Cape Town, South Africa

Last night was a fancy night on the ship. Black tie night. We got dressed up and had a wonderful dinner and then Charles and Kathleen went to bed and Nicky and I took in the show. Fun night. Thought you'd like to see us all clean instead of full of sand from Namibia! Kathleen and Nicky being sweet to each other for the camera??

Kathleen and mom before dinner.

Our first glimpse of Cape Town was of the Devil's Peak. That is what you see in the picture that we took from the ship as we were sailing into the harbor. There were penguins and seals in the water next to the ship. Most amazing were 2 whales! The captain came over the sound system and said it was the first time he had ever had to yield to 2 whales as he entered a harbor! A thrill that it happened to us!


This is a picture from the ship as we were docking into the harbor. There was a fleet of people waiting and a New Orleans style band playing to greet the ship. It is amazing how Captain Dag can park this thing! Everyone at Lake Martin should be so good!

Our next door neighbor on the ship Jessica Richman. She is from Oregon and has been a lot of fun. She leaves the ship in the morning and has to start her trip home. We will miss her!! Hope she keeps up with us as we keep on keeping on!

You can see from this picture how narrow the pass was that we had to go through to get into the harbor. It was a sight to see as we came in and Captain Dag maneuvered this ship.

A picture of Charles and the kids as we just had set out for the afternoon for our first exploration of Cape Town. It is just beautiful here. Clean and very alive with people. The shopping is tremendous. We sent most of the day wandering the city streets, most cobblestone after we took a tour by water of the harbor.

Charles and the kids at a sidewalk cafe. In the background you can see the "draw bridge". This drawbridge does not go up and down but side to side. It was the first one of it's kind built in the world.

The "mall" area. It goes on forever. MANY shops and inside malls as well. cafes, restaurant, outside entertainment, lots going on. Very fun day.

Signal Hill as seen from the mall walk area. We are taking a tour tomorrow of Signal Hill and of Table Mountain. More tomorrow on that.






Kathleen enjoying the harbor tour with that magnificent Table Mountain in the background. It is really amazing. Looks just like a table. Appropriately named! When there is a cloud cover here and you cannot see the top of that mountain, the locals call it a tablecloth!

Another view of Table Mountain. Loved this one. Look on the right hand side. There is the old man of table mountain.

Here you can really see the old man of the mountain. Look on the right side of the mountain just to about 10 o'clock over Nicky's head. You can see the profile of a man's face as he would look if he was laying down with his face pointing skyward. This picture was taken from the top of the boat we took on our harbor tour.

Seals on wheels is what they called this. There are seals all in the harbor. Look closely. There are two that have jumped up on these tire bumpers and are taking a nap in the sun.

This is an area the city has built for the seals to go in and out of for food. They swim right up from the harbor and "walk" up these stairs! Amazing.

The boat captain let Nicky take the wheel in the harbor on the tour we took. He did not do any damage to the boat! It was a fun day. Spent the balance of the afternoon shopping in the huge mall they have. We will be out all day tomorrow touring and taking pictures. We hope to get some pictures of penguins. We are 8 hours ahead of Central time now. It was about 90 degrees today. Sunny and beautiful. Wish you all were here!!

We will post more on the history of Cape Town tomorrow. It is midnight now. Going to call it a day, a great day.