Elusive Table Mountain in Cape Town (Nov. 21, 2010)

We were up pretty early and saw that Table Mountain was cloud-free. Yay! It looked like a nice day…but by the time we went to the gym, had breakfast and got off the ship, the clouds had moved in. They aren’t working on our time schedule!

We walked over to the Hop On, Hop Off bus…

Here is Table Mountain…or it’s there somewhere!

Nobel Square with statues of Nobel Peace Prize winners—Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. What's with Lego Man in the background?

It's Elliott the Coca-Cola crate man. Several of these have popped up in Australia. It shows what you can do with recycling!

There is a dry dock facility for refurbishing ships...

We saw a few people looking at something on the dock so we went to investigate. Seals…

These are African fur seals and differ from “true” seals in that they bark, have thick fur which they moult once a year, and can lift their bodies off the ground when they “walk” rather than dragging themselves.

Some very nice boats here!

And some that have been around for a while! The one on the left is covered in birds and bird poop.

We decided to buy a two-day pass on the bus and do the blue line bus tour this morning, which doesn’t go to Table Mountain. Hopefully, tomorrow the weather will cooperate. The blue line tour does a tour of the peninsula and stops at Kirstenbosch Gardens. The first thing Jim saw was a nice car!

We passed by the statue of Bartholomeu Dias, the first explorer to arrive at the southern tip of Africa in 1487. He was looking for a way around Africa and his two ships were badly battered by gales. He reported his findings back to Portugal calling it the Cape of Good Hope, which was better than the Cape of Storms.

It was Sunday and it was quiet in the downtown area. We were cautioned that once the office buildings vacate during the week and on weekends, it’s not the best place to be.

Part of the art deco architecture…the Purple Turtle was a tattoo parlour in an undesirable area, but they have cleaned it up and it is now a comedy theatre.

Some of the lovely homes…it was getting foggier as we carried on…

By the time we arrived at Kirstenbosch, it was pouring rain. We finally had to give up our seats outside on the bus and move under cover. We heard that Kirstenbosch is beautiful covering over 1300 acres, but in the rain, we decided to pass on it.

The next stop was Imizamo Yethu Township, one of the poorer areas of Cape Town. The tourist guide said it has a unique feel and is part of the South African culture. If you get off here, a guide will meet you and tour you around the town. Not part of the town you should be doing on your own.

Our next stop was Camps Bay which is a cute little marina. It was starting to clear by now and we moved back outside on the bus. We decided to just do the complete loop for today.

Jim spied a 1950s Mercedes in excellent condition…

Lots of little bakeries and fish shops and some nice houses on the hill…

It was clearing off nicely now and we had a good view of Lion’s Head with the houses going down to the water.

No wonder so many ships have wrecked here over time.

The Twelve Apostles are remaining hidden. Turns out there are actually 17 of them and no one seems to remember why they were called the Twelve Apostles.

We’re coming into the pricey part of Cape Town in Bantry Bay. It's known as the wind-free area in Cape Town so it's highly desirable.

Nice beaches… It wasn't unusual to see workers taking a rest. They don’t like to rush things!

Sea Point with lots of beautiful condos and restaurants and the place to party at night. It's the only high-rise area available along the whole Cape Town shoreline.

These look like townhouses. Must be great to have the tour buses driving past your house every half hour.

The Sea Point promenade…very popular area for walkers, joggers and sunbathers…

The lighthouse at Mouille Point…in French a mouille is a breakwater. In the early 1700s, a breakwater was started in order to protect the ships. Construction began in 1743 using slave labour, but after 3 years and high seas, the project was abandoned with only 100 m built.

And it was back to the waterfront. By now we were starved and looking for a place to have lunch.

We sat outside and enjoyed fish and chips, a glass of wine, the people passing by and the warm sun. I was in search of a pharmacy, so we walked to the nearby mall.

Getting Advil was an exercise. You can’t get it over the counter and we were quite surprised when they asked for our names and a phone number when they gave it to us. Then they got out a little cage and locked it inside. We were looking at each other and trying not to laugh. It’s Advil! But things are different here. We headed with our little cage to the cash.

And wandered back to the ship. The clouds were still covering the mountain.

The waterfront at night…

And a full moon…we’re hoping for a sunny day tomorrow to see Table Mountain!

Penguins, Ostriches and Baboons (Oh My!) in Cape Town (Nov. 20, 2010)

We were getting close to Cape Town and our team got together for our last trivia game. We won once during the cruise…not bad! Kersti was a fountain of knowledge!

It was our last formal night and our dinner mates were going in style. When in Africa... We bowed to Stan the Chief and his good wife, Marilyn!

Gary and Diane from outside Montreal, and Stan and Marilyn from Florida, have been our table mates for the last 3 weeks. We would still have been at the same table on the next leg of the cruise, except we decided to switch to the early dinner sitting. Not that we loved either…our only complaint about the ship was the set dining times. Hmmm...did we miss the memo on African dress?

Roy and Adelin were our waiters…they were wonderful.

And here is the South African flag...

Arriving in Cape Town a couple of hours ahead of schedule…go, Captain!

The bowl-shaped structure is the stadium that was built for the 2010 World Cup.

Yikes! We decided to avoid the tomatoes for a couple of days. Something must have shifted in the truck and when they opened the doors, they got a tomato surprise!

Table Mountain is a Cape Town landmark, but it was hiding behind the clouds…

We saw lots of signs for Table Mountain and our plan was to go up there on one of the three days in Cape Town.

We were doing a private tour today, going to see the penguins and also going to Cape Point and through the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. This landmark on the right is the Time Ball Tower. The ball on the tower would drop every day at 1:00 and sailors would set their watches by it.

Beautiful beaches…Cape Town is very windy!

We arrived at Boulders and by now the clouds had turned to rain…

But we were still going to see those penguins!

Here they are…penguins mate for life…

Our tour guide, Patrick, talking to Jim…it was windy and rainy but you wouldn’t know it by looking at them!

A penguin strolling…

You can see that some of the penguins were moulting. They don’t go in the water during that three week period and also don’t eat during that time…

Don’t they have a great view! 

Now that’s neat…the flag on your rear view mirrors!

Beautiful bougainvillea…something tells me they don’t use their garage.

Next stop…the Cape of Good Hope game reserve in Table Mountain National Park. It was still raining.

It was spring in Cape Town and the flowers were beautiful.  This is the national flower, the protea. There are over 1100 species of indigenous plants in the Cape of Good Hope, some of which are found nowhere else on earth.

We got to Cape Point where there is a funicular to take you partway up to the lighthouse. We debated whether it was worth it to go up there as it was rainy and foggy, and we wondered how much we would be able to see. Patrick said if it was him, he would go for it, so we did.

Good safety record on the funicular…

Until it crashed to a halt and we limped back to the station…

Whatever the problem was, it was quickly fixed and we made it to the top. It was beautiful!! It had stopped raining and the views were spectacular. 

Jim and Kim at Cape Point…

From here, you could walk up to the lighthouse…Jeff was hoping to see baboons as he had smuggled out a banana in his backpack. We were hoping he didn't!

One step at a time…the original lighthouse was built in 1860 and was 249 m above sea level. It was ineffective as it was covered by cloud and mist much of the time. After the wreck of the Portuguese liner Lusitania in 1911, this lighthouse was built on Dias Point 87 m above sea level.

We couldn’t believe what a break we got in the weather!

Signs to everywhere!

Here comes Jim…doing good!

Only 12,000 km to New York!

A dassie, which is Dutch for badger. They are slow moving and have padded feet which produce a sticky sweat that allows them to cling to rock faces. They also have a collapsible ribcage, allowing them to get into rock crevasses to escape predators.

This is what the guys did while the girls checked out the gift shop…Rich, Jeff, Jim and Bob.

As we continued our drive, we spotted some wild ostrich on the side of the road.

Then we were amazed at how many….seals? penguins? birds? were out there. What was this stuff? Patrick says in his thick French accent, "It eez kelp." Seaweed? Gotta love those tourists!

The Cape of Good Hope…the most south-western point in Africa…

Our Mercedes van for the day…we’ve had great vehicles…

We stopped by an ostrich farm…

They are very curious and this one guy sauntered over to check us out…you can hear Patrick’s nice accent. He has been in South Africa for 24 years!

Jeff got his wish…sitting on the side of the road were two baboons. These Chacma baboons have lived on the Cape Peninsula for a million years! The one by the bush is holding a baby under one arm. Jeff wanted to get out his banana and Patrick just about had a fit. No feeding the baboons!! They are very strict about this. Patrick could be fined and the baboon could be put down as they become too aggressive.

Yikes! Check out those teeth!

That’s what he thinks of us…

Seriously, are you still here?

Momma and baby…

We drove back to town along scenic Chapman's Peak. The road hugs the nearly vertical face of the mountain.

It's a very windy road with lots of nets to catch falling rocks…

And here we are back in town. This is the Lutheran church, one of the oldest Protestant churches in South Africa.

We were docked on the Victoria and Alfred waterfront…a beautiful setting…

It was the last night of this leg of the cruise and they had the traditional carrying in of the baked Alaska. Gone are the sparklers…replaced by battery operated candles! Adelin looks quite pleased with himself!

The entertainment was really good. It was called African Marsala and was a mix of everything…here comes the first group…

Loved the older guy on the right…he was having a great time!

The gumbooters did double duty…

This lady could move…

This group was really great…

 
We said goodnight to Ricky, Laelin and Julio, our favourite bartenders. The crew was very excited to be in a port overnight as they get to go out on the town. Laelin and Julio tried to convince us to go with them, but going out at 12:30??? We left that to them!

We had a great day in Cape Town, but were sad because Nancy and Joe were leaving the cruise in Cape Town. We have enjoyed their company so much.