Handle With Care

Spring has sprung in Cape Town and the weather has been very up and down this week. On Monday I was back to work at SANCCOB, assigned to Pen 2 with another volunteer, which only had seven penguins and even though they were on two-hourly fluids it didn't take long to get each of the tasks done. I was also asked to help out in Pen 3 throughout the day because there were still 36 penguins. Tuesday was my day off, but SANCCOB had a penguin release scheduled so I went in only to find out it was cancelled due to bad weather. Probably a good thing because the wind was very strong so I would have been quite sick on the boat. While I was there I got to see the newest bird, a beautiful juvenile pelican. He is huge, hard to believe he's not even full grown yet. After I left SANCCOB I ended up relaxing for most of the day, other than a quick trip to the mall to buy a book. Yesterday I was supervisor of Pen 1 and Aviary. I was training one of the new volunteers how to clean the pens and care for the birds in them. The weather was still bad yesterday so the release was delayed once again.

Third times a charm! Today the weather was beautiful and the sea was fairly calm so the release got a definite go ahead! To get the penguins ready for release, their tags are removed and they get a bright pink spray painted dot on their belly. This way conservation officers will know that they are newly released penguins from SANCCOB. Afterwards they were put in a box and loaded into the truck for the trip to the waterfront. Myself and three other volunteers went along for the release. We were aboard a whale watching boat, but no other customers joined so it ended up being just us. We went out towards Robben Island where the boat was stopped and we each took turns doing the release. It was such an exciting, proud moment to see them jump into the water. Some of them waited around the boat for a few moments, not quite sure what to do, while others happily swam about. Because there were no whale watching customers, after the release we headed straight back to the harbor and then caught a taxi home.

I just finished dinner and am waiting to start a game of cards with some of the volunteers at the AVIVA house. It has been really quite around here the last few days. Just a couple weeks ago there were close to 20 volunteers in the house and now there are only seven of us. Every week people are coming and going. There are volunteers from three programs that stay here - SANCCOB, Home of Hope orphanage and African School Children Feeding. Of all the volunteers at the house, I have now been here the longest of anyone, everyone else who was here when I arrived have completed their programs and gone home. I have just a week and a half left at the AVIVA house before I leave for my tour then I will return for one night before I head for home on September 19th!