Running with Dolphins – Holidays in South Africa – 9th May 2014

I love a good beach. If you’re my friend or follow me on facebook/twitter/instagram/tumblr/pinterest you’ll probably have already grasped this fact…

I love swimming in the sea (I can chose between 2 oceans when in Cape Town which never fails to amaze me), I love playing bat and ball, I love watching the surfers and I could spend all day sunbathing. If being a beach visitor was a sport I would be a professional. On 9th May we stumbled upon a pretty little beach at Plettenberg Bay. We didn’t plan to stay long as we were travelling from Knysna to Addo Elephant Park and just wanted to stretch our legs and take a few photos before heading off again.

As well as being a total beach bum I’m also very good at being the last at things; the last to exit the car, the last to finish a meal, last to decide what to have from the menu. This day I was the last to turn away from watching the ocean and in the distance I could see fin like shapes bobbing up and down in the water, not too far away. One side of my brain was about to explode with excitement – loads of wild dolphins just a few metres away! The other side of my brain was doubtful – surely they would’t be this close, just jumping about like dolphins in movies?! My mouth just went ‘kerjfgnjdhgsgjn DOLPHINS, GUYS COME SEE!! aakjdnbsjvbfjhsv’.

admittedly my photos aren’t great but I was way too caught up in the moment to care too much

Trisha, Bill, Callum and I just stood and watched as about 30 wild dolphins swam, surfed the waves and jumped about in front of us. And we were the only ones on the beach! Amazing. As they moved along the water Callum and I couldn’t resist running along the beach next to them. We were running on a gorgeous, empty beach so close to a pod of 30 dolphins in Africa. Can things get any cooler?! I felt like I was in a cheesy film about love and freedom… It was great. 

 

We also saw a double rainbow that day. What is up with the universe?!

 

Mary x

Holiday in South Africa! 8th-9th May 2014

Living in South Africa means a holiday doesn’t even involve having to cross borders, there are some pretty cool places to go in the country. Callum, Trisha, Bill and I embarked on a 6 day long holiday last week following the famous Garden Route to Addo Elephant Park with a few stops on the way and I think they’ll agree that it was a pretty amazing trip.

The journey began early on 8th May, following a night out and maybe 2 or 3 hours sleep Callum had to pack all his clothes in a few minutes (because he is yet to learn the beautiful art of organisation) and jump in the Suzuki Swift, our mode of transport for the next 6 days. Our first stop was at Paradise House in Knysna, our rooms were stunning we even had little balconies looking out onto hills, the town and the sea. Knysna is beautiful and the scenery is great but the weather was not on our side and that night we watched a huge thunderstorm outside our window. I gave up on trying to get a decent photo and just watched the lightning strike from the comfort of the warm room; it’s kinda exciting to watch and looks so much prettier than lightning in England.

Thunderstorms in Knysna – South Africa

A brighter view the next morning

 

The next morning we woke up to a sunnier view and we were all in high spirits, excited to get onto our next stop until Trisha realised she didn’t have her purse 😦 losing valuable items is rubbish wherever you are but the prospect of not having your purse when you’re away and will be away for the next 7 months must’ve been reallly crap rubbish. I told myself (and Callum) that we’d find it by 10:27 that morning… We retraced our steps back to the B&B, nowhere to be seen. We rooted through the car, nowhere to be seen. We emptied bags, nowhere to be seen. Our last resort was to ask at the pub that we ate in the night before but when the owner told us he definitely hadn’t seen it we all started to panic. We turned to the car with almost no hope left when at 10:26 the guy came out with it in his hand. He’d decided to double check where we’d been sitting the night before and found it right in the corner. A group hug and a few tears followed before we jumped back in the car to carry on our journey. Maybe it was just a coincidence that we found it by 10:27 or maybe I have actual psychic powers….. 

It was an interesting start to our holiday, we left Knysna ready to see some wildlife and have less drama.

Mary x