We woke up before dawn and prepared for a morning of golf at the Rondebosch Golf Club. A taxi took us to the course, we checked in and got our rental clubs and golf cart, and the sun still wasn't up. After having a quick breakfast, there was a bit of daylight and it was our turn on the tee. We got to golf by ourselves, without being paired with another twosome, and we didn't see any other golfers for the entire front nine--it was great. The course is relatively flat, with wide fairways, and spectacular views of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak. We were amazed at how green the course was compared to the other parts of Africa we've visited, and we spent more time taking pictures of the scenery than we did focusing on our golf shots.
After our round, we got a taxi back to our hotel, where we changed shoes and socks (they were very wet from early morning golf) and got ready for our private tour of the Cape Peninsula. We had a quick lunch in the hotel restaurant, and then William, the driver who brought us to the hotel from the airport, picked us up for the tour. We told him we wanted to skip some of his usual spots and that our main priorities were the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point, and Boulder Beach. This allowed us to negotiate the price even lower than we had originally agreed.
William first drove us to Haut Bay, where we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the view of the nice beach and the fog rolling in from the sea. Next we drove over Chapman's Peak and through some small beach communities.
The white sand of the beach at Noordhoek
sitting on the edge of Africa with Cape Point behind us
Next we drove up the western side of the peninsula, facing False Bay, through a few more beach towns. Our next stop was Boulder Beach, home to 3000 African Penguins. As we walked along a boardwalk and observed the penguins in the nests under the trees and along the rocky coastline, Dena exclaimed "They're so cute!" around 80 times. We wanted to pick up the tiny little creatures and take them home, but the oils from human skin are dangerous to the penguins, and their beaks are dangerous to humans.
After trying to talk to the penguins and imitate their walk for one hour, we got back into the car to continue our drive along the coast. Again, this part of the country really doesn't feel like Africa. We have to keep reminding ourselves that we are here, and not in a zoo, or Europe, or California. After driving through another stretch of beach towns, which all look like Malibu, we drove inland and back into the main City Center of Cape Town.
We thanked William for the excellent tour and got dropped off at the V & A Waterfront to have dinner. We went to an Irish brewery called Mitchell's and had some food and drinks. We finally found a place that serves Springbok shots, a drink we discovered at the Springbok Bar and Grill in Van Nuys, CA. Next we walked over to Quay Four, where we had lunch yesterday, to hear some live music. Unfortunately, their version of live music is a man and a woman singing cheesy cover songs with a soundtrack in the background. At least the man played guitar, but the woman just danced with her microphone like a Spartan Cheerleader from Saturday Night Live. We left after one drink and went to the Green Dolphin, a restaurant that has live jazz music "8 nights a weeks." Of course, as soon as we ordered our drinks, the band took a break. When they finally came back, we enjoyed 2 or 3 songs and then walked back to the hotel.
We only have one more full day left in Cape Town and Africa. We can't believe we've been here for a month, but sometimes it feels like we've been here for a year. There are so many great things on this continent, but we miss our lives back in Burbank.
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