Incomparable Cape Town & Cape Peninsula - August 27, 2008

We woke up to a picture perfect cloudless blue sky day - a rarity in Cape Town this time of the year as they are heading into early spring. Our Commodore breakfast lacked for nothing -yummy! Andrew picked us up at 8:30am for an incomparable day which we spent touring the magnificent Cape Peninsula driving south on the Atlantic Ocean side through Bantry Bay and Camps Bay with the Twelve Apostles Mountains providing a stunning backdrop. We stopped at Hout Bay for a boat excusion to an island of Cape Seals. Due to a rock slide, we weren't able to drive along Chapman's Peak and Long Beach (but we did catch a good glimspe of this stunning drive) after our delightful detour through Constantia, seeing Groot Constantia Vineyard, a favorite varietal of Queen Victoria. She is said to have rarely gone to bed without downing a glass! South Africa started winemaking in 1652 and is the oldest winemaking country outside of Europe. After stopping to see an Ostrich Farm and a Shona Tribe's carved stonework, we re-emerged on the Atlantic coast at Misty Bay where we enjoyed a walk on the beach and a rare sighting of two African Oyster Catchers (indigenous protected species).

We drove all the way to the end of the Peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern tip of the African continent where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. We took the Flying Dutchman funicular to the end of the Cape, just below the lighthouse. We enjoyed breathtaking views of the meeting of the oceans, Dias Beach, Cape Point and False Bay - photo ops galore! Seeing the Cape of Good Hope was one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments (much like Machu Picchu with Clark two years ago). After the inspirational moment on the Cape, we headed for Simon's Town on False Bay for a stupendous outdoor lunch where the Indian Ocean breezes and food were heavenly. The calamari at Seaforth Restaurant is the best we have even tasted. After devouring the fish, we joined our entertaining fish eatting friends on Boulders Beach....the Indian Ocean Penguins. A colony of 4,000 live on Boulders Beach. Continuing north, we arrived at Muizenberg Beach , a great surfing beach where "Shark Spotters" keep a vigilant eye out for the great white sharks that have been recently sighted. Spotters radio lifeguards when they have a sighting to clear the waters of surfers.

Then it was up to Table Mountain, the towering 3,500 foot massif that forms the impressive backdrop for Cape Town. We rode the cable car to the top where we enjoyed hiking on both sides of the mountain to capture the magnificent vistas of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Town. The wild flowers were starting to show their colors as spring begins on September 1. There are six Floristic Kingdoms in the entire world and Cape Town is its own Kingdom with the highest number of species in the entire world - 3% of the world's surface with 10% of its flowering plants; 68% are endemic to Cape Town. As we were leaving Table Mountain, the clouds, which are affectionately called the "Table Cloth" were moving in for the night and, as it turned out, the next two days. Boy, did Andrew make the right call to switch our original itinerary from Kirstenbosch Gardens to Table Mountain. After coming down from the mountain top, Andrew drove us up to Lions Head, one of three distinctive mountains towering above Cape Town (the third being Devil's Peak). We enjoyed seeing Guinea Fowl, the new stadium under construction for the 2010 World Cup, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned) and the site of our paragliding launch the next morning (which had to be cancelled because of bad weather). Andrew then drove us to the beautiful Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to show us the restaurant Baia, where he had dinner reservations. A 10 minute walk back to our hotel to clean up and return for a delicious dinner of Langoustines and the first of many South African Pino Noirs!