Marine Ball Round 2

The Marine Ball is always a fun-filled night.  As you may recall from our post last year, it is a night filled with many traditions and formalities.  However, once the ceremony concludes, it is a time for everyone (including the Ambassador and DCM) to let loose and to have some fun out on the dance floor.

Greg & Katie at our second Marine Ball.

Katie & Greg in front of the American and Ugandan flags.

Greg & Katie enjoying the Marine Ball.

Celebrating the Marine Ball with friends.

After being in the foreign services for two years now, we have come to meet many Marines and are happy to consider so many of them good friends.  We thank them for their service and look forward to enjoying our next Marine Ball in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Halloween/Launch Party

Since we threw such an awesome Halloween Wine and Cheese last year, we were asked to host again this year.  I think the guards thought we were completely nuts as we decorated the inside and outside of the house with all sorts of skeletons, body parts, a zombie pit, and another flaming pumpkin.

The gate to get in.

A little BBQ.

Our dining room.

The party was another success (and another late night).  This year we went as Lydia and Beetlejuice.  We only managed to get Rascal into the dinosaur costume for a few minutes, but it is always comical.

Lydia & Beetlejuice.

Rascal the Dinosaur with Beetlejuice & Lydia

The after party.

On actual Halloween day, our good friend Diana was having a Launch Party for her new company, Changing Horizons.  Changing Horizons is a tour company that provides unparalleled access to some of East Africa’s most intriguing and imposing places.  They specialize in trips that explore recent history, taking visitors to sites of past importance, cultural heritage, and memorial.  Our siblings were some of her unofficial first customers back in January when they visited us.  Since then, Diana has been working to get all the proper documents in order so she can officially open.  We hope to take the tour during the remainder of our time in Uganda.

The Launch Party was a huge success with a big turnout.  Diana had these delicious custom drinks made that she called the Bleeding Bullet.  She had ice cubes shaped as bullets which were dyed red inside the drinks, quite tasty and interesting to see.  She even got the famous Ugandan rapper Navio to perform (it helps when he’s your boyfriend's brother).

Katie, Diana, & Greg at the Changing Horizons Launch Party.

We had a fun night out and wish her all the success now that Changing Horizons is officially open for business!

Cape Town and Wine Country

In planning our trip to South Africa, we had to add in a lot of buffer days as a lot of activities were weather dependent, like the shark diving and going up to Table Mountain.  It was drizzling our first morning back in Cape Town so our plan to get to the top of Table Mountain by cable car had to wait as it only operates in good weather.  Instead, we started our morning off by heading to World of Birds, the largest bird park in Africa.  To say I was in seventh heaven would be an understatement.  Instead of birds being in small cages, they would have these huge outdoor rooms with tons of different birds flying all over the place.

Duckie love!

Not only did this place have a ton of beautiful and colorful birds, but they also had 38 Squirrel Monkeys.  Since it was raining out, there really weren’t many people at World of Birds, so when the Monkey Jungle opened up for visitors, Greg and I were the only ones inside.  Literally, the moment we walked in the door, these adorable little golden colored monkeys started jumping on us.  Which was kind of funny, but a little scary at the same time because they were pulling at our hoods and were all up on us. They also seemed to have an affinity for the velcro straps on our jackets.

Squirrel Monkeys attack!

Greg with his new buddy.

After we had our fair share of the monkeys and visited with every bird (at least once), we headed off to do the Chapman’s Peak Drive.  It’s a windy road between Noordhoek and Hout Bay and is listed as one of the most spectacular marine drives in the world. After our lovely drive, we hit a winery on our way back and then had fun exploring around where we were staying in the city.

Beautiful views along Chapman's Peak Drive.

Katie & Greg along Chapman's Peak Drive.

The next morning we headed out to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden because I really wanted to see the Boomslang Walkway, and who doesn’t love a good botanical garden.  The gardens really were spectacular.  With Cape Town just entering spring, there were beautiful blooming flowers everywhere, great views of the mountains, and this awesome “scratch and sniff” section where you could touch all the plants to smell their interesting smells. To see all of my pictures of the beautiful flowers, check out our SmugMug page.  After a few hours enjoying the gardens, it was time to head to Franschhoek for some relaxing time in wine country.

Beautiful views at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.

Beautiful views at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.

Since we didn’t want to have to worry about drinking and driving, we found the next best thing, the Franschhoek Wine Tram hop-on-hop-off tour.  It was a great way to discover the picturesque vineyards, breath-taking scenery, fine wines, and the 300-year history of the area.  We hopped the Blue Line, which allowed us to hit 6 different wineries in just about as many hours.  While they were all absolutely stunning and we made sure to snack along the way, our one major hiccup was that this was also the only night we could get a reservation at The Tasting Room, a very famous restaurant known for their culinary creations.  We might have overindulged on the Wine Tram, but after a nice nap, we were ready for our nine-course meal (which I think actually turned into eleven courses, each paired with its own glass of wine).  While I really really wish these had been on separate days, the meal was none the less amazing.  We were each served different menus for almost every course so we might have passed plates on a few (I was not all about the octopus or crayfish while Greg was more than ok passing on the beetroot with apple).

Chocolate and wine tasting at La Bri Estate.

Beautiful wine country in Franschhoek.

Katie & Greg on the Franschhoek Wine Tram.

Our original game plan was to try a few more wineries on the way back to Cape Town the next afternoon, but with the amount we drank the day before, neither one of us were really up for more day drinking (or really drinking in general).  We did still hit two breweries that we had read about just to try small flights. One was a couple's homebrew hobby turned into a full brewery (Zebonkey Brewery) and another had some wildebeests and zebras roaming their property (Wild Beast Brewery).

Wild Beast Brewery flight.

No trip of ours is ever complete without a little somber history.  We made sure to book a trip to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars.  The tour guides inside the prison are all former political prisoners and were knowledgeable about the Island’s multi-layered 500-year-old history. The tour itself included stops and information on the graveyard of people who died from leprosy, the Lime Quarry, Robert Sobukwe’s house, the Bluestone quarry, the army and navy bunkers, and the Maximum Security Prison where thousands of South Africa’s freedom fighters were incarcerated for years, as well as a viewing of Nelson Mandela’s cell.

Greg & Katie visiting Robben Island.

After the somber experience, we finally had a clear evening and were able to head up to Table Mountain.  While it was still rather windy and chilly, we did get some amazing views and we got to watch the sunset over the city as we rode the very last cable car down the mountain.

Views from Table Mountain.

Sunset at Table Mountain.

On the last day in the country, we found a quirky coffee place, Truth Coffee Roasting, checked out the District 6 Museum for another history lesson, drove through the Bo-Kaap area of the city and visited SANCCOB (The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds). SANCCOB is a registered non-profit organization whose primary objective is to reverse the decline of seabird populations through the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of ill, injured, abandoned, and oiled seabirds.  We got a tour of the place and got to see all the good work they are doing to help the penguin population.  We even ended up adopting a penguin and named it Matooke to give a touch of Uganda in South Africa (matooke is a cultural food in Uganda).

Injured penguins at SANCCOB.

I know this was rather a lengthy post, and I’m sure I’ve left bits and pieces out, but South Africa really was as amazing as everyone said it would be.  We had an absolutely fantastic trip and would go back in a heartbeat (though we might need to wait a little while as our freezer is full to the brim with all the goodies we brought back with us).

Cage Diving with Great Whites

After Greg’s two work trips and literally everyone at Post raving about it, we finally decided to take a vacation to South Africa, specifically Cape Town.  There were a lot of reasons to go to Cape Town, like cute little penguins, good wine, delicious food, and gorgeous sights, but the main reason for this trip was to go cage diving with great white sharks!

We had heard that the best time for cage diving was in September, however, this was slightly misleading due to recent changes in the weather and environment.  We started our trip in Simon’s Town, which is known for its breaching sharks.  The sharks will actually leap out of the water a couple of feet in the air as they attack their prey from below.  We specifically chose a company who tries to get this to happen while you are out due to my love of Shark Week.

On our first day in Simon’s Town the wind was awful, which was causing bad waves, and because of this, none of the cage diving companies were taking anyone out.  While this sucked, we figured we would be okay as we purposely built in an extra day into our schedule just in case.  However, the news got worse.  With global warming, the sharks were apparently leaving the area earlier and earlier every year and none of the companies had really seen any sharks for the past few days. Luckily, the company we chose was willing to work with us and set us up with another company all the way out in Gansbaai, which is about two and a half hours away.  Not what we really wanted, but our main goal was to dive with the sharks so if we had to take a road trip to do it, we were taking that road trip! In the meantime, we made plans to hang out with another iconic animal, the Cape Penguins!

Katie & Greg in Simons Town.

Since we now had this free day before our shark dive, we headed to the beach early to hang out with the penguins.  Besides one other lady, we were the only people on a beach full of penguins. While they are cute, they sure do make the weirdest noises.  They actually make a loud call that sounds like a donkey, which is where they get their other name from, “Jackass Penguin.” To see all my photos of the penguins and the rest of our time in South Africa, check out our SmugMug Page!

Simons Town!

Cape Penguins in love!

Greg with the penguins.

Katie with the penguins.

After a good amount of time with the penguins, we headed to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope.  To say it was windy would be an understatement.  It was just leaving winter and entering spring, so it was a little cold but the wind really got you.  However, the views were absolutely stunning.  While we didn’t see any whales off in the distance, we did run into some baboons, ostriches, and we even saw an eland!

Cape Point, South Africa.

Greg & Katie in Cape Point.

Greg & Katie at the Cape of Good Hope.

Eland!

Ostriches!

The next morning we were up bright and early to make the drive out to Gansbaai.  We made it there with plenty of time to spare and the group ahead of us came back a lot later than originally planned.  The good news was that they saw a bunch of sharks.  We got our briefing, grabbed our rain jackets, and headed out to sea.  We got to our spot and were greeted by a few sharks circling the cage the other group used, while the crew made up the chum buckets.

On the boat to go see Great Whites!

Suited up to go cage diving with Great Whites!

I didn’t want to be the first ones in just in case something should go wrong.  So while the first group was in, we wiggled into our full body wetsuits and waited our turn.  The moment you slip into the cage, you think, “what in the world was I thinking, this is crazy.”  Mainly because the water felt like ice.  It was 14 degrees Celsius which is about 57 degrees Fahrenheit.  Once in, it was exciting knowing just how close to the sharks you really were.  Our first go around we were all the way to the left of the cage and the sharks seemed to be more on the right side, so we felt we didn’t get the best viewing.  Lucky for us, once everyone on the boat had gone they let people get a second turn.  This time we were smart and made sure to get as far right in the cage as we could.  My body started shaking the moment we hit the water, it was so cold.  I think my goosebumps had goosebumps.

Great White!

A little blurry, but still cool seeing it jump out of the water a bit.

Here sharky, sharky!

The crew members lure the sharks in with a huge thing of bait that they try to drag it across the front of the cage so that you can get an up close and personal view of the sharks.  As they see the sharks coming they yell “get down” so you know to go underwater to see the shark swim by.  We had one magical pass where the shark swam into the side of the cage and just glided along the entire thing.  It was awesome and by far the moment we had been waiting for on this trip!  After everyone had been in with the sharks at least twice, there was a little time left over and the company took us over to Seal Island (Geyser Rock).  Here, a colony of 60,000 Cape Fur Seals breed and live. What they failed to mention was how stinky it was!  It was cute to watch all the seals bobbing around in the ocean, but man did it smell.

So many seals!

So stinking cute!

With the day a success, it was time for Greg and me to make the long journey back to Cape Town.

Lake Mburo, Our Official Last Ugandan Safari

While I know we just said that our trip to Ishasha was our last safari, it wasn’t.  The week before our yearly National Park pass expired we realized our good friends who were departing Post had yet to go on a Ugandan safari.  Knowing my love for a good safari, I couldn’t just let them leave Uganda without having been on one.  So we put together a trip and took them and their daughter, our friends who we went to Kibale with and their son, and one of the marines and headed off to Lake Mburo.

Of course, no trip is complete down south without stopping at the Equator.  So we made a quick pit stop and got our pictures on the way down.

Greg & Katie on the Equator.

Our first afternoon of safaris was great, we saw tons of zebra, went to a beautiful lookout, and we even got to see the few giraffes that had been transferred here from Murchison Falls National Park.  While we’ve seen it all before, it was nice to do it all with friends this time around.

Zebra!

Greg & Katie in Lake Mburo.

The next day Greg was unfortunately down for the count a chunk of the day with a really bad headache and dizziness, so he relaxed as the rest of us went out to see some more animals.  Back at the hotel for lunch, we were joined by a ton of baboons who really enjoyed eating the cushions for the little swing they had at the place.

Giraffe!

Waterbuck standing his ground.

Bushbuck, always fun to actually see out in the open.

A baboon munching on some cushion foam.

We tried for the boat cruise on the lake, but unfortunately for us, the boat just wouldn’t start and their other boat was under repair (another This Is Africa moment).  We went back to our pretty lookout from the day before and then got to watch the sunset over the lake.

Sunset over Lake Mburo.

Our early morning safari didn’t bring us any luck, but I did find an owl which was pretty cool.  On our way back to Kampala we decided to stop at an alligator farm that we had heard about.  Now if PETA had seen this place they would have been in an uproar.  There were tons of alligators in each cage, not a lot of water or shade, and the place was really stinky.  The place raises the alligators to sell for their meat and skins, though they really should have worked to make them more comfortable.  We got to hold a baby alligator, which was interesting, but as it started to make some scared noises we felt bad and put it back into its pen.  Next up, we got to watch them feed a live chicken to this monster sized alligator.  At first, we thought that they were going to feed the alligator a dead chicken, but when the people came out with a live one we knew that chicken’s days were numbered.  We all felt extremely bad for the chicken, that thing didn’t have a fighting chance, but it was really cool to see the alligator jump up and grab the chicken in less than an instant.  While some of us stared in shock, others had wide grins at the awesomeness of what they just saw, and the alligator happily munched on the chicken.

Owl on our early morning safari.

For all the alligator pictures, see our SmugMug.

Overall it was a great trip.  It’s always nice to get out of Kampala and it was fun to go with people who haven’t done a safari before.