Steve and Cathy's Blog

Today we have to get an early start as we are going on a Table Mountain excursion. We meet at 7:30 in Insignia Lounge and about ten minutes later are sent out. We pass through the Cruise Terminal and hop on a very nice bus. There are only fourteen of us tourists, plus Peter Croyle and Elizabeth, our guide.

Cape Town traffic is heavy this time of day, of course, and it takes a while to get through town. Elizabeth briefs us on Table Mountain and other info about Cape Town. Table Mountain is the defining feature of the city. It is 1,000 meters (or is it metres?) high, and is indeed flat. It is possibly the oldest exposed rock on the entire planet at approximately 300 million years of age. It is flat on the top because it was originally underwater, and was pushed up from below to its present 3,000-foot height. Indeed, the entire surface is rocky and it is obvious that at one time this was sea bottom.

Random fact time:

• Cape Town – well, all of South Africa – is a very popular place to shoot movies. Currency and labor as two of the main reasons.
• The other two promontories are Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. Climbers especially like Lion’s Head (Cathy says it’s the El Capitan of Cape Town) because there is some very challenging rock climbing to be had there.
• Our guide tells us that “Cape Town is a very fit city,” in that outdoor exercise is big here. “The mountains are alive on weekends with Capetonians,” she exhorts.
• There are stands of pine trees growing at the base of the mountains that were brought in from Australia. They are now trying to get rid of them as they have a nasty habit of sucking all the moisture out of the soil. Indeed, they are the only green things around.
• The World Cup was held in Cape Town in 2010, and the residuals from this huge event are a much improved bus system with dedicated lanes, and an enormous stadium (that, frankly, looks like a huge whoopee cushion to me).

We arrive at the terminal where we will take a cable car to the summit of Table Mountain. We are quite fortunate to be here as early as we are, as the crowd builds quickly. Our wait is less than ten minutes.

There are actually two of these cars (for counterbalancing purposes), each with a capacity of 65 people. The interior of the car rotates as we go, and by the time we reach the top, which is in all of six or seven minutes, we will have gone around in a complete 360-degree turn, giving everyone a full view. The cable cars are from Switzerland (no surprise there) and first started operating in 1929. Obviously, they have been replaced a couple of times between then and now. One month a year, the cable cars are closed so that a contingent of Swiss engineers can service them.

High winds are sometimes a problem. Occasionally they will close the ride, but more often, they will deal with the wind by adding more water to the bottom as ballast (they are already ballasted with water) and reduce the number of people allowed aboard from 65 to 25.   Not sure I would want to be one of those 25, but it must be safe as there has never been a fatal accident in its entire history.

We arrive at the top, and the place is buzzing with activity. Elizabeth is a great guide, and we set off on a 90-minute circumnavigation of Table Mountain. She points out all the physical features, the flora and fauna and leads us to many lookouts. She points out one plant called Climber’s Friend, which is a very prickly plant, but one that has very strong roots so that should a climber be falling, grabbing that plant may save them.

Speaking of climbing … Elizabeth regales us with the fact that more people have died climbing Table Mountain than have died climbing Mt. Everest. Apparently climbing this rock is very, very popular.

So we hike all over the top, along with hundreds of other people. It is one breathtakingly beautiful view after another. [Cathy: It kind of reminded me of The Bluffs on Cliff Island, but with different flora and rocks. But the same sort of wild feeling of being close to nature and being careful not to step off!] We finally find our way back to the cable car/restaurant/gift shop/rest rooms area. This has been much, much more thorough a visit than we ever expected. Elizabeth loves it up here and it shows. It’s almost like she doesn’t want to leave. By the way, it was suggested that we bring jackets as it can get quite cold. Today, however, the sky is clear and the temperature is in the 70s with a nice breeze. We really lucked out with the great weather and a great guide.

We take the cable car back down to the base. It’s around noon, and the line for the cable car looks very long. Again, we were very fortunate to have gotten such a timely start this morning. In fact, we are so early despite spending at least two hours on the top that Elizabeth asks if we would like to have our driver Chris drive us around the city. And that we do, touring some of the high-rent districts (Camps Bay), driving through the heart of the downtown area to see the Dutch- and English-influenced architecture of the older buildings, and seeing the main shopping street and municipal buildings. It’s a bonus we didn’t expect, so here are a few more ….

Bonus Random Facts:

• When we were driving through Camps Bay, Elizabeth referred to it as where the Yuppies live and seek entertainment. And indeed there are tons of very upscale bars and restaurants.
• Cape Town has several Blue Flag Beaches: apparently there is some kind of international standard by which beaches are rated, and receiving a blue flag rating for the beauty of the beach is something to strive for. The surf is twice as high as anything we see in Maine.
• South Africa is the third largest kelp producer in the world. You can see it floating in the surf near the beaches. At first, we thought these black spots in the water were seals.
• There is a freeway in the city that abruptly ends (sort of like the Embarcadero in San Francisco). During the heaviest of international sanctions applied to South Africa to get them to abandon apartheid, the country ran out of money during construction. They never finished the road, and it has become a draw for moviemakers and conversation.
• Elizabeth was less than charitable about Cape Town drivers. Their two worst driving habits are: 1) blocking intersections and 2) running red lights.

Back to the ship a few minutes before 2:00, just in time to lunch in the Terrace Café. We choose to eat outdoors on the stern because it is a beautiful day. We are definitely ready for some quiet time, as we need to get ready for the exclusive ATW party set for this evening.

We are ready to go at 6:45. There are several buses because, after all, there are about 150 of us attending this event put on by Oceania for everyone making the entire around-the-world trip. It was supposed to be at a 16^th century Castle of Good Hope built by the Dutch – one of the first structures built here – but the South African military has commandeered it for their use that evening, so we all go to a very nice hall decorated beautifully.

As soon as we arrive, they handed us some champagne. There is an authentic Zulu band dressed up in genuine dress with very elaborate makeup. (They’re the picture at the head of this post)  They play super energetic music and entertain the crowd for about forty-five minutes. Kari and Larry have saved us seats, and we meet a couple of their friends from Minnesota. To my right was a guy named Will who had retired from the US military and two of his friends with whom he was traveling.

The table setting is heaped high with local flowers, including protea, which Cathy thinks is the national flower. All during the evening, the wait staff – the excellent, professional and friendly wait staff – kept refilling our wine glasses. We were served smoked salmon (Cathy says it was the best she has ever had, and that is saying a lot, because she has been eating it everywhere we ever go), beef tenderloin with a rich cognac sauce, and Malva Pudding, a South African favorite, with a vanilla sauce. And more wine.

All during the meal, we are entertained by a three-woman band playing an electric cello, electric violin, and tenor saxophone. There is also a fantastic singer, and the four of them are excellent musicians and can play almost anything. During and after dinner, we all dance…and dance. It is a happy, jubilant and loud crowd. Eventually all the wait staff joins us guests in the dancing. It is touching in its way, as the staff is 100% African and, well, we guests are about 98% old white people from thousands of miles away, but we are all sharing the joy of the evening together.

We leave around 10pm, and the party is still going on. It was a great evening, and exceeded the expectations of everyone we talked to about it afterwards. Oceania is really treating us ATW guests as special, and we look forward to the other four events they have for us during the next months.

We got back to the ship still feeling euphoric. What a night. But we have to go to bed right now (10:30!) because we have another excursion tomorrow, this one a winetasting. Oh my. How will we ever keep up!