Cape Town - Table Bay Hotel & Waterfront

We said goodbye in the dining-room to all our friends on the Silver Explorer. We had tea and coffee only, as we were going to have breakfast at the Table Bay Hotel. It was quite emotional to leave so many good friends. We said a special goodbye to Helen and Neil as we left our cabin for the last time.

Our bags were taken off the ship and we walked to where our taxi was waiting to take us the short distance to the Table Bay Hotel.

We checked in and went to our room, which had a lovely balcony overlooking the sea.

Luxury living at its best!

What a shame we wouldn't be spending a night in our bed!

We partly unpacked for the day at the hotel and then went down to have our breakfast, which was as good as we remembered it from all those years ago. I had eggs Benedict, which were great!

I noticed several guests wearing tee-shirts with rally-style badges, as on the HERO shirts we were given on each of the drives. I then recognised several faces from the Inca Trail! There were Peter Rushworth, John Baylis and Mark Appleton. They had just finished a Bart Rietbergen rally around Southern Africa. The route was very similar to our one in 2005. They called Bart over and we had a brief chat. It was quite surreal to be talking to them after so many years.

We finished our breakfast and went for a walk around the waterfront. By the hotel was this mega-yacht, Tatoosh. I googled it later that day and discovered it is owned by Paul Allen of Microsoft fame.

Tatoosh with its helicopter

A yacht stored on the side of the boat!

Tatoosh, the mega-yacht owned by Paul Allen

On the other side of the quay was the South African research ship, Agulhas II. It is the ship that goes once a year to Tristan da Cunha and takes tourists to visit the island. Maybe one day we will use the Agulhas II to go back to Tristan!

Agulhas II Research Ship

We walked along the harbour from the hotel, passing the Ferris wheel and the many shops and restaurants.

The Ferris Wheel

Signal Hill

The Terminal for Robben Island

Giant Lego Statue

We went into the aquarium, which was very impressive. There were giant tanks containing every conceivable type of fish. We saw an enormous Moray eel, manta rays and a huge tank of kelp, swaying hypnotically, with fish swimming through it. Several tanks held fish of just one breed and colour, which made them very attractive and calming to look at. There were many exhibits aimed at children and a display of mainly African penguins, plus a few rockhoppers.

Moray Eel

We spent about an hour in the aquarium and then walked back to the hotel, where we decided to have lunch in the room. We called room service and had grilled bay shrimps with stir-fried vegetables on the balcony. It was a great way to enjoy our brief stay at the Table Bay Hotel.

After lunch, we started to pack our bags and then we checked out of the Table Bay, taking the hotel car to the airport for our evening BA flight back to London.

We met several of our fellow Silversea passengers at the airport, as well as various crew members including Captain Adam, Hans Peter, Luke, Will and Fred. As we checked in, behind us was David Miliband.

We boarded the flight at 8pm, in World Traveller Plus - no upgrades!! The food was awful, so it was fortunate we had such a good lunch at the hotel.

After a twelve hour flight, we landed at Heathrow. We were able to say a final goodbye in the baggage claim area to Jean and Philip and Dick and Chris.

We went through customs to the arrivals hall where our driver, Michael, was waiting to take us home. Another great expedition cruising adventure is over and, once again, I think how lucky we both are to be able to experience these adventures!

Cape Town - Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope

We had a quick early breakfast so that we could catch the coach leaving at 9am to take us down to the Cape of Good Hope.

There were two coaches and we were on the second one, which had Roger, an Englishman, as our guide. He was now a South African resident. We drove due south away from the waterfront, passing the football stadium and taking the coast road, which went close to the Twelve Apostles.

Approaching the Twelve Apostles

It was a beautiful sunny day and the drive, which ran along the coast, went past miles of sandy beaches.

We went via Hout Bay where we stopped at a lay-by, so we could take photos.

Hout Bay

Will explaining about the bird life

After about 15 minutes, we continued our drive south going over Chapman's Pass, a narrow road cut into the side of the mountain. Coaches and large vehicles are only permitted to go south on the pass, as there isn't room for large vehicles to pass each other.

More stunning beaches

Beautiful surf

At one small resort town, we saw this baboon standing on top of a fence, looking at us.

South African wildlife - a baboon

We finally reached our first destination, which was just inside the Cape of Good Hope National Park. We were met by guides, who took us on a walk to look at the fynbos - the particular flora found in the scrub and heathland of the Western Cape. There were many wild flowers and large protea bushes.

Protea bush

Protea leaves

We spent about an hour on the walk and then took the coaches on to Cape Point, where we were having lunch. On the way, we went past several eland - a kind of antelope.

It was a short ride to Cape Point, where we parked and walked to the restaurant. We had very tasty crayfish and Greek salad, followed by chocolate mousse.

Following lunch, we took the funicular railway that goes up to the lighthouse at the top of Cape Point. There are wonderful views down to the two oceans that meet here, the Atlantic and the Indian. On the western side of Cape Point is the Cape of Good Hope. We saw Bellows Rock, where the Lusitania sank in 1911. This was a Portuguese liner, which was wrecked in fog, not the Cunard ship that went down in Irish waters during the First World War.

Cape of Good Hope

We spent about half an hour at the upper level of Cape Point and then drove the short distance to the Cape of Good Hope. Everyone got off the coach and we took photos by the Cape of Good Hope sign.

Cliff and me in the car park at the Cape of Good Hope

Waves crashing on the rocks of the Cape

We left the Cape and shortly afterwards, just outside the National Park, we saw several zebras grazing by the side of the road.

Our last place to visit was Boulders, where there is a colony of African penguins. They are also known as jackass penguins. It is close to Simon's Town, where the British Navy used to be based, but which now houses the South African Navy.

We walked along the boardwalk which ran through the colony and took photos of the penguins that were all around us.

We spent about an hour at Boulders before driving back to the dock. As we walked to the ship, we were welcomed back by the crew!

It had been a long day, but well worth it. We showered, then went and enjoyed our last dinner on Silver Explorer with Jean and Philip, Dick and Chris, David and Chris and Cliff.

We had to pack our bags ready to put outside the cabin by 11pm, which we managed to do. Our last night on board, how sad!

Cape Town - Table Mountain

I woke early to make sure I would see our arrival into Cape Town and went up on deck at 6.30am. It was a beautiful cloudless morning with the sun still well below the horizon.

Cape Town at sunrise

Several of the expedition crew were out on deck with me.We had wonderful views of Table Mountain and the lights of Cape Town, as we sailed along the coast towards the port.

Sunrise

Table Mountain, as a backdrop to a city, has to be one of the finest anywhere in the world.

Table Mountain at sunrise

Cape Town

After spending more than half an hour on deck, I went back down to the cabin and while I was looking out of the cabin window, I thought I saw the fin of a whale! Shortly after, Stefan made an announcement that there were whales around the ship! There was a mad scramble to get on deck to see our first whales in nearly five thousand miles of sailing!

There was quite a large pod of humpback whales swimming slowly along the coast in the opposite direction to the ship. We had one or two great photo opportunities, as the whales lifted their tails high above the water before diving.

Humpback Tail

Shortly after our encounter with the whales, the port pilot boat pulled alongside the ship to transfer the pilot on board to guide us to our berth.

Pilot boat transferring the pilot to Silver Explorer

It didn't take us long to reach our berth, which was the bunkering quay. We watched as the hoses were attached to the ship and they started to pump the marine oil into the ship's tank.

The South African immigration officers came on board, so that we could clear customs and go ashore.

We had an opportunity to say goodbye to Sean and Marina, who were leaving straight away to travel to their house in Kenya, where they would be spending their leave.

Silversea had arranged shuttle buses to take passengers to and from the ship to the waterfront area of Cape Town. As the weather was so good and there appeared to be no clouds over Table Mountain, we wanted to get to the cable-car as quickly as possible, so we took the first available bus to the waterfront and then caught a taxi to the cable-car terminal.

The World Cup football stadium on the way to the cable-car

Lion's Head Mountain from the cable-car terminal

We had a short wait at the terminal before we caught the cable-car to the top of the mountain. It was wonderfully clear, with little wind at the top, and we had unrestricted views in all directions.

Cape Town from Table Mountain

Lion's Head Mountain

We had marvellous views of the port and watched Silver Explorer moving from the bunkering quay to its assigned berth.

Silver Explorer moving berth

While we were at the top, there were quite a few white-necked ravens, which appeared to be very tame. Two were wheeling above us, flying on the thermals. They appeared at times to be joined together.

White-necked raven

Two ravens flying in formation on the thermals

We spent a couple of hours walking the trails, looking at the plants and admiring the views across to the Twelve Apostles.

Intrepid explorer??

Another view of Cape Town

Looking south towards the Twelve Apostles

In the distance, we could see infamous Robben Island, renowned as the prison that held Nelson Mandela for so many years.

Robben Island

In the park, there was a 360 degree signpost which had the distances to various points all over the world. This one showed that we were 1761 miles from Tristan da Cunha.

We stopped for a coffee at the cafe near to the cable-car terminal and then took the cable-car back down. The wind had really started to blow. Was this the Cape Doctor? At the bottom, we noticed that there was a sign saying the cable-car was suspended owing to high winds, so how right we were to take the first opportunity we had to go straight to the top of the mountain!

We took a taxi back to the ship's new mooring-place in the port. We had to walk through warehouses to get to the quay. Not a very beautiful spot at all!!

We met up with some of the others who had taken the trip to Robben Island and then we had dinner with Rob and Gayle, followed by drinks in the bar.

We went to bed well-satisfied with our first day in Cape Town. Tomorrow we take a coach ride to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, both places we visited when we were here in 2005.

Distance travelled in final 36 hours: 476NM
Total distance travelled from Ushuaia to Cape Town:  4492.5 Nautical Miles