At the almost- tip of Africa

If shark diving hadn’t been so awesome, I might’ve said that Wednesday was my favorite day of the port.  It’s a close call.

So, a couple friends had decided to drive down to Cape Point for the day.  This was something I had really wanted to do, but was resigned to the fact that it wasn’t going to happen (I hadn’t wanted to pay for a driver AND was uncomfortable with the idea of renting  a car – did I mention they drive on the left side of the road here?).  Well, my friend Keri (the voyage photographer) lived in New Zealand and Australia for a bit and is used to driving on the left.  So, she, her boyfriend Josh, and 2 other friends and I all split the cost of renting a car.  It worked out well, especially since friends of ours had a rental car horror story in South Africa.

We left really early because we wanted the freedom to stop wherever and whenever we wanted.  This actually was such a luxury.  No cab driver to persuade, no trip to stay connected to.  Just whatever we wanted to do.  We cabbed it to Avis and hopped into our Honda for the day.  We set off for the Cape of Good Hope/ Cape Point (they’re about 10 minutes from each other).

The drive down the coast was gorgeous.  When you have a minute, google "Chapman's Peak" which is the route we took.   We agreed that the drive itself was a worthwhile way to spend the day.  We hadn’t been driving 25 minutes when I noticed some whales nearby in the bay (thanks dive master Wiehann!).  We pulled over and climbed down the little cliff and out onto the rocks to watch them.  We stood there for about 45 minutes watching about 6 whales play (mate?).  They were Southern Right Whales, which are apparently kind of lazy.  No jumping for them, but man they love to roll around and wave their flippers at you.  We're really lucky, because usually they live a little further south, but they come up "north" in September/October for mating and having babies.  Anyway, we played on the rocks for a bit and explored the tide pools.  Josh works for California state parks and knows everything about everything.  It was a great part of our morning.

We headed back out on the road and ended up stopping in some small surfing town to get coffee.  We knew we were getting closer to the cape because we started seeing the warning signs about baboons.  Baboons are no joke here – they are dangerous!  They can open car doors and will steal all of your stuff.  Also, they can rip your arm off.  So I’ve heard.  Or maybe that’s a rumor they started to strike fear into our hearts (done).   We were almost there when we passed by an ostrich farm!  We threw that Honda in reverse and jumped out to go talk to the ostriches for a bit.  Man, they are BIG!!!  You can actually go ostrich riding at the farm, but we had other business to attend to.

We arrived at the park and decided to go to Cape of Good Hope first (the most South Western point of Africa).  It was beautiful.  We climbed all the way to the top and looked out onto the ocean.  There were no barricades or fences – and it was a looooong way down.  People had left some balancing rock gardens up there, so we built our own and headed down. 

We drove through the park over to Cape Point.  Cape Point was even higher up and we set off to get up to the observation area.  It was around 130 or so at this point and I had forgotten to take my malaria medicine around noon (we hadn’t eaten lunch yet).  I had eaten some pretzels, so I figured “no big deal” and popped my pill.  The climb to the top of the Point was a trek, and very steep, so we were sweating pretty good by the time we got up there.  We had even seen some baboons on the way up (and the stupid people getting in their faces with cameras and food – PEOPLE, they can RIP your ARM off!)  It was pretty cool at the top, we could see either side of the point, which was amazing.  At this point I started to feel a little sick but I ate a granola bar and thought I’d be better.  Oh, the lies we tell ourselves!  We were walking down and encountered a baboon kind of blocking the path.  It was at this exact moment that I knew I was about to vom.  I grabbed Leah and said “help me get away from the baboon so I can puke” and we kind of ran around him and down the hill.  I’ll spare you the details, but I actually managed to keep my pill and granola bar down (it wasn’t pretty though).  I was so scared to puke because I knew that baboon would be all over it.  And I wouldn’t have been able to handle that.   SERIOUS crisis averted.  Sorry, I hope you weren't eating breakfast. 

We finally got all the way down and there was a baboon with a baby on its back chasing a man around the parking lot.  There were other baboons on top of people’s cars, leaving behind some "presents." I’d love to tell you I have a picture of this, but I wanted nothing to do with those baboons.  I thought they would take my camera (they might need new Facebook profile pics).  Also, I want nothing to do with rabies shots. 

We left Cape Point and headed up to Boulders Beach, where a colony of penguins randomly moved into in 1982 (only 2 pairs came originaly, but they got to work and now there are 1000 penguins living there, according to the guide).  There wasn’t much to explore besides a little walkway through the beach, but there were so many adorable penguins.  Oh my goodness, it took all restraint not to smuggle one home.  There was one chubby, molting one in particular I wanted to take home in my pocket.  He had a dirty, green tummy and he stood in the same stubborn position the whole time.  I think I have a picture of him somewhere. 

After Boulders Beach, we realized we didn’t have as much time left as we thought.  We had wanted to stop at a winery or two in the winelands, but we didn’t have time.  We stopped at one more beach halfway up and then headed back to Cape Town. 

I was exhausted, but ended up going out to dinner with some friends.   During our cultural preport, someone had recommended we get a favorite Cape Town pizza that has bacon, feta and avocado as toppings.  Well, they had it at the restaurant we were at, so that’s what I ate.  And it was delicious.  (I know, Dad, that’s “not really pizza.”  But it was good!)  We then went out to see some jazz and have some drinks.  It was a long, but great, day.