Cape Point Tour

Breakfast at the Cullinan Hotel starts with a beautiful buffet.  It even includes oatmeal--Chuck's choice.  There is a flute player outside the restaurant to add a touch of class.  When he tires of the flute, he switches to a saxophone.  Nice.  Today we toured Cape Point (the Cape of Good Hope), the pennisula that juts out into the Atlantic where the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean meet.  We started up the Cape, headed to Chapmans Peak.  Our California travelers compared it to Pacific Highway.  Chapmans Peak had many switchbacks, reflective mirrors at the curves so you could see if someone was coming, cameras to alert the Highway people in case of rock slides or accidents,   many cyclist and hikers, and gorgeous scenery unobstructed by guardrails.  We stopped at a lookout and the camera crew caught up with us.  Oh yes, Vantage had a camera crew taking pictures throughout the day.  They plan to use the results in publicity about the SA trip.  We stopped to tour an Ostrich Farm.  Saw the whole process including eggs hatching today, a pen of ostrich chicks a week old, another pen of chicks 3 to 4 weeks old, and young at every age.  They are sold at 18 months.  There were 40 couples producing eggs---interesting.  We stopped at the Cape of Good Hope for a photo op.  The Cape is the Southwestern Most point in Africa.  Then we continued up the Cape for lunch.  Unfortunately, lunch took forever.  Rode the Funicular up to the Lighthouse --or almost there.  We rode back down the Funicular and caught the bus.  I'm not sure what happened next because I took a nap.  Woke up about the time we pulled into Simon's Town.  The bus let us off in a residential area.  We walked down the hill and wound our way down to the beach where we entered a National Wildlife Preserve for African Penguins.  We walked on raised board walks and the penguins walked below us going from the beach to their nests.  They did not seem frightened by all the noisy people above them.  The penguins were about 14" tall. They are an interesting bird.  Beth caught a van back to the bus.  Chuck, John, and I walked back UP to where the bus had left us off only to discovered that the bus had moved to a different location and we were the last to know.  We were a little hot and bothered by the time we got to the bus.  Had cooled off by the time we got back to the hotel.