Day 57, Year 6 Day Trip to Cape Town
Date: Monday, December 20, 2010
Weather: Sunny and Beautiful, but WINDY . . . Again
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Another day, another adventure. Early this morning we walked to the train station to head into Cape Town. We knew that the rail line from Simon’s Town to a town called Fish Hoek has been closed for repairs, but we also knew that bus would be there to take us for the first part of the ride–a beautiful ten-minute ride with the mountains on the land side and the crashing waves on the seaside. Once in Fish Hoek, we got on the train for the hour ride into Cape Town. Once in Cape Town, we called our friend Bruce who came to fetch us and take us for a morning exploration of Cape Town and its chandleries. We drove to a highpoint where we could look down on the city and have wonderful views of Table Mountain, the Twelve Apostles, and Lion’s Head and of the coastline below us. After that, Bruce drove us to the inner-city chandlery, Central Boating, and then out to Manex and Sea Port Marine in an industrial area to the northeast of town. After that we went further north to a suburb named Milnerton to C-Dynamics Sea Port and C-Dynamics had all of the big ticket items we have been searching for since arriving in South Africa, so it was a very successful morning. Finding a 210-amp Balmar alternator was the biggest success of the day and finding heavy duty swivel blocks for our Jibe-Ezy for 100 Rand rather than 600 Rand for the Harken alternative was the second best find of the day. Bruce’s office is in the V & A (Victoria and Alfred) Waterfront Center, so we went there to see the V&A Marina and Bruce’s office. Nadine and Tristen were in Bruce’s office and it was great to see them again. And then we saw Seljm, the boat that donated their spinnaker to be made into pirogue sails in Madagascar, and we saw Wild Tigress, one of the ARC boats that has crew from New Hampshire. But unfortunately, they were not aboard. So we have photos of the boat, but once again, no face-to-face meeting. We walked into the Victoria & Alfred shopping mall and were overwhelmed by the size of the supermarkets. A Pick ‘n Pay in Richards Bay was tiny by comparison to what we saw in the V & A. We then decided to have lunch in the V & A complex. After lunch, we walked back into the downtown area. As we walked away from the waterfront, it got hotter and hotter. We had hopes of doing some sightseeing, but we decided that early morning was the time for that. So we will try again on another day. But we did enjoy our walk through the market area of town before Bruce picked us up and delivered us back to the train station.

When we left Cape Town, the train was semi-full, but at the next stop past downtown, crowds of people got onboard. The rest of trip was crowded but since we had seats, it was fine. When we got back to Simon’s Town, we had Happy Hour on Odulphus to complete our plans for Christmas Day. Once the plans were completed, we left there and connected with a boat on the dock behind Odulphus that is from South Freeport, Maine. Betsy and Nat sail Bahati out of South Freeport. We had a great time getting to know them and hope to have more opportunities to get to know them better.

101220 Day 57 South Africa–Day Trip to Cape Town