It's only appropriate that our last week in Cape Town has been filled with family, friends and a little adrenaline.

We soaked up every last minute with Mary - hanging at the house, eating breakfast out on the patio, having tea and getting out in the city to some old favorites and new spots. And we reunited with Cape Town friends and the Wild Coast crew for some epic last suppers.

We spent our last weekend in South Africa at a beautiful beach house in Britania Bay with friends Annette and her son Matthew.

Matthew is just wrapping up his first year at university and we quickly found out that South African university students play almost  identical drinking games to the American ones. Unfortunately for us, all we had to use were bottles of de… — Matthew is just wrapping up his first year at university and we quickly found out that South African university students play almost identical drinking games to the American ones. Unfortunately for us, all we had to use were bottles of delicious South African wine. Ouch.

A reunion of friends we've met along our travels in South Africa. This fine Cape Town eating establishment is called The Dogs Bullocks. It only serves burgers (50 per night to be exact) and wine, and there is very little room inside to eat. So we ju… — A reunion of friends we've met along our travels in South Africa. This fine Cape Town eating establishment is called The Dogs Bullocks. It only serves burgers (50 per night to be exact) and wine, and there is very little room inside to eat. So we just ate on the ground in the alley.

During the day, The Dogs Bullocks space serves different food and is known as The Bitches Tits.

And, we decided last-minute to go out with a bang and go shark diving with great whites. We had gone back and forth about shark diving since we arrived in Cape Town. Originally, we were very interested, but some local surfers told us it can lead to shark attacks and bring sharks closer into shore. We also were weary of the ethics of the industry and tour operators - much in the same way as safaris, there is a wide spectrum of opinions and codes of conduct. But, others we met along the way argued that there is no connection between diving and shark attacks - which is why scuba divers never get attacked while under the water - and that there are ethical operators who do it right. Conflicted but excited, we booked with White Shark Diving Co. out of Gansbaai, South Africa, about 2 hours outside of Cape Town. It was a great experience.

Our first shark of the day makes a pass at the bait. This one was big, approximately four meters long.

While sitting in the cage face to face with a Great White is quite the exhilarating experience, the view from the top of the boat offers a completely different (and awesome) perspective. — While sitting in the cage face to face with a Great White is quite the exhilarating experience, the view from the top of the boat offers a completely different (and awesome) perspective.

They picked us up from Mary's house at 4:15am (yikes!) and drove us to Gansbaai. We met the guides, who put us right at ease with their knowledge and respect for the sharks, and took a 25-minute boat ride out to the dive site where we were outfitted with wetsuits, hoods and masks. The guides immediately started chumming the water and in less than 30 minutes... we saw our first great white! Brendan and I jumped at the chance to be first in the cage. The water was shockingly cold - 11 degrees Celsius (about 40 degrees Fahrenheit) - but as we heard the guides yelling, "BAIT! BAIT!" meaning the shark was heading our way, we couldn't feel a thing. Seeing a great white shark is an amazing thing. Neither of us had seen anything outside of a reef shark in the wild before and these are definitely not reef sharks. The first shark was "medium-sized" and measured 3 to 3.5 meters (12-15 feet)! It definitely did not seem medium sized when it swam by the cage, close enough to reach out and touch (if you had a death wish). Throughout the day, we got some epic views of seven different great whites, from the cage and on deck. They are graceful and powerful and amazing to watch. The most surprising thing for us was that, while the great whiles are obviously killing machines, they did not seem aggressive. If anything, they were curious and timid in their approach. We left feeling completely exhilarated by the day and in awe of the ocean's apex predator.

Looking back over the past three months, it seems all at once like a lifetime ago and to have flown by overnight. We have so many amazing memories - visiting the Maasai cu cus, shoveling trash and planting trees with CTC in Kenya, being spoiled rotten on the beach in Zanzibar, taking the never-ending train-ride through Tanzania, being one with nature in Zambia, swimming in Victoria Falls, falling in love with a city and all it has to offer in Cape Town and experiencing more new people, places and things than we deserve. More than anything, we are so appreciative of the people we spent time with along the way - strangers who amazed us with their courage and generosity, friends that we will keep beyond Africa and family that means the world to us.

We're moving forward, but a big piece of our hearts is staying behind on the dark continent.