The weather forecast was predicting some doomsday scenario for today. It was supposed to be colder, windier and rainier than yesterday, and worse than the storms yesterday morning and last night would pretty much have to be the end of the world, as far as I can imagine.
But when we woke up (at 8am!) the sky was clear, the sun was shining and there was almost no wind. Actually, I woke up to use the washroom around 6am, there were stars out.
(Sidenote: South Africa is about as wide as BC and Alberta combined -half as tall, but has only one time zone. So the sun rises and sets at much more civilised time here on the west coast than it does in the east, where the game parks are.)
So we decided to take advantage of the suprise nice weather and go south the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. As was suggested by our host, we went in the morning as number 1, the winds generally get worse in the afternoon; and number 2, the tour buses from Cape Town arrive around 11am and the place becomes a mad house.
It's a pretty drive up to the point, with lots of nice views of the sea. We arrived at the Cape Point parking lot at about 9:30, but the funicular (tram) to the top of the point was having technical issues and wasn't scheduled to start until 10am anyway. So we decided to drive around to the Cape of Good Hope and then come back.
The parking lot for the Cape of Good Hope is at sea level, next to the Atlantic. Just as we parked, UG pointed out the 4 ostriches wandering around the end of the parking lot. I took a few photos from the car before getting out, as I was sure they would run off as soon as I did. But when I got out of the car, they stayed where they were, so I snapped some more pictures. UG decided to climb to the peak (about 60 feet of stairs followed by a scramble for another 100 feet or so), so I got back into the car to wait for him. As soon as I got into the car, the ostriches ran towards the car. I wanted to get more pictures, but I was afraid to open the window. They passed the car and started heading down the road, and I realized they had probably felt trapped by us, with the rock face behind them, the ocean to their left and us in front of them. So when they felt safe, they decided to make a break for it get get more out in the open. Goofy birds.
After UG got some great photos and came back down, we went back to the other point. By then, the parking lot had almost filled up, and we were feeling like we should have waited for the funicular to start because we had such a good parking spot before. But we were first in line for the next car once we bought our tickets, and didn't have to wait too long.
At the top of the tram, there's another set of stairs up to the old lighthouse. As were were climbing the stairs, I recognized one of the couples from our safari jeep at Elephant Plains. They have been doing a similar route to ours with their young adult son. They are headed back to Sweden tomorrow, so I doubt we'll see them again.
From the base of the lighthouse, we saw a couple of dolphin or seals playing in the waves. It's hard to tell them apart from almost 300m above. After we saw the ones surfing the waves, UG pointed out some dark patches a little further out. He said he wasn't moving until he saw the shark come by for a feeding. After quite a while when I didn't see any of them surfacing for air, I pulled out the binoculars, and realized we were watching seaweed.
I am really nervous about this shark tour if UG thinks sharks eat seaweed!
Combing back down from the tram, we encountered 4 full sized motorcoaches, as opposed to the mini-buses that were there when we arrived. And by then, another 100 or so cars were parked along the road, and disagreements were starting over parking spots and right-of-ways. I guess it's good advice to go in the morning. I also realize those ostriches we were the only ones to see right at that spot were probably thinking "Damn, the tourists aren't supposed to be here for another hour!"
Back in Simon's Town, it had obviously been raining. We came back to the apartment for some lunch, and the plan was to head back out for some more scenic drives to the other side of the penninsula. But UG has fallen asleep on the couch, so it looks like we're in for the rest of the afternoon. There are a whole bunch of sailboats out in the bay, but it seems like a terrible day for sailing, as the wind is almost non-existant, and it keeps raining off and on.
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