Coming back for part three of our trip to Cape Town. We decided to go snorkeling with cape fur seals on our second to last day. This is the only species of seal that is native to mainland South Africa, and thus was, in our book, a must see. They are also the largest type of fur seals. We went out with a group called Cape Town Bucket List, and were given full on gear - the water was 11C (50F), so basically felt freezing - and rented a GoPro.
Here we are on our way to the rocky point, where something like 800 seals live.
Once we go to the point, we donned masks, snorkels, and flippers, and in we went. The cold was a shock. The only exposed body part was the face, as we had gloves and booties, but when my face hit the water it was like I had put it into a bucket of ice. The shock was quickly forgotten, though, as almost immediately friendly young seals came torpedoing over.
The GoPro we rented kept fogging up - perhaps due to the cold, I’m not sure - so our photos are quite blurry. The videos are better, but I haven't yet made a Youtube video out of them (that’s the only way to share videos here).
The seals can end up looking almost sinister as they swim right up to you, only to turn away at the last minute just before making contact. They do make eye contact, which was unexpected, and play with you just as dogs would - they definitely recognize us as new and interesting beings to interact with, rather than, as dolphins do for example, just something different in the water.
Coming in hot.
After about 45 minutes of swimming, twirling, and playing with the seals, it was time to head back. We were given hot chocolate to try to warm ourselves on the boat, but when we had gotten back to Airbnb, showered, and prepared to go for dinner, we decided we needed something a little stronger and stopped by a retro looking gin bar.
While gin is usually not my thing, these were actually quite delicious and refreshing. A perfect end to a great day.