Meredith's Visit Part 3

There was one more day of fun and frivolity planned in this final chapter of Meredith’s visit.  Monday morning we packed up to head off to Plettenburg Bay where we were kayaking with some of the local marine life.  Chokey gave us only a little trouble this morning and after stopping at a gas station, we were off.   A couple hours of driving along the garden route later, we arrived.  Gretchen, Meredith and I locked up Chokey, checked in and headed to the beach.  Unfortunately, I do not know if we have any good pictures of this particular experience because we were using underwater cameras with film and they haven’t been developed yet.  Rest assured, if there are pictures worth posting I will do so at a later date.

Gretchen and I were in a kayak and Meredith went with our guide.  We paddled out into the bay and were able to find three whales…(find?  They’re 15 meters in length and 90 tons, I suppose it wasn’t that big of an accomplishment.)  The next hour and a half was spent watching the whales and paddling as to not be carried any closer to them.  The wind was strong that day so we had to constantly reposition ourselves because we were being blown out to sea.  Eventually we headed back to shore after watching the whales and as far as the actual kayaking goes, this was the best part!  Close to shore, as the waves were breaking, we were able to ride them in and it was quite a bit of fun.

The three of us changed out of our wet clothes, took a quick shower to wash of the salt water and decided to head back towards PE.

However, we decided to make one more stop along the way…

This was the tallest bridge in Africa and the tallest commercial bungee jump in the world at 216 meters; a seven second free fall.  If I was going to bungee jump ever in my life, this was the time to do it.  Meredith and I decided to bungee jump and Gretchen was going to videotape / take pictures a safe distance from the bridge.  I will be completely honest here; Meredith was quite a bit more excited to do this than I was.  She has sky dived before and was pumped for the experience.  I, on the other hand, am fairly uncomfortable with heights and don’t really even care for roller coasters.  When we arrived at the place to jump, we were informed that Meredith was to go first, then another guy and I was last.  I was standing watching Meredith get ready and thoughts of regret began to enter my mind.  I believe in the video you can see the point at which I second-guessed the jump.  (After all, who in their right mind wouldn’t?)  However, I decided to just suck it up, shut my eyes and leap without looking.  This video was not able to capture it, but I screamed so hard that for the next four days my throat was quite sore and my voice was hoarse.

 The two thrill-seekers with our harnesses on

At the harnessing area (hence the sign!)

Meredith was the first to jump

Meredith pumped me up before my jump...

Now it was my turn

The worst part of the whole experience was after I stopped bouncing.  Although it doesn’t appear I was spinning much at all, it felt as if everything was whirling around at maximum speed.  Meredith said she had the same feeling.  For those who know me and how I do with the whole spinning motion (the swings at the fair, Cedar Point YAC weekend…to name a couple).  So, not only was I getting quite motion sick, but both Meredith and I felt as if our feet were going to slip out of our shoes and through the knot around our ankles.  If you look at my video closely, my feet are as stiff as boards.  I suppose it took a good half an hour for me to stop feeling disoriented.

 Meredith and I survived!

As Meredith would say..."Go Bucks!!"

Overall, it was an incredible (and yes, unique) experience.  I will probably never bungee jump again, but I am glad I did and probably would have regretted passing up this opportunity.  If any of you are planning on following my lead or fulfilling pre-existing desires to bungee jump, I believe this information will help you enjoy your experience more.  (Meredith and I discussed that knowing these things would have helped us).  First of all, and we both knew this, it is actually quite safe.  They harness you in by the ankles with a knot that becomes tighter with pressure.  They also have a secondary hook on your chest.  Secondly, the fall (and remember this is the tallest in the world) lasted seven seconds.  After the first fall, the rest of it is pretty calm.  I would say I jumped and was brought up all with in eight minutes at the most.  The point is, all of this will last that long and you can do that…eight minutes and you’re done.  Lastly, when you are hanging at the bottom, you will most likely feel like your feet are going to slip through the ankle harness.  Everyone feels this way.  I know that won’t totally alleviate the feeling of anxiety, but knowing that going into it prepares you.  If it makes you feel better, keep your feet stiff like both Meredith and I did.  Listen to me…typing as if I am some sort of expert!

Anyway, our thrills sought out and experienced, it was time to drive back to the flat.  The car ride home was filled with discussions about the jump and the disbelief we all had that I actually went through with it.  To be honest, I’m still a bit shocked I did.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  The whole time they are booming music like you hear on the video (all kinds of techno).  It actually serves to calm people…or maybe it just prevents them from thinking!

That night we had a celebratory chocolate cake with our dinner.  It was amazing.  We were only able to eat a third of it, so some of it may ended up our breakfast / snacks for the next day!  We watched our videos and perused our pictures, hung out for a little bit, then headed to bed…once again exhausted.

Tuesday, I had to go to school and invigilate some more, but like the previous week, I was back before 12:30.  It was Meredith’s last full day with us, so she needed to pack up and get ready to head home the next day.  We burnt CDs for our pictures so that everyone would have copies of all the pictures and hung out for the afternoon.  That evening we decided to go to the Blue Water Café across the street from the Boardwalk.  It was a nice dinner (I had nachos…so good) and we came to the realization that restaurants are much less attentive when it comes to refilling water.  In the United States, I might consider it bad service if five minutes went by and my water glass remained empty.  Normally, I like to have three or four full glasses of whatever liquid I am drinking at dinner, but I was only able to get two.  After dinner we went and got some gelato to end our great adventure with Meredith.

The next morning I woke up, got ready for school and said goodbye to Meredith.  The week was absolutely wonderful and Gretchen and I have Meredith to thank for enhancing the experience.

Gretchen and I are preparing for our trip to Cape Town (where I will be posting these blogs…our internet is running out) because Pearson High School is on break for the next week.  I came to the realization that when we get back, I will be more than one-third of the way through this experience…simply unbelievable.