34-21-24 South Latitude, 18-29-31 East Latitude

Cape Point

November 9th, 2008

We decided to drive up to Cape Point, the meeting place of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans- a “must-do” when visiting Cape Town. Arriving at the National Park we were surprised by the volume of tourists. Tour buses lined the parking lot in neat rows. People everywhere completely unaware of what is around them, staring into space, crowding for photos, and generally a bit annoying as tourists usually are (ourselves included  ). Once we moved away from the main building, the crowd thinned and we made our way up the paved trail to the top of the hill. At the top beautiful scenes lay before us, crashing waves, rocky cliffs, and a few boats in the far, far distance. In a word stunning, it was absolutely stunning.

Descending towards our car and our packed lunch waiting for us, we saw another trail pointing in the direction of Cape Good Hope. After munching on avocado sammies, and crunching on apples and carrots for the sake of detoxing before retoxing, we decided to walk. It was a great trail and had the advantage of a secluded beach branching off, a beach with bright greenish water and the whitest of sand. Deciding to go for it, we went down a steep staircase followed by an even steeper sand bank. Sinking into the sand with each step, we made it to the shoreline. We enjoyed a lazy walk along the tide loving the cool water hitting our feet. Going back up to the trail wasn’t as fun, but we did make it in one piece.

As we headed back towards Cape Town we passed Bolders beach, a place known for the African penguins which live there. They used to be near extinction with only two breeding couples in 1982, but now boast a colony of 3,000. They were super cute, mostly standing down wind and closely together. There was one however who was waddling along solo on the other side of the beach, with his wings flapping slightly at his side. He was the icing on the cake.