Day Two

Paul’s parents, Neville and Jenny, drove his sister, Melissa, and us to Cape Point, the end of the peninsula. We stopped on our way at Boulder’s Beach where African penguins have taken up residence. The beach is open to the public, but only a limited number are allowed each day. A section has been closed to swimming and walkways have been put in so the birds can be viewed without disturbance. On the road south of Boulders, we encountered the first of many baboons with their young. This group was paying tag on the gate of someone’s driveway. Once in the nature reserve of Cape Point, the houses disappear. The road is high above the sea and the landscape is low growing bushes and a profusion of flowers I’ve never seen before. We parked and walked to the first lighthouse. A second was built lower down the cliff because of prevalent mist higher up. We walked along the eastern side of the point to a viewing platform above this second lighthouse. By now, I knew I wasn’t looking at the Atlantic and the Indian, but this doesn’t diminish the feeling that standing at that point brings. From there, we walked west to the edge of the Cape of Good Hope and then down to the sea and another parking lot where Neville and Jenny waited in the car. Paul and Melissa have been here several times but were moved to wonder about the feelings of men like Diaz and da Gama as they rounded the point just as I was. I got my first of several sunburns on this day, tricked by the cooling sea breeze into forgetting I was in Africa after all. We ended the day with sundowners at a restaurant on the beach. Sundowners are drinks that you have while you watch the sun sink into the ocean. We sat on a large patio filled with suntanned and relaxed people. The view of the 12 apostles, a mountain range running behind Table Mountain, was spectacular. Our meal close by was of melt-in-your-mouth steak, unlike anything available in the UK. Yummy.