Day 4 Table Mountain

Awoke to a glorious sunny morning without a cloud in the sky. After a leisurely breakfast it was straight up to Table Moutain. What a difference to Sunday, we parked within a 100 mtrs of the cable car office.
The capsule of the cable car up the moutain revolves and so it enables you to have the benefit of the full 360 degrees of panoramic views as you ascend. At a height of 1.085mtrs it is not an especially high mountain; but because of its position it dominates the whole of the Cape Penininsular. The views from the mountain top are stunning, enabling you to see, and realise how isolated and frightening it must have been for those incarsarated on Robben Island out in the bay.
We spent several hours walking around the summit, enjoying the diversity of the flora & fauna atop the mountain. There were "Dassies" by the dozen (Rock Hyrax), snoozing on the rocks and soaking up the sun, totally oblivious to the many visitors around them. After a little retail therapy and liquid refreshement, we returned to the ground and headed off the the waterfront for some lunch. We had planned to visit Robben Island in the afternoon, but the trips were fully booked, and so, we purchased tickets for the trip at 1pm tomorrow.

A leisurely lunch at one of the waterfront bars was followed by more retail therapy in the V&A mallls.
It's a good job that there is a weight restriction on our baggage or Bryony would have bought up half the shops, & Bill would have bought the rest.

All in all another lovely day, looking forward to tomorrow :)

Great White Sharks aka "Tommy Sharks" in S. Africa

The reason that Great White Sharks are called "Tommy Sharks" in S.Africa stems from the terrible tragedy of HMS Birkenhead in 1852

HMS Birkenhead, also referred to as HM Troopship Birkenhead or steam frigate Birkenhead,^[3] was one of the first iron-hulled ships built for the Royal Navy.^[4] She was designed as a frigate, but was converted to a troopship before being commissioned.^[1]
On 26 February 1852, while transporting troops to Algoa Bay, she was wrecked at Danger Point near Gansbaai on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. There were not enough serviceable lifeboats for all the passengers, and the soldiers famously stood firm, thereby allowing the women and children to board the boats safely. Only 193 of the 643 people on board survived, and the soldiers' chivalry gave rise to the "women and children first" protocol when abandoning ship, while the "Birkenhead drill" of Rudyard Kipling's poem came to describe courage in face of hopeless circumstances

Many of the soldiers were killed by the Great Whites that frequent these waters hence the name "Tommy" Sharks

Day 3 Shark Dive (eek!)

Today has been one of the most wonderful days of my life!!

It has been within my top ten most memorable events, and I have loved every minute of it from 5.30 am when it started, until now at almost 10pm when I am finally giving way to all the adrenaline that I have pumped.

 Bryony & I were collected from our hotel at 6.30 am  for a 2hour drive to Gansbaii. The base for most of the White shark trips from the Western Cape. On our arrival at “Shark Diving Unlimited” base, we hungrily devoured our awaiting cooked brekkie; before collecting our waterproofs & boarding the good boat “Barracuda” the vessel upon which we were to travel to “Shark Alley”.  A 15 minute high speed burst across the bay delivered us our appointed date with Mother Nature’s deadliest creature. By now, I was beginning to doubt my sanity in thinking that this was something I wanted to do & it wasn’t something I was forced to do.

Both Bry and I watched with awe & trepidation as our 1^st  Great White, or as they are know locally as “Tommy Sharks” More about that later)  came into view. He was just a little chap just apporox 2.4 mtrs, but he still had as many teeth as his bigger brothers. We then donned our wetsuits (easier said than done on a moving boat J ) and soon it was our turn to enter the cage. Mmmmmm , 2^nd,3^rd & many more thoughts occurring now.

 “Down” shouts the skipper, and we let go of the overhead bars & descend to view the beast directly in front of us chomping on the baited line. “Up” shouts the skipper and we quickly ascend again to await the approach of the next beastie. Time and again we repeat this procedure, and quickly the fear and trepidation of our intial entry disappears, and is replaced by greedy anticipation of the impending visit of the next magnificent creature. In total we see 5 different beasts, our time in the cage flies by in the blink of an eye, and we are hauled out to allow our fellow passengers another turn.

 A second sessions is then offered, and I reluctantly have to decline because of difficulties with my **** knee. Bryony is back in as quick as a flash for more. (Surprise surprise (NOT) This time I am kept busy taking photographs from above. Finally time up is called, and just as the final baited line is thrown the biggest beastie of all cruises past, nibbling on the line, before getting a little tooooooo close to the cage, and putting his snout through the cage right next to Bry, I think he was attempting a “(Sharkie French Kiss!) and as Bry surfaced she exclaimed “Oh S***t”)  Probably an understatement I think. JJ

We then commenced our return to shore; the adrenalin high was unbelievable and continues even now as I type this.

  Hot home made soup, home made bread, and home made scones awaited us on landing and were devoured with great haste and appreciation, before our 2 hour journey back to Cape Town. En route we made 3-4 stops at special viewing spots, attempting to spot returning Southern Right Whales which arrive here shortly to breed. 3 had been seen earlier the week; but not today. I think we had exhausted our share of good fortune for the day by then.

We returned to our hotel, and had a welcome hot shower & change of clothes before heading out for an amazing evening which I will report on tomorrow

Day 2. My BIG Day!!

So dawns the BIG 60!!

  Awoke to a pleasant sunny morning, after howling gales during the night.

 Table Mountain summit was surrounded by cloud, so we decided to head straight to the Stellenbosch. (S.Africa’s wine growing capital)  First stop was at Spiers Winery. Hoping it will be as good as last time we visited in 2007.

After giving Bill his first latte of the day, we started off at their Cheetah Outreach programme, which includes rescuing and rehabilitating cheetahs from all around S.A, together with a specialist breeding programme to retain the Pedigree King  Gene of Cheetahs who are almost extinct in the wild. The King Gene, is the gene that dictates the "spotting" pattern on the cheetahs skin, and by cross breeding, the pedigree King gene is becoming endangered. They also have breeding Anatolian hunting dogs. The Anatolian Shepherd Dog is a muscular, broad-headed flock guardian dog breed native to Anatolia (Turkey).  The Cheetah Outreach programme is also a educational scheme where children from the socially deprived townships are introduced to their native species and taught the importance of preservation and conservation. We then also visited their Bird of Prey centre, where we were able to see at close hand many of the impressive raptors that are native to this area. Surprised to see our own native Barn Owls quite abundant here.

 My favourites being the little Scops Owls & the impressive Black Vulture.

It was then time to allow Bryony a little wine tasting session. I emphasize little, as she was the designated driver from lunch time!  Her 5 samples of Spiers own varieties inc 3 reds & 2 whites, at the exhorbitant price of 30R equivalent to less than £2.50. Unfortunately none of the reds were to her taste; but a white blended special of Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon was rather nice J , and necessitated a purchase for consumption later!!.

An exploration of the local craft stalls was next on the agenda, although there were not as many as on our last trip, because many had closed down for their autumn and winter.

By now, it was 1.30pm so lunch time was upon us. As it was MY BIRTHDAY, I chose lunch at JC Roux’s. The home of S.A champagne J J J.  & their restaurant is lovely too. We headed straight for the restaurant< surprise surprise. I chose to have the Monkfish & Seafood Tortellini’s. Bry had a Smoked Trout& Seafood Salad, whilst Bill had grilled Monk fish & chips. Whilst awaiting our food I had my first glass of champagne of the day, as did Bill, poor Bry was now on the soda waterL.  Then chaos commenced, Bill’s meal was served, accompanied by 2 slices of toasted Panini, promptly shared by Bry & I. (Bill is gluten intolerant, for those who don’t know) Bry’s meal then arrived, and I nobly said “please start, don’t wait for me!)

Bill tucked in, and said “Oooh these are lovely- what are they?” and handed one to Bryony to try.  “Yes, they are Dad, they are Mum’s tortellini’s!”  So my birthday meal was shared between all of us Grrrrrrr. However a further “FREE” glass of champagne placated me.  It really was a lovely meal- what I finally got of it!!

After lunch, Bryony then drove us to “Strand” were we stayed on our last visit. It has a stunning beach, facing out to False Bay. Swimming is not advised though, as the tides are quite treacherous, and the waters are home to several species of shark, inc Gt. White & Mako, plus as we witnessed on our last visit Portuguese Man of War Jellyfish arec quite common too.

Then we headed on around the headland to Gordon’s Bay, and its stunning beaches, where it is possible to whale watch from July onwards. Then, the scenic but circuitous drive on through the mountains to Betty’s Bay before heading back to Cape Town via Sir John Lowry’s pass.  Back to Cape Town by 7pm and then shared a bottle of JC Roux’s finest champagne purchased at great expensive for 50R = £4 Unbelievable.  A fabulous end to a fabulous day. J

Tomorrow is an early start at 6.15am for the drive to Gansbaii, and then Dyer Island for our Gt White encounter. Got fingers crossed it finally happens! Also hope we have fingers to cross tomorrow night afterwards. JJJ

Today's Pics

May 13th

Had a lovely first day, leisurely  hotel breakfast,  after which we headed off for a trip up Table Mountain as it was a beautiful morning, with clear blue skies and good visibility. Unfortunately May 13^th, happens to be" Mother’s Day" in S. Africa, and so the whole of Cape Town had the same idea, and it proved impossible to park anywhere close to the cable car station. So we abandoned that idea, and decided to head to the Cape of Good Hope, via Boulders beach and the Jackass penguin colony.

Boulder beach is aptly named, and is a beautiful bay, where the penguins are quite happy to ignore everyone else and carry on in their own sweet way. Whilst the weather was lovely, neither of us were brave enough to swim with them as the water is now quite cold. Penguins everywhere, and a lovely location too. Two dassies (Rock Hyrax) resting in a tree was an unusual bonus on the way back.

 

Then it was time to head on to Cape Point, however as we drove south the skies began to darken, and upon our arrival it was apparent that rain was imminent. Lunch seemed to be a good idea whilst we waited for the weather to pass. Bry’s option of “Surf&Turf” was a very appropriate choice as by now the wind has started to get up too. By the time lunch had finished, and I am not going to mention, the mini pavlova or crème brulee’s that we needed to test J it was time to board the funicular train to the top of the point. By this time it was almost 4pm, and we were only able to purchase one-way tickets, and had to walk down on our return (much to Bill’s disgust) At the top, it was certainly very breezy, and the views whilst still stunning were not as far reaching as they could have been. Soon it was time to head back down, and fortunately Bill managed to convince the train driver that he couldn’t walk back, and so he cadged a ride back down, whilst Bry & I opted to back walked down. It was only on arriving back at the car park she showed me a photograph of a warning sign I had missed, advising caution, as there were cobras in the scrub surrounds. OK for her in her leather boots, I had flip flops on L. 

We then headed on round to the Cape of Good Hope. By this time the wind and rain had really set in. We stopped for a brief photo opportunity at the Cape, before heading pack through the National Park towards home. We were hoping to see wild Ostrich; however we were out of luck, but did see a grand Eland, and a small herd of antelope.

Arrived back in Cape Town about 7pm, so we made a quick stop-off at the waterfront and a visit to the Red shack for some retail therapy and liquid refreshment was necessary. A lovely end to a very enjoyable day, & my last as a 59 old.

All packed & ready to go!