Cape Point

Day 4 South Africa:

Today was a long day full of driving around the western coastline with absolutely breathtaking views of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  We left Cape Town and drove through Bishop’s Court where some of the nicest houses are.  We continued on to Simon’s Town where Tammy’s great Aunt and Uncle live but we couldn’t get in touch with them so we just waived at their house as we drove by.   We stopped at a gem stone store and I made a necklace and a bracelet then we continued on to an artisan market where we bargained for more African souvenirs. I got the coolest wooden mask with an afro to hang in my room at home! Our next stop was Boulder’s Beach to see the warm climate penguins.  We went to a more residential area so there weren’t many tourists.  The penguins were just waddling all over the rocks and hanging out in little burrows they had made in the plants.  We could get really close to them and they would just stare at us as if saying ‘hello’.

The highlight of the day was going to Cape Point- the southern most point in Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.  It was a cloudy day but we could still see the point at which the two oceans converged. We hiked up to the top of the lookout point and climbed over the barrier even though it wasn’t the smartest idea on a windy day.  It was so cool to look straight down into the ocean from high above and be at the very tip of a continent. After driving through the national park for a bit we saw several ostrich and baboons!  Before making our way back toward Cape Town we had a late lunch at in Hoat Bay, another beautiful beach town.  I ordered Sole for the first time and loved it!  The fish is so fresh here.

We were coming back into Cape Town just before sunset so we had our driver stop at Camps Bay (our favorite beach area) for a sunset cocktail.  We were walking across the street and several guys waived us over to their table on the patio of a bar.  They invited us for drinks so we figured ‘why not?’.   They ended up being Argentinean rugby players here in Cape Town for a tournament.  They knew about as much English as I knew Spanish so we chatted back and forth switching languages for the next hour watching yet another gorgeous African sunset.  We decided to continue the day with our new friends and gave them a ride to the waterfront with our driver so they could see our ship.  We all had appetizers and beer at our favorite bar, Mitchell’s, before they had to leave for a team dinner.  We never ended up meeting again with our Argentinean friends that night when we were out on Long Street, but it sure did make for a great memory.