Stephen:

For what it’s worth here are our observations and comments. 

Cape Town: We were met at the airport by the transfer company. The driver was very friendly and gave us a nice welcome. Camps Bay was
beautiful, and the hotel was serviceable. The staff was helpful. We were able to go to Cape Point, Table Mountain, Robben Island and visit downtown. Steve and I agree that as you suggested, one or more additional days in Cape Town would have been nice.

Lavender Manor was exceptional. The room we were in was stunning as were the views. The owner was extremely helpful. We wish we would have had another night here because of the views and accommodation. The White Shark dive with The White Shark Projects was a great experience, a true highlight. The staff to diver ratio was good and the staff was very knowledgeable. Service was first rate.  The boat was large enough to comfortably accommodate all of us. We saw three great whites which was wonderful.

Storms River Mouth was also exceptional. We would have loved to have another night here. The cabin was very nice and surprisingly large. It appeared as though it had just been updated. We also enjoyed the fact that we could cook for ourselves. The restaurant was okay. The hiking around there was stunning.

Crawford’s Beach Lodge is not a place I would recommend. The rooms had a strong odor of bleach that would not go away. The bathroom felt
as though you were climbing into a closet (because you were) and the AC did not work. The restaurant food was terrible and we observed restaurant manager being practically abusive to staff. You are also in the middle of nowhere, so traveling elsewhere for food is not convenient.  The beach is nice.  If the rooms got updated and a nice cleaning, this would be a good place to stay if one had small children. 

Tropical Beach BB accommodation was nice. The owner/ manager is very friendly and helpful.  The town is not something I would recommend unless it is a necessary waypoint. There is not a lot to do and not a lot of restaurants for tourists.  We did not dine at the B &B so we can’t comment on the food. 

Diving with Tiger Sharks is not something I would recommend. Steve and I were both experienced divers and I felt unsafe at almost every point in the trip. The pre-dive safety briefing was treated as a formality that the dive master needed to get out of the way. The dingy that they
have us travel in is a small blow up zodiac. You have to jump into the boat while waves rush up and bounce you around.

From there they drive quickly (in 4-6 foot swells) bouncing you about with nowhere to sit except the side of the boat and nowhere to really hold on. Once there we learned that the visibility was extremely poor. I would say it was no more than 4 meters. I know that this is dangerous when diving with sight oriented sharks. The one dive master (for eight divers) was not watchful and I felt like he had very little awareness for where thedivers were.

 Had I not been a dive master myself I would have been extremely scared. Getting back into the zodiac in the swells from theopen ocean was a serious challenge for me. It was painful and there was no ladder offered. Going back into shore was where it was seriously scary. The boat operators timed the trip wrong so the tide was out on the beach. As a result they drove the boat at about 25-30 miles per hour through the small bay and onto the shore. This dangerous action was done with no seats or restraint devices.

It felt as though we were in a car and drove into a tree at 25-30 miles per hour. This was a scary experience and it is only a matter of time before someone is injured by the negligence of the operator.  

 ******Note from Stephen  ...people in SA  do things this way, and many outsiders  are not used to this....the  operator has a very good safety record, and its just a different way of doing things...

 Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse was exceptional. The food was spectacular, the accommodation was gorgeous and we really enjoyed the surrounding area. This is another place that I wish we had another night.

Cathedral Peak Hotel was really nice as well. The food was great, accommodation great and availability of things to do was also great.
The staff was very friendly. I think this place would be perfect for families.

Reilly’s Rock- accommodation was great although the place is so small that if you run into rude tourists as we did, it can be a bit uncomfortable. Food was great and the staff was charming. We enjoyed the wildlife that was available to see in Mlilwane. I would let
visitors know that the map provided cannot be trusted as Steve and I went out for a pre-breakfast walk and got miserably lost. We spent about 5.5 hours walking in circles without water. The locals we ran into were unable to speak English or decipher our map. We finally ran into another Oregonian with a truck and were able to catch a ride.  Aside from getting lost (which was pretty much our fault), we highly recommend Reilly’s Rock.

Bohm's Zeederberg. This is a place that appears to have once been a wonderful place to stay, but is fast losing its luster. The room wasokay but was showing signs of significant wear and tear. In the corners of the bathroom there were large, dirty clumps of cobwebs. The sign in the bathroom said that the water was unsafe to drink, but no drinking water was provided. Water pressure was weak and there was almost no hot water. The owner kept talking about all the crime in the area, which made me feel a bit unsafe. The hot tub did not work which was unfortunate. The food was okay.

Rhino Post was nice, but if I had to do it over again I probably would have gone to another Sabi camp or spent more time at Notten’s. Our
guide was colorful and chatty which was nice at first but began to grate after awhile. We were the only guests aside from some English teenagers on holiday by themselves. That was a little uncomfortable for us as all meals were at the same table. The tracker assigned to us seemed to have zero tracking ability. It seemed like our ranger was doing the driving, talking, spotting and spotlighting by himself. We found a leopard and I even had to ask the tracker to point the spot at it because I don’t think he could see it. The food was decent and the tent was nice although the regular camps accommodation seemed much nicer. A highlight of this place had nothing to do with the place at all. As we were leaving to drop our rental car off at the airport we literally drove into three wild dogs walking down the road. It was really neat.

Jatinga- this place was nice, but deserted. It is too bad because the grounds are nice, rooms are stunning, the staff was helpful and the food was great.

Nottens was a highlight. The staff was delightful. The family run touch was also really neat. Our ranger and tracker were wonderful. We  saw tons of leopard and lion (during the day which was great). We also saw a number of other animals. The sun-downers were great and the
touches that the place added to these was really, really nice. I absolutely loved this place and Steve did as well. We would have really loved to have spent about a week here.

Thank you so much for a truly wonderful trip.