Exploring the Cape Peninsula

We had our longest excursion thus far scheduled for Tuesday: a full-day exploration of the Cape Peninsula, with stops at the cape itself, Simon’s Town for lunch and penguin viewing, and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The long trip meant another early day for the boys, so we brought them food from the Café to get them going. We were on the bus and ready to go at 7:15.

It was a fairly long haul down to the cape, but the scenery along the way was breathtaking. We climbed up Chapman’s Peak and had spectacular views of the shoreline below. As we entered the less developed areas I spotted an African Harrier-hawk and we saw a group of Bontebok, a type of antelope. Arriving at the cape point, we took the obligatory photo behind the sign proclaiming this the southwestern tip of Africa and stretched our legs and watched the birds and fur seals. Some clarity on the latter from what I posted in a previous entry: these really are called Fur Seals, but they are a type of sea lion rather than a true seal. They have external ears and can pivot their rear flippers forward to help them walk on land.

After this stop we went to the cape lighthouse, which is perched high up and offers great panoramic views. There is a funicular to the top, but it was not operating. We took the offered bus up and explored. We walked down as we wanted to get some steps on this day with so much time on the bus. On the way down we saw a group of ostrich feeding nearby.

Next stop was Simon’s Town for lunch. The restaurant was seafood-focused, but they did pasta for us vegetarians. We then proceeded to the penguin beach. Liz and I were in Simon’s Town in 1999, but it has changed quite a bit since then. At the time you would just walk down to the beach and look at the penguins, but now there’s a whole enclosed area for them that charges an entry fee. The observation platform gives you excellent views, and the birds are better protected from the visitors. We had a great time watching the penguins entering and exiting the water, and DJ spotted one sitting on an egg.

Our final stop was at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. This is a really well-done garden, with a huge number of local plants, all identified as to species. They now have a canopy walk that takes you out at treetop height, which was cool. We only had about an hour in the garden, but we made good use of it to walk around.

We were back to the ship around 4:30 to see many new faces aboard. The Rio-to-Cape Town segment had ended and the Cape Town-to-Singapore segment had begun. Rumor has it we gained some 200 new passengers here and are now at or near capacity.

The wind had really kicked up since we left, and the harbor was full of whitecaps. As we moved out beyond the breakwater the wind was really howling outside. We found a sheltered spot on the pool deck to watch first Table Mountain and then the Twelve Apostles disappear into the distance.En savoir plus