Waking up early to blue skies and crashing waves, we cleaned up our room at the Pink Lodge and discussed our plans for the day.  Our itinerary called for snorkeling with seals, but among the many positive reviews, the one negative review (which included a femoral-artery biting seal!) really stuck with us.  But, after working up the courage, we went ahead and signed up for it, only to have them cancel because of rough seas.  Sightseeing boats weren’t going out either.

The water looked pretty calm to us, so we suspect everyone was either hungover or just didnt have enough spots filled to make it worthwhile.  We wet to Robbert Reserve instead to hike to the seals, taking the Witsand Route, named after, presumably the color and type of dirt on the beach.

We saw a bunch of seals from a distance, and more importantly, hyrax!  We kept expecting for a better view of the seals, so most attention was paid to the cute little hyracoids, aka dassies, aka shrewmice.  (They’re neither shrews nor mice, fwiw.)  We also saw a group of seals seemingly mobing an approaching whale of some sort, but even with our bioculars, we couldn’t quite tell what the situation was.

Seals around a white thing!

After hiking through some ~6′ high fynbos for awhile, the trail opened up to a steep, sandy path leading to a doubly-beached patch of beauty, where we got suited up and did some swimming/wading, plus plenty of just your regular splendor-marveling.

Beaches to the left of me, beaches to the right, here I am…

We made it back to our car and then drove to Plettenberg Bay, where we ate at a delicious vegan restaurant in a hotel.  The rest of the hotel (and town) seemed a little bit gross, but the Namaste Lifestyle Cafe  was super duper good, despite the corny name.  We had some trouble finding it- had to ultimately call the owner’s cell phone to get directions through the hotel lobby to find him, but it was worth the weirdness.

Best lunch of the trip, I think. PRobably.

After lunch, we got back into the car and headed east to Tsetsekamma National Park.  Holy smokes!  This place blew our minds.  The waves were huge and crashed over giant craggy rocks!  We loved our oceanette, which was basically a hotel room with a kitchen and a patio as close to the ocean as you could safely and dryly be.

After we got settled in, we went over to try to catch the camp store before it closed, although unsuccessfully.  The good news was that we found some of the most photogenic hyraxes you’ll ever see (both of which I’m going to feature because how could I not?)

Tiny tusks.

Come on!!!

We took a quick hike to the suspension bridge over Storms River as the sun set, which turned out to be a crucial move since it gets crowded and dumb in the middle of the day.  We got takeout from the park’s restaurant, which was good, though not quite as good as the wonderful service we got from our waiter and the manager  They let us get the whole meal to go (along with a bottle of wine) which we ate at our oceanettte, by cellphone- and star-light with a sound track of crashing waves and cursing wife. (Becca hit her head on the braai and then walked into the glass door, so that was something!)