After 26 days on 2 cruises, it was time for us to disembark. It is always sad, when a cruise comes to an end, but we still had one last day of exploring south Africa. We took our last look at Table Mountain in Cape Town.

We said goodbye to our room steward.

It was a bit chaotic getting off the ship, and the other guests were being cranky…we thought it was funny that the message on our bus said, “Too blessed to be Stressed”.

Our bus driver was Sergio and our tour guide was Allister. His paternal family moved to Africa in 1767 and his maternal side came in 1820. He was born in Zimbabwe and emigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa in 1979 as a banker. He retired and bought a plum orchard, but recently sold that and moved to Cape Town. He was full of really interesting information.

The only complaint we had about the tour, is the bus windows were tinted, so our pictures have a pinkish tint.

Cape Town hosted the 2010 World Cup and built the Cape Town Stadium for the event. It then hosted the largest crowd (51,954) ever to watch a tennis match – Nadal vs Federer, in what is known as the Match for Africa. DHL, a German shipping company, now has the naming rights for the stadium.

Allister told us abit about South Africa, it has cool, wet winters, and hot, dry summers. The mountains were created 3-4 billion years, during the Falkland continental drift. Geological evidence suggests that they used to be part of Argentina, which is on the same latitude.

In 1492, the first spice trade ship left Portugal to travel to India, but it was not until 1652 that the Dutch came with 300 sailors and 6 women. They established farms to supply fresh produce to ships and the Dutch East India Company was created. The Dutch co-habited with the local indigenous tribes and the resulting off-spring are known as Coloreds. In the US this is an offensive term, but in South Africa it means bi-racial.

1763, Simon van der Stel became governor. Simon’s Bay was a safer harbor due to it’s geography. The British Navy knew this and protected it from 1805 – 1976, when South Africa took sole possession

We drove east towards Camps Bay, where we walked on the beach the day before. It is named after a German farmer but ironically was home to a World War II base and later re-located Jews lived here. It is a very expensive place to live and has an ordinance that no building can be over 3 stories high to protect the views for all residents. The houses have stairs that lead to the ocean.

Slopes of the Twelve Apostles is a national monument as it is where slaves were buried. We took a picture the day before, from the top of Table Mountain of the beginning of the 12 Apostles and then a picture from our bus

Nord Hook – a retirees haven and also known for horse breeding. In the mornings, the beach will have horses exercising.

We stopped at the parking area for Chapman’s Peak Drive, which was completed in 1922. This is a very scenic area that is prone to landslides, so it it is not always open. The peak was named for John Chapman , who was on a ship named Contest, that sailed into Hout Bay in 1607. The citizens of the area like to call themselves Chappies.

We met a very nice vendor at the overlook and bought one of her hand-made wire penguins

The Hout Bay was once known for Great Whites, but the Port Starboard Orca pack have decimated the sharks and now there are only 30 left in the area. They kill the sharks to eat their liver, which is 30% of their body weight.

In the 1994 Presidential election, Nelson Mandela’s campaign knew that in order to win, they had to win Hout Bay. This is a very affluent area, where mainly white people lived. The campaign bought the property on the slope of the mountain, built a make shift city and then transported 40,000 blacks to the city with the promise that after the election, they would be able to move into the houses in Hout Bay. Mandela won the election, but the promise to move was not kept, the shanty town still exists. Hout Bay was a contributing factor in Mandela not having a second term as president.

There are several rock formations at the entrance to the bay, that are inhabited by seals. Tours boats visit the area throughout the day

After leaving the over-look we travelled though the landslide tunnel that has been built for the most vulnerable area.

Marijuana is illegal in South Africa, but we saw numerous drug dealers set up along the road.

Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve covers 19,150 acres of native flora and fauna.

We saw ostriches along the beach. There were signs to warn of baboons, we didn’t get a picture but we did see them in the shrubs along the road.

Cape of Good Hope is not the most southern point of Africa, that is Cape Agulhas, but it is where the ocean currents meet…the Indian Ocean on the east has the warm water coming from North Africa. The Atlantic Ocean to the west of the Cape of Good Hope, has cold water, as it comes from Antarctica.

South Africa has 3000 Km or 1864 miles of rocky coastline and over 3000 recorded shipwrecks.

The beaches are covered in kelp. It is collected, dried and used in tooth paste and teeth molds.

We re-boarded the bus and drove the short distance to Cape Point. A funicular railway takes passenger to the lighthouse at the top of Cape Point. It opened in 1996 and replaced a small bus that drove up the hill. It is designed to use a pulley to pull cars on steep inclines. Two cars move together, one ascends, while the other descends, creating a counter balance.

The funicular is named after the famous Flying Dutchman ghost ship that is rumored to have sailed in the area. There was an interesting display about the Flying Dutchman ship, that we enjoyed reading before boarding our car.

The trip to the top was awesome as we watched the different aspects of the funicular

To reach the “new” lighthouse and viewing area, you had to climb about 100 stairs from the funicular station.

The view was worth the hike…

There was even a blow hole just off shore

Jim loved that he could point to Antarctica with no land obstructions for 3845 miles.

We continued on to Simon’s Town, which used to be home to a large naval base. It is where we ate lunch at Seaforth Beach

Lunch was very good, with a choice of fish or chicken. Lots of fish and chicken…lol

From the restaurant, we walked to nearby Boulders Beach, which is home to a colony of 7000 African Penguins

African Penguins also known as the Black-footed penguin, mate for life and are only found in the waters of southern Africa.

The African Penguin is endangered due to competition for food from the fishing industry. They stay with their parents for 2 years. They have a white chest with a unique dot pattern that makes them identifiable. They are mature at 4 years.

The colonies tend to inhabit small, protected areas, so their pooh builds up. It was discovered that their pooh makes very good fertilizer. It is now harvested to help with the smell at Boulders Beach but also serves a purpose for area farmers.

The penguins are now protected, but until 1960, 60% of the eggs were eaten by local residents.

From Boulders Beach we would look out over False Bay. In 1488, Prince Henry took protection due to storms, in the bay, thinking it was a protected area, but he was wrong and named it False Bay.

We drove through the areas of Hoek Bay, which is known for Great White sharks and Kalk Bay which is known for it’s mussels. The leftover shells are crushed and made into a slurry to white-wash the houses.

In 1966, apartheid areas were established. Blacks were moved from the ocean view areas and shanty towns were built further inland. The shanty areas still exist and have 80% unemployment, with lots of crime and gangs. South Africa as a whole has 35% unemployment mostly immigrants.

There is some government housing provided, but it is not near enough. It still has the problems of the shanty towns…high crime rates, high unemployment, and gangs.

We had very much enjoyed our whirl-wind tour with Allister. We were dropped off at the airport and our cruise had officially come to an end. It had a bit of everything, heat, holidays, relaxation, history, outdoors, and so much information.

The flight home was approximately 26 hours with 3 plane changes. The first flight included dinner and breakfast.

The trip was an amazing journey where we flew a total of 17,300 miles, spent 26 days on the NCL Dawn and sailed 7600 nautical miles.