A much easier arrival this morning, no wind to speak of, and an absolutely gorgeous blue sky day.  Table Mountain again is stunning – without any clouds at all.  It takes a while for us to get the pilot and the tug and make our way inside the harbor break, which we spend upstairs on the open decks admiring the mountain and the city scene.

We are hard alongside on time today.  Once the ship is cleared we are off and out into the terminal to get our tickets for the HoHo bus.  Their scanner doesn’t work properly, so we have to go to the main ticket office to actually get our printed tickets.  Sigh.  The best laid plans.  We were hoping this would work and save us time, but no.

A bonus though is that the HoHo bus has a shuttle that will take us to the main ticket office, which saves us from a 20-minute walk through the V&A.  Not that it’s a big deal for us to walk, but we want to get the 10 or 10:20 bus to Hout Bay, and walking would make it tight.  The shuttle takes forever to leave, but once it does, we manage to make the 10:20 bus and grab the upper front seats for a bird’s eye view of our drive from Cape Town.

We pass through center city with the great architecture, then out toward the cape with Table Mountain, Lion’s head and Devil’s Peak (the back side of Table Mountain) standing guard against the gorgeous almost cloudless sky. 

As we near the Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens, we pass by a corner with tons of statues made out of beads for sale.  There are probably 4 or 5 vendors here, all with their figurines and statues setting up for the day.  Some of them are quite cute, especially the penguins, and oh, you know I want to jump out and buy one or two, but no way are we getting those puppies home.  Nope, not even going to try!

On past Kirstenbosch, the landscape starts to change.  Here there is a dense pine forest, trees that frame the roadway and large holiday houses and resorts.  We pass through Constantia, a wine region that Yonela, one of our Sommeliers wants to visit on these cruises to check out the wines.  There is a wine HoHo bus route here too, which we figure we will do tomorrow with our 2^nd day ticket – why not?

Arriving at Hout Bay we find it totally packed with people.  This is summer holiday season for South Africans and boy are they out in force – whether local or tourist – the place is jammed.  We opt to hit the very first restaurant we see – Wharfside Grill – and manage to grab an outside table on the upper deck so we can enjoy the beautiful weather.  We had a great meal of Clam chowder, a monstrous piece of fish and chips and excellently prepared seared tuna with sweet chili sauce. Perfect!

We walked off our lunch by strolling down the pier, looking at all the boats, marveling at how some are even a float. The mountain views across the bay captivated us as well.  Such a perfect day to stroll along the waterfront and just soak up the atmosphere and sunshine (even in the stiff cool breeze that was blowing – dress like an onion!).

After the pier, we meandered around the wharf area, but there wasn’t much to see or do as we aren’t going to go to sail out to view the seals, been there done that. We did run into Javier though, with one of the ship’s tours. They were just coming back from going to Seal Island, and he said it was great.  He’s very sweet, getting his feet wet with Azamara and going on all the tours (he came from another cruise line, this is his first Azamara contract).

Then it was back on the bus for our return journey, watching the scenery from upstairs as we make our way back to the city. Somewhere between Camps Bay and Sea Point we blow a tire. There is this huge bang and then a thumping sound and smell. We make it to the first stop in Sea Point, which is right before the stop we need for our Gate 1 hotel.  The poor driver is calling for help, and we decide to just hop off there while he figures it out – it is an easy walk to the hotel from here, no problem.  It will be longer than if we rode to the next stop, but hey, you know us, any chance to walk. The walk also allowed us to check out the area and hit a Checkers for gifts for GR and Roma. Everything works out somehow!

Check in at the hotel is easy; we have a nice room on the 4^th floor with a little balcony by the rooftop pool (which btw has a bar – nice!). We meet Colleen, our Gate 1 guide, and hit it off immediately.  We had the best time chatting with her.  Told her we would try to make it to the 7:30 orientation meeting in the morning, but explained we were still on the ship, etc.  Also let her know we wouldn’t be joining them for any of the tours until the optional Wine tour. That way she wouldn’t have to worry or wait for us.

And then it was back to HoHo bus and the ship. We were dropped off at the main HoHo office and debated whether to walk back, but Ndara, our shuttle guy, was there and after a humorous conversation about whether we want to walk back or are just walking back because Ndara was going to wait 10 minutes before leaving, Ndara ended up taking just the 2 of us directly back to the ship.  He’s a hoot.

Back in the cabin, we finalize the packing, then head up to the Living Room for prize redemption.  Ok, Bianca doesn’t even check the damn photo hunt answers.  Sigh.  All that work.  But, bonus:  we each get 80 points.  80?  That’s a boatload (excuse the pun) and we end up with t-shirts and luggage tags and bottle openers and a koozie and a cool bag.  Ok – that was fun and worth it.  Look out Quest, here we come!

Then it’s the sad night. Saying goodbye. We are ready to get off the ship but not to leave everyone. We take more pix with our pals, Kenneth, Joseph, Dan, then go to a final destination show with a good singing group, finish packing our bags and hit the hay for the last time aboard Pursuit.