Our last two days in Cape Town. Yesterday we got on the Big Red Hoho and headed south down the “Peninsula” towards Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, a journey of some 66 kms. We criss crossed back a forth across the Peninsula ( I guess to add some Distance and time to our day so we would feel like we got our money’s worth) until we reached the gates of the Cape Point portion of Table Mountain National Park. The countryside this far down the Peninsula is pretty bleak but beautiful in it’s own way. Rocky headlands, sparsely vegetated and stony hillsides with the occasional bright yellow pincushion protea bush to break the bleakness. Very windy. A popular destination for the day with lots of buses and tour vans in the parking lot. Many people hiking up the steep, paved pathway to the Cape Point Lighthouse for pics of themselves and the Cape Point sign. This is the furthest tip of the Peninsula. A few hundred yards to the right is the actual Cape of Good Hope as the Peninsula actually turns back north so the tip is slightly north of the Cape. Back on the bus for a round about 10 minute trip and we are at the parking lot for the Cape. Get in the lineup to get our pictures taken at the Cape sign. The party in front of you in the lineup gives you their phone and you snap their pic and give their phone back. Next is your turn to pass your phone back and clamour over the rocks to pose behind the sign. Retrieving your phone you move out of the way and the line continues. Everyone patiently awaits their turn. Very polite and democratic.

After a picnic lunch on the bus out of the wind we are on our way again. Next stop is Simon’s Town, home of the African Penguin colony. There is an extra charge to actually go into the compound and see the penguins up close. We were able to walk around the perimeter of the compound and get an up close look at the little critters. Apparently they are the smallest of the 18 penguin species standing about 18-20 inches high and are very speedy swimmers.
Approaching 4:30 we pile back on the bus for the journey home. By the time we alight from the bus it is 5:45. We have been on the bus since 9:30 this morning. We certainly feel as if we got our money’s worth.
Saturday is supposed to be warm and sunny with a high of 28. We had decided that today was going to be a beach day so we Ubered to Camps Bay for a day on the beach. We rented two loungers and an umbrella, lathered up with the SFP 50 lotion and set back to watch the volleyball and surfers. Unfortunately the wind soon picked up and the clouds rolled in. The volleyballers kept at it most of the day but we only saw two surfers. The water looks very inviting but brrrrrr it is cold. I’m sure it is colder than the West Coast. They claim the water on the Atlantic side of the Peninsula in Camps Bay is about 12-14 degrees Celsius. On the other side of the Peninsula on the False Bay side it is upwards of 25 degrees. Huge difference. We did manage to hangout until about 3:30 then dialing up my faithful Uber app we had a car within 2 minutes. As we jumped into the back seat the stereo was blasting. Johnny Cash “Ghost Riders in the Sky” then “A Boy Named Sue” were playing and we jumped right in. Good fun. I must say that Uber is a must when traveling in SA. Very inexpensive and very safe.
Earlier in the week, along the green space at the waterfront Promenade in Sea Point we enjoyed watching the tandem paragliders come in for a landing. They launch from atop Signal Hill, 350 meters up. I have been thinking about it all week so I decided as this was our last day here I was going to do it. As I thought about it today, Icarus came to mind. If you don’t know the Greek legend of Icarus, his father built him a set of wings out of bird’s feathers and bees wax, in order to escape the Labyrinth of Crete. His father warned him not to fly too close to the sun as the warmth of the sun would melt the bee’s wax and he would fall from the sky. Ignoring his father, he did just that and fell into the ocean and drowned. The conditions today were perfect for a safe flight. Cloudy skies and a slight breeze. I was introduced to my pilot Harry, told I had a “nice weight” and off we went to the top of Signal Hill. Unfortunately on the way up the guide received a phone call from the hill saying the wind had picked up, was now blowing higher than the max so we turned around and returned to the beach. No flying for me today. I did get my adrenalin rush though, just thinking about it.

So that is our Cape Town stay. Back to Joberg tomorrow and heading for home on Monday. We have 36 hours of travel time ahead of us. I’ll keep you posted. Love to all