"The Fairest Cape"

“This cape is the most stately thing and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.”

– From the journal of Sir Francis Drake, on seeing the Cape for the first time, 1580

Monday (Feb 6)

The Cape Peninsula tour -- unquestionably a very full day, but probably my favorite day we spent in the Cape Town area.

We started off going through Sea Point, passing Clifton Beaches, to make our first stop at Camps Bay where we got out of the van, stretched our legs, and took some pictures of this beautiful beach -- surrounded by boulders, against the backdrop of Table Mountain -- SO beautiful.

Next stop -- Hout Bay Harbor. Along this scenic route, we drove with the Twelve Apostles mountain range on our left and ocean and beaches on our right -- gorgeous. As we turned the corner after Llandudno Beach heading into Hout Bay, I saw a sign for Suikerbossie. I asked Angie if we could make a quick detour there since I know that was where Imar and Tamara got married, and I wanted to see it. Unfortunately, the gates going up to Suikerbossie were locked, but at least we gave it a shot.

Our first order of business getting into the Hout Bay Harbor is to get ourselves tickets for the next boat heading to "Seal Island." I think it's actually called Duiker Island, but everyone calls it "Seal Island" since there is a large colony of african fur seals inhabiting it. We got ourselves tickets for the boat leaving in 10 minutes, the Calypso. Standing in line to board to the Calypso, we realized we were the only people not part of a large Indian tour group going on this boat ride. We found ourselves a bench on the boat and settled in to enjoy the beautiful scenery surrounding us. We soon arrived at "Seal Island" and were entertained by the hundreds of seals on this small rock island. Some were swimming, others waddling as fast as they could to dive into the water, others napping in the sun on top of the rocks or each other, and others showing off their tricks in the water. Ben was just commenting how he was surprised it didn't smell bad, and then we turned a corner -- into the wind. BAM! Seal smell wafted in our direction. Luckily, we only had to endure it for a few minutes as we turned around to head back to the harbor.

Once we returned to the harbor, we spent about ten minutes looking around at all the african curio shops and what they had to offer. I bargained to get myself some Africa earrings and a UGA colored belt. Next, we were off to Chapman's Peak.

Chapman's Peak Drive is an incredibly scenic route along the peninsula overlooking the Hout Bay area with the Table Mountain Reserve on the other side. We stopped at the Peak to taking pictures of the gorgeous vista -- one of the most beautiful panoramas I have ever seen.

We continued our journey down to Cape Point, stopping at Cape Point Ostrich Farm along the way. Although I think this stop is planned for Angie to get commission on anything we buy at the farm's shop, we enjoyed seeing the ostriches and exploring the store. They had ostrich...everything --ostrich leather purses/belts/cases, ostrich feather jewelry, ostrich biltong, ostrich egg decor, ostrich egg lights. We ended up getting a few ostrich trinkets here (I got an ostrich egg lamp which I'm pretty excited about). Outside the store, there was a nice looking male ostrich in his pen. I decided to get a picture standing by him in front of the pen. I tried to not to get too close though since I know they have a reputation for having a dangerous kick. After the first picture, I glanced at him and he was starting to look a little fiesty, so I darted away.

As we got closer to Cape Point, we got to see some wildlife -- bontebok, baboons, and a few falcons/eagles. I'm actually glad we got to see the baboons up close and personal since we didn't really see any in Sabi Sabi. We then ventured down to the Cape of Good Hope (the most southwestern part of the African continent) to get our tourist photo-op and explore some of the mountain trails around the area. Then it was time for lunch, so we headed over to Cape Point.

We ate lunch at the Two Oceans restaurant outside on their patio overlooking the ocean/mountain vista. While we are waiting for our food to arrive, some older ladies at the table next to us try to get our attention -- "Excuse me! There is a mouse by your feet." Say what?! I look down to see a little striped mouse on the edge of my flip flop -- kind of cute, kind of disconcerting. I lifted up my feet, so he could do his thing and move on, which he did. Our food arrived, and Dad, Ben, and I enjoyed some fish and chips while Mom was more adventurous with a Kudu steak. I tried some, and it actually was pretty good -- tasted like beef.

After lunch we headed to the top of Cape Point via the funicular (aka inclined railway). Once at the top, Mom, Ben and I climbed the remaining stairs to get to the very top point by the light house. Apparently the lighthouse was only in use for a short time because they realized it was to high above the fog level -- so essentially it was useless. We again took the opportunity to get some nice photos of "the fairest cape" before heading back down to meet Angie to go to Boulders Beach.

At Boulders Beach awaited the african penguins! I love these little weird birds, and I was excited to see them in action. Also, Ben's nickname for me is "pikkewyn," so we had to see these little guys. As we walk down the boardwalk towards the beach, we see penguins on rocks, penguins on the sand, penguins in the grass reeds, but sadly, no penguins in the water (I wanted to see them swimming). We settle in among the crowd to watch and take pictures of the penguins doing their thing. We saw and heard them braying like donkeys (hence their former name -- jackass penguins). We saw them mating. We saw them sleeping. We saw them digging their nests while spraying their faithful partner with sand. We saw the holding "hands"/fins. AND THEN -- we saw them fighting. Apparently one male got a little too close to another male's girl, and off they went --fins/wings flapping, beaks biting, little legs chasing. The offended male chased the other one straight into the water, which I was pretty happy about since I got to see some penguin swimming action. The offender eventually returned from the water -- to the other side of the beach, far from his attacker. After all this excitement, it was time to head back so we could make it to Kirstenbosch Gardens before they closed.

We arrived at Kirstenbosch Gardens around 5:30pm, two hours until the park closed, but still too late for tea at the restaurant. So, with help from Angie, we took a quick tour of the gardens. We started off at the top among the proteas and headed down to end up in the medicinal garden near the visitors center. Some of us walked down, and some of us rolled down. There was this lovely grass hill, and I decided I wanted to roll down it like I used to do when I was a little kid -- so I did, and it was fun! (dizzying, but fun) Other than rolling down grassy hills, we also found some guinea fowl, a worm (which I proceeded to chase Ben with), and some beautiful, beautiful scenery. This picturesque garden is set in a valley against the backdrop of Table Mountain -- truly gorgeous. They also have a great gift shop with really unique gifts where I ended up getting Rode a cute t-shirt and some other little trinkets.

(the worm chase)

By this time, we had to head back to the hotel. After returning to the hotel, we freshened up and went out to the waterfront restaurant -- Baia. This restaurant is known for their seafood and the view of Table Mountain. Unfortunately, we ended up sitting inside and couldn't appreciate the view. I ended up getting sole again -- so delicious. The food was good, but it was really busy and I think the waiter could have been friendlier.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel lounge where we ended our wonderful day with a nice glass of Amarula.