partying with the dolphins.

bethany and christina planned a birthday surprise for me (reaffirming my belief that this is the best birthday ever).

3 cheers for surprises!

the morning before the surprise was full of questions such as:

-"how do you feel about heights?"

-"do you like sharks?"

-"what would you like to say to your friends and family if you don't survive this experience?"

because of the excess of shark talk, i knew there couldn't really be any shark cage swimming involved, but the way the girls were talking and the fact that they blindfolded me, i started to get a wee bit nervous.

i'm convinced the blindfolding was more for their entertainment than my surprise...

they finally took off my blindfold, and i was at a pier in front of a small inter-tube style boat...

they then told me we were going out on the indian ocean to seal island to see the seals and possibly catch some sharks, whales, or dolphins thrown into the mix!

beautiful doesn't even begin to describe the view in every direction.

we made it out to seal island a.k.a a seal party of grand proportions...

they were swimming in the water, laying out in the sun, and moo-ing like a herd of cows/sheep

fortunately for the seals and unfortunately for us...the sharks weren't hungry...meaning no shark sightings:(

BUT after floating around the island for awhile, we ventured back out on the water in search of whales and/or dolphins...

and magically and because God must really like to show off...

literally hundreds of dolphins started popping up in every direction...and swam right next to our boat!

it was one of the most incredible scenes of my life.

words don't even do it justice.

we all started screaming and snapping photos and video as fast as possible...

i kept thinking, "who gets to see something like this?"

we were all smiling ear to ear as we headed back to shore...

because of the dolphins of course...

and also on account of the intensely strong wind:)

i highly recommend having a birthday month.

and amazing friends to celebrate with.

another once-in-a-lifetime moment here in SA.

xoxo