Friday, November 8, 2013

Fish Hoek, South Africa

November 5 - After leaving Capetown we stayed outside of Fish Hoek on the southern peninsula for 4 nights.  We had an apartment thru AirBnB which was very nice except for the highway noise.  The first night we walked the beach and then we drove to Kalkbay for a great dinner at the Harbor House.  I had the angelfish and it was superb!
November 6 - We had our first rainy day!  Drove toward the Cape of Good Hope (the most south westerly point of Africa) but it was raining so much we decided to do the cape another day.  We did stop at Boulders beach in Simon's town and watched the African penguins.  They were formerly called Jackass penguins because of their donkey-like braying call.  They  are in their molting season so they were not very active.  During this time of the year they lose their down feathers so they do not get into the water.  The month before this molting season they gorge themselves since they cannot hunt to eat.  We drove along the western coast to Chapman's Peak, a very scenic highway similar to Hwy 1 in California. It is a toll road, fairly short, for under $4, and we did it going to Hoek Bay and coming back.  The views were fantastic.  While in Hoek Bay we had lunch at Mariner's Wharf, a famous restaurant in this area.  I had the Mariner's Curry which was just OK.  Not as good as the Harbor House.  By the way, the rain stopped when we started up Chapman's Peak, thank goodness.
November 7 - Beautiful clear days so we drove to the Cape of Good Hope via the scenic route out of Simon's Town called Red Hill which is a very curvy road up and over the mountain.  The Cape was beautiful today.  We took the Flying Dutchman Funicular up to the lighthouse and back down and walked the light keepers trail to Cape point.  On this trail we encountered many baboons.  They were sitting along side of the trail and on the trail.  After a brief lunch in the car (you can not eat outside because of the baboons) we hiked to the ocean via Dias Beach and stuck our feet in the water and took lots of pictures.  There were 250 steps to get to the water but it was worth it.  Fairly tired, we went back to our apartment and walked to town for fish and chips takeout.
November 8 - We all wanted to go back to Cape Point and it was a beautiful day so we headed back down. Since we bought the Wild Card Pass (similar to our National Park pass) we got in for free.  We drove to Oliphantsbos nature reserve in the park and saw bontebok (a beautiful rare antelope) and some ostriches.  We went for a short hike to the water.  Then we drove to Cape Of Good Hope and took some pictures at the sign where all the tourist go.  After leaving the cape we stopped at an Ostrich farm.  I bought some food and fed Clyde, the ostrich.  We ate lunch in Simon's town at the Salty Dog.  We had fish and chips except Bernita who had a chicken sandwich (she does not like fish).  Tomorrow we leave for Hermanus.
Pictures: our apartment in Fish Hoek, views on our walk near apartment, view out of our bedroom, boulders beach, penguins, Chapman's peak drive and view, mariner's wharf, entrance to Cape of Good Hope, hike to Cape Point, looking up to the lighthouse, baboons on trail, the two of us at Dias beach, walking up the steps from the beach, bontebok, the four of us at Cape of Good Hope, me feeding 'Clyde'.

No comments: