Day Five
Happy Birthday Grandma Clark!
We woke up much earlier in the morning than any of us wanted to for an 8 AM tour of Capetown. Most of us were downstairs promptly at 8 but it seems that we have discovered that in “Capetown time” everything is about 15 minutes later than the given time.
The first stop on the tour was Maiden’s Cove where we got to take in beautiful scenery, and be a little adventurous on the rocks. After climbing around for a while, we all piled back into the bus for the next stop. We headed back out and were warned to keep an eye out for Baboons because they are EVERYWHERE!
We unloaded out of the 15 passenger van again to pile onto a boat. The waves were ideal for seasickness as we rocked and rolled across the ocean.
The boat stopped for a while and floated while we took pictures of the seals on Seal Island. Just before we headed back, we were treated with a seal stampede as they all charged down the rocks and into the water.
Once we got back to the Marina we went around to all the street vendors lined up along the dock. Here we got a few items (including Matt’s really cool hard wood chessboard) then got back into the van.
We drove through the mountains to find many many warnings pertaining to Baboons. Apparently they run rampant through the mountains attacking tourists for food.
After our scenic ride in the van we stopped for lunch at a lovely little restaurant at the base of a hill holding a lighthouse. After a yummy lunch with our tour guide, we regrouped in front of a statue of the ever plentiful baboons. We then headed up on a trolley and climbed several flights of stairs to reach the lighthouse.
This particular light house was built in 1857 and eventually replaced because it was so high that the cloud cover would mask it so profusely that ships would not see and crash in the bay below.
There was a sign at the lighthouse showing which direction and how far different cities were. New York was 12,541 kilometers away!
We left the light house and began heading down the mountain where we pulled over on the side of the road having spotted a set of ostriches. They stopped to eat just a few feet away from us! It was amazing to see them so close, yet nerve wracking to know that if anything were to happen they could outrun us in that van!
Once we left the ostriches, we headed for the Cape of Good Hope (which contrary to our Grandpa Henry’s belief is not also Cape Point). After a family picture in front of the Cape of Good hope sign (in both English and Afrikaan) we got to go out climbing on the rocks again. The sea was still as uneasy as it had been on the boat and crashed on the rocks we stood upon, spraying us with faint sea spray so by the time we left we took the sea with us as we could still taste in on our lips.
From the Cape of Good Hope we headed to Cape Point. We were warned to keep an eye out for baboons, yet again and just like the Cape of Good Hope we saw some fantastic scenery and even larger waves. The large waves we found out were not due to the meeting of the Indian and Atlantic oceans (as popularly believed) but the meeting of the warm currents from the Indian ocean meeting with the cold currents from Antarctica. Whatever the reason, though, the waves were truly spectacular!
After Cape Point came the Penguins. Yes, I said penguins in South Africa, and they were absolutely adorable.
It was mating and maulting season for the penguins, so we had to stay behind the gates and just follow the trail, but we did get to see some really big penguin babies, all fuzzy and cute!
On the way back to the car we ran into a penguin waddling down the walking path. He was strutting around like he owned the place. It was amazing to be about a foot or less away from a penguin with no fence between us. The Penguin made his way down the walking path we had just emerged from and we headed back to our van to head home. We never did see a single baboon…
Once back at the condo we pulled out our purchases and played a few games of chess on Matt’s new board, had dinner, and went to bed to rest up for the adventure awaiting us tomorrow.
