The idea was simple: hike to a remote and beautiful stretch of the Cape of Good Hope, summit “The Sentinel” for a panoramic view of the paddling route put-in, then climb down to the beach and go snorkelling out to Seal Island. This island is known for its great white sharks, which hunt the many Cape fur seals that live here.
Then, to avoid the risk of mugging when backtracking, I would packraft this notorious convergence of the Atlantic ocean and the Indian Ocean back down the coast to civilization.
But... who could have know... there would be complications.
First, a month before this adventure, and after I had booked my trip, a young German tourist decided to hike this same remote trail to the beach and back. He was robbed and murdered, his body was never found. 5 men had been arrested and were awaiting trial.
Short of abandoning this adventure altogether, it seemed evident that safety precautions were in order. I would stay off the trail, move fast, stay out of sight, and under no circumstance return along my path. The idea being to never give bandits time to spot me, organize, and intercept me.
Climbing the Sentinel, while staying off the all too visible ridge route, was a bit slow. It is South Africa, so aside from the terrain, Cape Cobras, Puff Adders, Rinkhals snakes that apparently spray venom in your eyes, and other critters, needed to be watched for and avoided.
Time was another constraint, as the comfortable morning winds were forecast to give way to gale force gusts by the afternoon.
Then things got complicated. Looking from the summit back down the ridge, from where I had come, I noticed a group of men on the trail to the beach. They stopped and were waiting right where I would meet the trail to the beach on my way back down. This was a scenario that I had feared.
Muggings and murders in this part of South Africa were rampant. My Uber driver had warned me sternly, and asked me 3 times if I really wanted to get out in the dead-end township where my hike started.
I ducked down, and waited in some cover. The beach that I was heading to was near Seal Rock, which I knew would be passed by a seal watching tour ship in about 2 hours. Standing still had never been part of the plan, but I was in the kind of terrain where someone could be a few meters away without them spotting me, and I really had no better alternative.
After less than an hour, the group started walking along the path down to the beach that was still my safest way out. I waited until the tour boat was approaching a ways off, and moved quickly toward the beach, where I would have a bit of time under the many eyes of the not too distant tour boat. The idea was to gear up and deploy the packraft, as I felt safer out in the ocean, even as the strong afternoon winds started.
Here are some key moments:
0:30 – The plan
3:47 – Touching on safety concerns in this part of South Africa
5:00 – First view of the Atlantic
6:54 – Nice flowers, with the summit of the Pinnacle, then the start of our paddling route, in the background
10:56 – The top, and the problem... safety concerns get serious
11:35 – The new plan
14:30 – The last few steps on the trail to the beach. In the background you can see the tour boat that I hoped would provide some over-watch as I got into the water
14:50 – I could see how someone could go missing here
15:39 – Arriving at the beach, and my put-in for the packraft, and greater safety out at sea
18:16 – The Pinnacle view from the beach, then inflating the packraft under the eyes of the group that I had seen following me out of the township. Fortunately, under the eyes of a tour ship full of tourists capturing pictures and video of the many seals not too far off shore.
21:05 – Snorkelling with the packraft in tow
22:01 – At Seal Island, and noticing the the wind is picking up as forecast, so time to think about the transition to the packraft, and getting out
26:35 – Fish
28:52 – Surprise aquatic encounter in 20 seconds...
29:50 – Penguins!
34:44 – More fish
38:02 – Into the packraft for the paddle back to civilization
42:20 – With the 8ft swell, I had scouted the line between the 2 breaks from the Pinnacle
45:45 – 2 seals coming in at 12 o clock
54:28 – slow progress into the gale force winds
1:17:18 – Rounding the last point into the sheltered bay that has my exit beach
1:23:53 – Harbour patrol boat checking me out
1:28:12 – A big buoy
1:31:15 – Final fun down wind run around the harbour breakwater, and to the beach exit
1:34:29 – Surfing to the sand
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