While I have snorkelled many times on some beautiful coral reefs in the Caribbean and loved every second of every experience, I didn’t have the same desire to snorkel in the chilly not-so-blue definitely-not-so-warm and not very coral-filled waters off the coast of Cape Town in my own country. Then, considering I have texture issues to the point where the thought of eating an uncooked slice of tomato is traumatic, the idea of swimming through slimy kelp forests made it seem even less fun.
But then Netflix released their documentary ‘My Octopus Teacher’ filmed on location in the kelpy waters of Simon’s Town and my friends decided to jump on that bandwagon. By this time, I already owned a wetsuit (for surfing), a snorkel mask (from my time in the Caribbean) and a bad case of FOMO (fear of missing out) that was far more severe than my fear of monstrous icky sea plants clinging to - and possibly submerging and engulfing - my body. (Yup, giant squid are not my only irrational ocean-related fear!)
The goal of spotting an octopus was never specifically stated, but there isn’t a person on this planet who has seen that documentary, who will go snorkelling in Simon’s Town (or anywhere) and not hope to see one of those cute little molluscs. On top of that, I don’t mean to brag, but I kind of have a reputation for the super flattering #turtleselfie I took a few years ago, so I felt the pressure to please my Instagram followers with a followup #octopusselfe.
Octopus Spotting - Attempt 1:
I think it goes without saying that in the last few months most of our favourite destinations have had to adapt to the new COVID-19 protocol. The Two Oceans Aquarium (also known as 'the Cape Town Aquarium') is no different. If you are having a rough week and you just want to go visit a shark, chat to a penguin or be stared at by a turtle (I effing love turtles), here’s what you can expect if you visit it now:
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| Okay, they have lots of other oversized things too! |
Classical art, modern art, street art, I have an appreciation for anything that looks like skill and effort went into its creation. Or anything that in its essence tells a profound story (as long as that story isn’t, “I’m a pretentious conceptual artist who has earned the respect of art critics despite my complete lack of creativity, originality and effort”).
Since I moved to Cape Town, The Zeitz MOCAA (or ‘Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa’) has been one of the top items on my local bucket list.
After being cooped up inside for months, with the eventual relaxation of lockdown restrictions, it became time for an adventure. So, what do you do when you live in Cape Town, international tourism isn’t really an option due to a stupid pandemic and you have already seen penguins, alpacas and the mythical dassie?
You go in search of whales!
Unfortunately, the best place to see whales is in Hermanus and Hermanus is nearly 2 hours away, so we settled for Three Anchor Bay near central Cape Town and lowered our whale-spotting expectations quite dramatically. Either way, we set out on an adventure and it did not disappoint.
