Cape Town, South Africa – April 4

Cape Town, South Africa – April 4

As predicted, it was a cool and rainy day. Table Mountain didn’t just have a “tablecloth”, it had a white blanket where you couldn’t even make out the shape. We again patted ourselves on our backs for doing it last night. (at the insistence of our tour guide yesterday…how thoughtful of him)

The HOHO had a shuttle that stopped at the port and took us to V&A Waterfront, just outside of the Two Oceans Aquarium where the routes all start. 

We hadn’t planned to tour together today, but the 4 of us were doing the Hop On Hop Off bus. (Cathy & Tom) We would have had a very different game plan if the weather had been good, but since it wasn’t, we opted just to ride the long line (2.5 hours) first. Greg said in this weather all we could do was “make lemonade”. 

The Blue Line did a mini Peninsula tour with access to the Constantia Winelands tour, so a bit of the ride repeated a small part of what we saw yesterday. We had hoped to tour Kirstenbosch Gardens, but it was too windy and rainy to enjoy it, so we stayed on the bus. 

I had hoped to do the Imizamo Yethu Township walk, but it was still pouring rain so we stayed on the bus. (it’s the shanty town area where a local takes you through their neighborhood)

We got off to change lines to take in the wine country. The Constantia Nek Wine loop took us to three wine stops: Groot Constantia, Eagles' Nest and Beau Constantia. We stopped at one of the wineries, mainly to use the restroom. The rain had let up a bit, so we did walk around the beautiful grounds. Then we got back on and transferred back onto the long route. 

Tom & Cathy got off early on and they did the walking tour that the HOHO offers. It was pouring rain and they were soaked to the bone, but they said it was very interesting. 

 

walking to the winery

 

We finished the long route and then got off at the main station to find some food. It had really started to pour at this point, so we ran towards the closet building which was an arts and crafts building called The Watershed. We grabbed a couple of “toasties” which hit the spot. (grilled cheese sandwiches & fries)

 views from the HOHO windows.....

favela in the rain

inside the craft center

 walking to the mall next door in search of ice cream

 gelato stop

inside the mall

We then did the Downtown tour route and got off at St. George’s Cathedral for some photos. It was raining less and more on and off now. Then, we did the last route which was the City Route and transferred back to the route to get us back to the main station.

downstairs where it was wetter than upstairs (the uncovered part upstairs)

every chair had a pool of water

I had gotten a call from the ENT doctor saying I needed to call and reschedule my surgery. I had a 3 hour window with the time difference so I called from the transfer point before going back to the main station. We went back to the Water Shed and one of the shops at the mall to pick up a couple of trinkets. Oddly, everything was cheaper at the safari lodge’s gift shop than at either of these places. We missed the last shuttle that the HOHO bus provided to the port, so we grabbed a cab. By this time, it was sunny and beautiful out. Yep, just in time to get on the ship. 

At one point on one of the buses it was so cold and rainy despite us being under the front covered portion of the top of the bus that we decided to go downstairs. It was even worse down there. The upstairs was leaking/pouring into the bottom level and there wasn’t a seat that didn’t have a pool of water in it. Water was pouring through the ceiling and dripping everywhere.

We grabbed dinner upstairs at the buffet. We only have 1 sea day and then 2 more ports. There was no entertainment tonight since we all had to go to the Lifeboat safety drill since this was an embarkation port. Ballroom dance Date was just dancing with the Princess Show Band instead of a regular show tonight.

Even though we had a 9:00 departure time and were supposed to have an 8:30 all aboard, we had to be on board at 7:00 because we had to go through immigration ashore and that ended at 7:00. 

It was a shame to miss seeing more of Cape Town, but you can’t argue with the weather. I still thank Thabiso our Cape of Good Hope guide for strongly suggesting we do Table Mountain after his tour since the weather was perfect. We did get a great overview of the city and hopefully one day we will return.

Finally, we have one sea day to have a day off from touring.

Cape Town HOHO https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZDfoj7wyVH5mYxKK8