Our Journey to the Cape of Good Hope.

Princess Cruises Day –Day Tour to the Cape of Good Hope from Cape Town.

It is Saturday and it is our third day in Cape Town. We are up bright and early as they have put the departure time for our all day excursion forward an hour because the ship has to leave on time at 5pm. We now leave at 7am for the two hour drive to the Cape of Good Hope.



The beaches we pass on the way to the Cape of Good Hope are beautiful.

Part of the mountain range known as the Twelve Apostles.

Our route takes us through the suburbs of Green Point and Sea Point to Camps Bay – we then continue along the Atlantic coastline towards Hout Bay, a small and picturesque fishing village. From Hout Bay we continue via the scenic Chapman’s Peak drive stopping to admire the fantastic views and to take some photos. This drive is extremely steep, narrow and winding and made even more treacherous because there are hundreds of bike riders and runners also out early on this Saturday morning tackling this difficult road.



The view back to Hout Bay from the Chapman's Peak drive.

After passing through many interesting holiday towns we eventually arrive at the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. This point is famous because it is where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and their different ecosystems are said to meet. The reserve occupies 19,000acres of indigenous flora and fauna and Cape Point with its dramatic sea cliffs is the main attraction in the reserve and is actually further south than the promontory named the Cape of Good Hope.



Eland grazing at Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.

It is to Cape Point that we first head. On the way we see zebra, ostrich, eland and other large antelope grazing. At the Cape Point we take a ride on the Flying Dutchman Funicular up to the main viewing points. From here we can see the Cape of Good Hope and the shear and rugged cliffs of Cape Point. It is an absolutely breathtaking coastline and the views are magnificent. We then venture to the car park at the Cape of Good Hope where there is a board that marks the spot – so everyone has to have their photo taken here.



Looking towards the Cape of Good Hope.



The beach at the Cape of Good Hope- this is a 1.5 hour walk to the beach.



At the sign that marks where the Cape of Good Hope is - unfortunately the English is on the other end.

From here we journey back through the Nature Reserve and travel to a place called Boulders Beach.  Here we have quite a long walk along a beach which is heavily populated with dark Africans enjoying a family picnic and swim in the ocean. We walk through many street stalls all selling handmade African artefacts. Eventually we get to a beach that is fenced off and there to our surprise is a colony of many hundreds of tiny African Penguins. They are swimming in the surf, walking along the beach, sitting on the rocks and nesting on new baby chicks.



Penguins on the beach and in the water at Boulders Beach.



View of the swimming beach.
Apparently the water is very cold because of the currents that come from the Southern Ocean.

After viewing the penguins for some time we go to a lovely restaurant overlooking the ocean for a delicious lunch. As we are eating we can hear African drums and singing and as we leave the restaurant we come across several groups of young children dressed in traditional costumes dancing barefooted in the car park. It is great to hear their singing as this is the only time we have the chance to hear this different type of music and song.



The African children sins & dance for us.

Back on the road we travel through the naval base of Simon’s Town to Fish Hook. From here we pass through the colourful fishing harbour of Kalk Bay, before seeing magnificent views of Muizenberg and False Bay. The scenery we have seen today has all been very impressive and it would have been great to be driving our own car so we could have stopped more to really take in the views.

Eventually we arrive at our last stop for the day – Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. These gardens are world famous and sprawl over 560 hectares on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain and contain over 4,500 species of indigenous plants. Here we have about 1.5 hours to explore the gardens on our own. This is nowhere near enough time to see all that these beautiful gardens have to offer. We walk very quickly and get to see the cycad gardens with many dinosaur statues and also the protea gardens – but unfortunately there are not many in flower.



Protea Flowers on display.



The Cycad Gardens with Table Mountain in the background.



Part of the general part of the Kirstenbosch Gardens.



A little bird sitting on about the only Protea Flower we saw.

We return to the ship and very soon after we are up on the back of deck 14 for the sail away party. There is music playing and lots of people are on deck, drink in hand enjoying the wonderful weather, taking photos and saying a sad farewell to Cape Town. Everyone we have spoken to has loved their time in Cape Town. And to make our sail away even more memorable just after we left port clouds started forming over the majestic Table Mountain and we were lucky enough to see a partial table cloth descend over the mountain. This was very special.


Us at the sail away with Cape Town behind us.

We have had a fantastic three days and enjoyed every moment we have spent in Cape Town and to our pleasant surprise we have actually survived 3 days of 10+ hours each day sightseeing.



The clouds form over the top of Table Mountain a1nd we see a partial Table Cloth. It only lasts for a couple of minutes and then disappears.

Table Mountain & Lions Peak.