Today we have a full day of the Cape Peninsula, from Cape Town all the way down to Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of Africa.  It’s not the prettiest day, with lots of clouds and fog, but we are on a tight schedule and don’t have much choice about days and weather.  We have umbrellas and rain jackets, what more can you do?

We are picked up a little after 8 at the apartments by Jean, our guide, and join another couple from Michigan in the van.  We are scheduled to pick up another couple, but when Jean gets to their hotel, they aren’t ready yet.  After about 10 minutes, with Jean calling his boss multiple times and apologizing to us about the delay, it turns out the couple decided to cancel today and go tomorrow because of the weather.  Oh well – doesn’t bother us – more room and less hassle in a roomy 12 passenger van! 

So, off we go, us 4 intrepid travelers for what turns out to be a spectacular day on the peninsula.  Jean gives us a quick tour around Cape Town including the Bo Kaap area, where the Malay slaves lived and then painted their homes in bright vibrant colors as celebration once they were freed and allowed to own their homes, and the CBD with the Company gardens, parliament building, cathedral and city hall.  Then its off through the V&A Waterfront and around Mouille Point on Beach road, where it begins to rain and we aren’t able to see the fantastic views of the 12 apostles, Lion’s head or Table Mountain that would normally be here.  Oh well.

We follow the coast on Victoria boulevard, through Clifton and other expensive seaside neighborhoods where houses are built into the cliffs facing the ocean, and parking is on top of the buildings, level with the street.  We try to stop for scenic views of the mountains or even just the light house, but it is not to be.  So we push on down the coast on our way to Hout Bay where we take a boat ride to see Seal Island.  The tour description said we had the option of the boat tour or walking through the market there (which is a typical craft type market in tents specifically for the tourists), and depending on the seas, I was opting for the market, but Jean seems to think the seas are ok today and we all opt into the boat ride. 

The seas aren’t really calm, there are deceptively deep swells and we are on a little boat, so you can guess I was not a happy camper for the 10 minutes it takes to get out to the Island, but once there it is totally worth it.  There are hundreds of Cape Fur Seals out on this “island,” which is really just a series of rocks out off the coast.  And they are totally active!  Jumping in and out of the water, swimming around, diving and playing.  We are lucky we are here in February, because it is the time of year when the most seals are on the island.  They are molting and typically don’t go off in search of food, but live on their fat and blubber, staying on the island until they finish their molt.  We spend a fantastic 10 minutes or so circling the island, watching all these cute things frolic around.  Well worth the sea-sickness possibility!

Once back ashore, we wander along the market stalls ending up at a coffee/souvenir shop for a bathroom break – and cappuccino for Ed.  Then we hop back on the van to continue south, past Noordhoek Farm Village and scenic views of the interior of the cape as we cross from the western side to the eastern, stopping at Fish Hoek bay to stretch our legs and view the iconic colored beach huts that dot the coast.  Also here is the headquarters of the shark spotters, which, as their name implies has spotters up on the cliffs of the adjoining mountains who watch for sharks, then relay any warnings back down to the beaches.  The spotters on the beach then put up flags that indicate all clear, a sighting, or swim at your own risk because the weather doesn’t allow for sightings.  Pretty neat system!  Their office has a recent sightings board that showed February as being pretty active with 7 sightings already.  None today, but then again, it is still a little bit too foggy and cloudy for any of the spotters to really see anything – and the “black” flag is flying to indicate swim/surf at your own risk.

We wander around the beach for a bit, watching the surfers and this cute little girl taking a surfing lesson, then it’s back to the van to continue onto Simon’s Town and the Boulders Penguin colony.  Yay Penguins!  There are about 2,500 breeding pairs of African penguins here on the sheltered beach, nesting between the huge boulders that give the beach its name.  After a brief stop at a dog statue (named “Just Nuisance”, the only dog enlisted in the Royal navy – too long a story to get into – but the sailors loved him, basically adopted him and enlisted him in the navy to keep him out of trouble riding the trains – seriously – long story!), and a chance to bargain for a totally solid wooden slingshot (look out squirrels, I’ll be backed armed and ready!), we walk to the penguin colony entrance, and into the sanctuary on a boardwalk that leads down to the beach, making a great viewing platform to watch these cute little guys waddle around, pose for pictures, fight amongst themselves and protect their nests from sea gulls that are lurking around.  These guys are so great, I could stay here all day just watching them.  But, we have to satisfy ourselves with about 30 minutes of allotted time before we need to be back up top and on our way to lunch.  Still, it’s plenty of time to enjoy the Penguin antics.

Lunch is at the Seaforth restaurant, a quick walk from the Penguin viewing entrance.  There, we chat amiably with Jeff and Charlotte, our tour partners, while chowing down on far too large portions of fish and chips and this monstrous seafood salad that Jeff ordered thinking it would be light!  Haha – not here!  We all pass on dessert, and are back in the van ready to continue on to Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.

Oh, and somewhere along the way (I’ve now lost track as to when) we drove through Constantia, which is another wine area with vineyards tucked up on the hillsides and wineries everywhere.  Also here Jean drove us through one of the townships, with the corrugated steel roofs atop containers used as homes or small businesses.  Our first close up glimpse of a township, which can compare tomorrow when we have our actual township tour.

After beautiful scenery along the coast, and a photo stop at this tiny little town down in a cove that has no roads leading to it – you have to walk everything up and down – we arrive at the Cape preserve.  There is a little  bickering with the guard at the gate who doesn’t want to accept individual credit cards for our entry fees – she tries to insist it is one card per car, which you can totally understand if there is a van-full of people all trying to pay by cards.  Jean finally prevails, and we use our cards and head off into the park, which is vast and immense and chock full of gorgeous scenery.  Our first stop is at the Vasco de Gama memorial cross which is aligned with the Dias cross, commemorating the first two explorers who arrive in Cape Town.  There are great long views up the coast and across the scrubby bush to a mountain that looks like Lion’s head (and one of the reasons a portion of this area is called the False Bay because explorers thought they were sailing into Table Bay for Cape Town, but were actually on the other side of the peninsula entirely).

Next we head to the Cape Point lighthouse, in operation from 1860 to 1919, but placed so high on the cliffs above the cape that it was often shrouded in fog and clouds which made it totally ineffective.  After the Lusitania wrecked off the coast in 1911, another lighthouse was erected further down the slope, much closer to the water, and this one was permanently closed.  Now it is just a fabulous place for cape views. 

We take the funicular up to the top, avoiding the steep and winding foot path for the easier route.  We’ve only purchased one-way tickets so we can walk down and get views the easy way! Up top is spectacular.  The views around the point are gorgeous with rocky cliffs, white sand beaches and the mountains of False Bay out in the distance. The lighthouse itself is pretty picturesque as well – it’s white walls and red roof gleaming in the sunshine at the top of the rocky outcrop. 

Circling the lighthouse, we are rewarded with 360 degree views across the cape.  Once we’ve had our fill, we start our way down the mountain, stopping for more gorgeous rocky cliff scenes and snapping pictures of the rocks and us along the way.  At the bottom, we wander through the gift shop, eventually becoming those people we hate that keeps the tour waiting while we shop!  Not that it was the shopping, but the credit card that held us up.  It was really hard for the machine to connect, so it took forever to go through – so long that at one point I handed everything back to the clerk and told her to forget it.  But, it finally worked and we were back in the van with huge apologies and off to our final stop – the Cape of Good Hope.

On the way we find a family of monkeys playing on the side of the road, including two little babies scampering around.  Then it was out to the southwestern most point of South Africa, an unforgiving rock strewn point with wicked winds.  We all traded cameras to take pictures at the Cape of Good Hope sign, then Jean led us out (mountain goat style) to the edge of the rocks to look out over the end of the land, while he explained that the tide was low and not so rough right now, but at times the tide would come in so hard the water would go halfway up the cliff and look like a waterfall coming back down into the sea.

Heading back to town, we take the “scenic” route (like we haven’t been on a scenic route the whole day!) by driving back along the coast on Chapman’s Peak.  On the way we stop at a beach (name unremembered) where there are kite surfers and kite-boarders who are flying through the air like birds.  A couple of guys stay up so long we are afraid they will be blown out to sea.  Truly daredevils, and very fun to watch their death defying antics out there in the wind and surf.   Continuing our winding coastal route, the vistas are incredible – brilliant sunshine (after all that rain and fog) meeting rocky cliffs that rise out of the deep blue sea.  Stopping at an overlook, we have a bird’s eye view of Hout Bay and Seal Island down below us, from here the seals looking like little black dots on the horizon.

And that’s that!  The rest of the drive is pretty and fun, Jean is so incredibly knowledgeable and he talks virtually the whole day.  In a good way!  We learn a lot about the country, the history, the geography, the townships – you name it, he’s told us.  Which makes the day even more enjoyable.  We drop off Jeff and Charlotte first, then ask Jean to drop us at the grocery store – because it is now almost 8pm and we need to get to the liquor store before they close (LOL).  He’s amazed we know so much about the neighborhood after only being here one day.  What can we say? He doesn’t know us well yet! 

After restocking our beer and wine, we actually hit the grocery store and decide to get something from the hot dinner bar and eat in the apartment.  It’s late, and we’re not especially hungry after the huge lunch.  We grab a few chicken thighs and figure we’ll add that to our cheese and biltong that we bought earlier for a quick dinner.  But, as we get back to the apartment we are lured by the downstairs restaurant’s 120Rand promotion of a beer and a rump steak.  That’s like $8US – so we figure – what the heck!

Phones plugged in and recharging, food stored in the fridge for a later night, we head down to the lobby restaurant and have a fabulous and cheap meal of steak (think sirloin), beer, fries and I pay extra for my wine.  We even have some of my steak leftover for our eventual picnic. 

And with that, we hit the hay, ready for what I am calling our Apartheid tour tomorrow.