Journal #7 from Cape Town
The Olivet College women's volleyball team is on a 10-day trip to Cape Town, South Africa. While there, the players will be writing blog posts and sending them back to the U.S.A. to be posted on the website. The home page for the blog, where future posts will be linked to is: www.olivetcomets.com/sports/wvball/2019-20/cape_town_blog/
SUNDAY, DEC. 15 --
We ate another big breakfast at the hotel before leaving for Boulder Beach. It was an hour-drive and quite scenic, as we drove in the mountains overlooking the ocean. Upon arriving at Boulder Beach, we walked to the further of the two parks. This park consisted of huge granite boulders laying in or near the ocean. There were also penguins everywhere you looked. We climbed through, over and around boulders as we walked down the beach. The penguins were everywhere we went and many would let you get right up next to them. The girls enjoyed the walk as well as the opportunity to take pictures with the cute creatures. It is estimated there are between 2,000-3,000 African penguins living at Boulder Beach. We then headed for the second park area where we were able to walk on a boardwalk where many of the penguins were underneath us. We also were able to see them in the homes they had made in the sand.
After the visit at the park, we walked through the vendors which lined the streets and then drove five minutes to find a place for lunch. We found the cutest little lunch café called the Lighthouse Café. We had outdoor seating and enjoyed some of the wonderful warm weather. Lunch was absolutely delicious!
We then headed back to the hotel to take a couple hours rest. We took the 5 p.m. shuttle down to the waterfront. Girls had yet another chance to explore and do some shopping. Many of the girls took advantage of the huge ear-piercing discount and got their ears pierced. All but four girls got their ears done including coach! We had dinner at a restaurant which was in the mall but overlooking the ocean. It was not only good food but just a really great time together as a team. There was tons of laughing and joy as we sat around the large table. Today was Coach Merchant and Andy’s anniversary, and we all got to celebrate it together. After dinner, the girls had another hour or so to look around and explore. We then took the 10:15 p.m. shuttle back to the hotel.
Most of the girls spent some time when we got back packing up their bags for the trip home. There was definitely some work to be done in trying to figure out how everyone was going to fit everything in their bags for the trip home. It is crazy how quickly the time has gone! Tomorrow, we will make another stop at the orphanage before we fly out. There will likely not be another update until Tuesday but we expect to have plenty to share as we plan to tour Turkey during our layover. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!
Click here for today's photo gallery.