Day 20 - Thursday 1st August

Today we'd booked to go on a tour of the peninsula south of Cape Town all the way to the Cape of Good Hope. Suzy's research had found a suitable tour guide who would take the two us us in his car for the day and she'd booked it through our hotel.

Once again, we had problems with the hotel's internet connection this morning. It worked OK before breakfast but when we got back to our room after breakfast, it was no longer working. Luckily we'd managed to look things up and send emails before breakfast.

Our tour guide, Jochen Mahlmann, was waiting for us in the hotel foyer just before 9am. He drives a black Mercedes Benz sedan. He headed south along the coast road so we could enjoy the scenery.

The first stop was at Hout Bay where we stopped at the wharf to go on a boat trip in the bay to view seals.

Fortunately we were a few minutes late for the first boat that was about to leave - it was packed to the rafters with tour groups. The next boat along the wharf was not booked out and so we had no trouble getting a seat on the upper deck.

While waiting for it to depart, we took photos of a seal being fed by a man sitting on the wharf near the boat. This was nothing compared with what we would see later. The boat sailed out of the bay to a group of rocks where there were dozens of seals sunning themselves on the rocks and swimming in the water nearby.

It seemed as though the various boats were timed to allow one boat at a time. Our boat pulled up very close the rocks in the surging waves and winds to allow us to take as many photos as we liked.

We were there for about 15 minutes before the next boat arrived. Because there weren't many other passengers, we were able to move around during that time to get the best shots - hanging onto railings as we went to make sure we stayed on board rather than joining the seals in the water. The whole expedition took almost an hour.

Back on the road, we travelled further south on the Atlantic side of the peninsular and passed through several towns including Simon Town which is on the Indian Ocean side. It has quaint buildings along the roadside with columns and verandas over the footpath.

Just outside the centre of town, we stopped at a seaside location to view penguins. Jochen parked his car while we walked down the boardwalks to see the penguins. At first there were a few here and there until we got to the beach at the end of the boardwalk where there were lots of penguins on the rocks and on the sands.

Some were so close that we could have reached out to touch them but Jochen had warned us not to because they can bite.

The road south took us along a cliff face where there were warning signs of falls rocks. There were fences and other devices to protect cars from the rocks including cameras to monitor the road.

Although the morning was cool, by now it had warmed up so that it felt like a summer day rather than the middle of winter. Jochen told us we had been lucky because last week was wet - like many days at this time of the year.

For lunch, we stopped at a delightful location on the Indian Ocean side of the peninsula at a fish restaurant called Black Dolphin. There we enjoyed a relaxing lunch in the sunshine under umbrellas overlooking the ocean. I had Dorado fish while Suzy had shell fish. We both had a nice glass of red.

After lunch, he headed towards the Cape of Good Hope. There is a toll gate as you enter the area in order to raise funds to maintain the road. The views are great.

Along the way, we passed areas where baboons are a particular problem. There are signs pointing out that baboons are dangerous wild animals. At one stage, Jochen stopped to show us the view and when I started to get out to take some photos, Jochen told me not to because it was too dangerous with so many baboons in the area.

We stopped at Cape Point and caught the funicular to the top of the hill where the views vary from spectacular to amazing with bit of unbelievable thrown in for good measure. This area is the most southern point of south-western Africa. It is the meeting point of the Indian Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean.

We took photos at various points. At one location, you look down a long way down a sheer cliff to take pictures of more sheer cliffs stretching out into the ocean beyond the lighthouse above you on the headland. It's a good idea to hang on tight especially in a strong wind like today.

Today was a great day to be there because it was sunny and unseasonably warm. The views were amazing. We climbed to the stairs up to the lighthouse for an even better view in every direction.

For icing on the cake, two whales appeared less than 1km off the coast - just enough to be picked up on the zoom on my camera. They frolicked around to the delight of the tourists, flapping their tails on the surface.

After catching the funicular back down the slope, we drove to the next peninsula which is the one they label the Cape of Good Hope. Here we stopped in the carpark while Jochen took photos of us next to the sign. Some adventurous souls climbed to the top of the huge hill and waved back at people like us in triumph.

Jochen drove us back to Cape Town using the quicker direct route that swings back and forwards from the Atlantic Ocean side to the Indian Ocean side. Along the way we saw some ostriches and a Bontebok (an antelope). We were back at our hotel soon after 4:30pm.

By that time, we felt like coffee and so we went o the Afredo Cafe we enjoyed yesterday outside our hotel complex. Suzy then went shopping while I went back to our room to sort out my photos from the day's outing.

For dinner, we decided to go the the hotel restaurant. It was an excellent meal - we haven't had a bad meal since we arrived in Africa, We surprised to find that we were their only customers for most of the time tonight. I guess it's the slow season. There were many more staff than customers.