Happy Dingle Day

Wednesday was a day spent doing more coastal driving and exploration. Barry spotted "Sea Lions" in the ocean off a rocky beach and we ventured down to the beach only to find plenty of seaweed bobbing in the ocean..... but at least Chris and Barry were able to have some fun frollicking on the rocks and chasing lobsters... Later we attempted to get to False Bay near Fish Hoek, a quaint bay and fishing village south of Cape Town. Unfortunately the name "false" became the operative word as we drove around aimlessly without ever finding a place anything like a bay..... Barry did, once again, spot a "whale" far out to sea. It turned out to be a group of sea kayakers.....
For dinner on Wednesday we visited "Mama Africa" on Long Street. The carnival atmosphere on the main street through Cape Town was electric, with the host nation playing their second game of the tournament against Uruguay. Televisions showing the match were everywhere, including some old TV's that looked like they belonged in another century...
The less said about our cab ride back to the hotel after dinner, the better. Lets just say that we were relieved to be in one piece after a hellish three mile ride back to our base.
On Wednesday evening another friend arrived into Cape Town to spend a few days with us. Elliot Sykes is a former player of mine who is now in graduate school at the University of Utah. He is spending the summer in Durban on an externship program. He is joining us for our final two days in the area, before we move on to Johannesburg on Saturday.
Thursday was a "rest day" following a fairly late night wednesday in the hotel restaurant. Our Mexican hotel mates departed in the morning and were replaced by predominantly English inhabitants. The virtues of Robert Green, Emile Heskey and others were all discussed fervently with a group of Dubai-based Englishmen, with the entire group coming to the consensus that Robert Green is a numpty.
On Thursday morning we took the long and winding mountain road two-thirds of the way up Table Mountain with the intention of taking the cable car to the very top. The views from our vantage point where we parked were so breathtaking that we decided to skip the two-hour wait for the cable car. We did witness an air rescue operation, as an injured tourist was transported from the top of the mountain by helicopter to a waiting ambulance below. Thankfully, the gentleman seemed to be ok as he was unstrapped from the stretcher.
In the afternoon we visited Hout Bay and took a short boat ride out to Seal Island. As the name suggests, this is a seal sanctuary just off the coast on which literally hundreds of seals live. The large glass-bottomed boat was able to get incredibly close to the rocks and we happily snapped away (see the slideshow).
Barry left us on Thursday evening to continue his African trip before heading back to Europe and on to New York later in the week.
Dinner was spent at Beluga, a very nice restaurant behind our hotel. The meal and service was outstanding and the final bill was less than $150 for four people..... Gotta love those exchange rates!

Card Count Rising
During the lenghty trip from Dubai, the three of us had decided that, in the spirit of the game, we would institute a yellow/red card system of penalization for any member of the group who negatively affected the experience. The accumulation works thus; three yellow cards equals a red. A red card received automatically bans that person from having any decision-making ability for a period of 24 hours. As we approach the end of the first full-week, the card count is as follows:
Chris: 1 Yellow. (Bathroom etiquette violation)
Mike: 1 Yellow. (Innapropriate beverage purchase without consultation)
Gregg: 1 Yellow. (Excessive game-time telephone usage)
Barry: 1 Yellow. (Improper identification of sea-life)
Elliot: 1 Yellow. (Cheering for France)

Today (Friday) is a full day of football. Germany play Serbia at 1:00pm followed immediately by USA-Slovenia. The plan is to watch both games at the Fan Fest location at the V&A Waterfront before moving on to Green Point Stadium for our second live match, England vs. Algeria. Needless to say, yours truly is reasonably excited for tonight. Believe it or not, this will be my first-ever live England match in a competitive tournament (I've seen a number of friendlies, but that's it). Here's hoping that Fabio does the right thing and plays a real goalkeeper tonight!

COME ON ENGLAND!