National Park and the southwestern tip of the African continent.

It was a really beautiful drive down the eastern coast of the Cape Peninsula, with the land dotted with wildflowers and gorgeous views of False Bay with the mountains behind it, not to mention the most absurdly bright blue sky. We were on the lookout for whales as we drove past the Bay, as apparently it was peak season, but didn’t spot any (at least that we recognized as whales).

With Steph ok, we got back on the bus to head back to Cape Town, this time driving up the Western coast of the Cape Peninsula which continued to offer gorgeous views.