This was certainly a full day. We boarded the bus at 9:30 for our journey to the Cape of Good Hope. (We had already had our morning walk in the rain). We saw many kinds of landscape along the way, as well as ocean vistas.
We stopped in the late morning for a brief shopping break at a small fishing village. There was a lively market where we bought a couple of small "tin montage" paintings and I fed a seal a couple of fish. This seal was adopted by a local guy when it was a pup and it swims free every night, returning each day for the cushy life as a tourist attraction.
We continued towards the Cape of G.H., passing through the Constantia wine area, home of the rich and famous and the source of many fine wines including "Two Oceans".
As the surroundings became more wild, we began to see signs warning of baboons and that we must not feed them. Eventually, sure enough, we saw several of them cavorting on a hillside so we stopped to get some photos. They were being watched by a "baboon monitor".
We also saw many ostriches roaming free on the hills and along the edge of the ocean.
The Cape of Good Hope itself is a relatively small finger of land where the Atlantic currents meet those of the Indian Ocean. We did not climb to the top of the cape hill, but saw the waves crashing and rolling around the point.
We then proceeded to Cape Point, where there is a high lighthouse and amazing views down onto the Cape and surrounding oceans.
We had lunch at the base of the path and Larry lost part of his sandwich to an attacking starling who grabbed it on a "fly pass".
We climbed about 3/4 of the way to the lighthouse but decided that was our limit, especially since we needed to board the bus on time.
It was an amazing area, dramatic and beautiful. And who knew, when we studied the Cape of Good Hope in history and geography, that one day we would stand there?
Our trip continued with a visit to the Penguin Colony at Boulder, where we saw African penguins up close and got some great photos. They are certainly cute little guys.
On the drive back to Cape Town we passed an area of the bay where great white sharks are common. We saw non of them, but did spot whales in two different places.
Frank gave us a brief rundown on on South African history and a description of the activities tomorrow.
In the evening 12 of us walked a few blocks to the "Ocean Basket" restaurant - what a great experience that was!! Our "waitron" was Oscar, a born entertainer and very helpful person. He explained all the options and described all the unfamiliar kinds of fish. We all thoroughly enjoyed the meal to the extent that Oscar brought out the chef for our applause. And the cost was surprisingly modest. Just lovely!!
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