Adventurous vacation moments – diving with sharks – Credit
Diving with sharks in South Africa
Sharks are some of the most feared and most mysterious creatures in the world. So, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get up close to the magnificent Great Whites which swim the waters off the Cape Town coast. It was terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure. Lowered into a cage from a boat in the Atlantic, the bars looked wider than I’d expected and we were warned not to hold onto the cage with our hands and not to let our feet dip out of the bars at the bottom. Chum is then churned into the water to attract the sharks and you wait, holding your breath, until they appear. Occasionally, they catch your eye and head straight for you, headbutting the cage. It’s not an experience I want to repeat, but I’m glad I did it.
Challabourough Bay – Credit
Surfing in Challaborough Bay
While neighboring Cornwall may be better known for its surf spots, I learned to surf on a bit of a whim when we took the children to Challaborough Bay in Devon, which is a bit of a surfing hot spot. We opted for a two-hour beginner’s lesson, which teaches you how to stand up and how to develop your own surfing style. My style very much involved spending more time in the water rather than on it, though once I did manage to stand up for a few seconds. Our children loved the experience and appear to be naturals, and even with my lack of aptitude for surfing it was soon obvious why so many people become addicted to catching the perfect wave.
Mama Africa – Credit
Eating ostrich and crocodile on Long Street
The contestants on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here may have eaten everything from camel toe to witchetty grubs but my meal in Cape Town’s Long Street was about as adventurous as I get. Mama Africa is an institution in the city where you can get a grill which includes crocodile, ostrich, springbok and kudu. I’d eaten crocodile before in Thailand and Ostrich in burgers from a stall in London’s Borough market. But the other two meats were new to me. Springbok tasted like leaner Venison while the kudu was tender with a gamier flavor.
Wrestle with gators at gatorland – Credit
Wrestling gators in Florida
Arriving in Orlando, we opted out of the whole Disney experience, deciding instead to head west and drive down the Gulf Coast. We did, however, make time for one stop just between Orlando and Kissimee. We saw rare white alligators at Gatorland before getting up close to their more common green cousins. We were able to feed them what seemed to be larger, smellier hotdogs – although the flock of turkey vultures tried to steal them – before we were able to straddle on of the gators as if we were wrestling him for a photo op.
Beautiful Egypt – Credit
The night bus to Cairo
After a few days floating around in the bath-water warm waters of the Red Sea in Sharm el Sheikh, where just a few yards from shore, I spotted lionfish, parrot fish and even a sting ray, we decided we couldn’t come to Egypt without seeing the pyramids. So, rather than taking a flight, we opted for a night bus to Cairo, bumping through the desert where we spotted wild camels running along beside us before seeing some of the incredible artefacts in the Egyptian museum, standing before the great Sphinx and visiting the pyramids themselves which sit just on the edge of the city.
Hi I’m Katie! Ted has very kindly allowed me to write this post for him and share some of my unforgettable travel experiences with you. I can’t wait to continue my travels to make even more incredible memories.
TT
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