As we sailed with Jaz out of the fog and witnessed the magic of Table Mountain before us we were excited about our Cape Town visit. This early impression was not a false start and we did indeed have a wondrous time in Cape Town.
South Africa claims to be the “cradle of mankind” and north of Cape Town,ancient fossilized footprints were discovered and believed to belong to the Sans and Khoekoen tribesmen, the first known humans.
In 1488, Batholomeu Dias, a Portuguese navigator, sailed around the “Cape of Good Hope”, later explorers describing it as the “Cape of Storms”. Not until 1652 did the Dutch East India Company establish Cape Town as a supply station for Dutch ships. This was the start of the colonisation of the Cape; start of the Slave Trade and the mixing of races and cultures. There ensued a tussle for control between the Dutch and British but by the 1800’s the British had control, although even today there is a strong legacy of Dutch in the Afrikaans language, in place names and the architecture. Large deposits of diamonds were discovered in Kimberley and Cape Town became the gateway to South Africa’s mineral wealth. During the 1900’s the Cape wine industry flourished. The mid 1900’s saw the infamous ‘state of being apart’, Apartheid, which was imposed by the ruling white state and every person was classified by race. This disrupted the lives of families, neighbours and colleagues. We witnessed, even now, the aftermath of this in District Six which, because of its racial mix and proximity to the city centre, was bulldozed down to displace its inhabitants into separate areas. The area today is largely undeveloped and is a scar remaining from the Apartheid era.
We are not suspicious and we arrived uneventfully in Cape Town on Friday 13th. The following day Jaz and Debbie couldn’t resist the pull of the V&A Waterfront Mall, a short walk from Amelie. It was named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (Mother & Son) and is South Africa’s most visited tourist destination. Not only is it a vast shopping mall but a working harbour with docks for passenger liners, ferries, fishing boats and yachts but also of interest to us, hundreds of restaurants. Our marina was slap bang in the middle of it all. That day may have been window shopping but real retail activity was to follow.
On Sunday, Jon flew in from the UK and mother and son were reunited after a year apart. We found a good place for steaks and Jon rekindled his fondness for Carling Black Label beer. We hired a taxi for the next day and set off to see the Jackass (African) Penguins at Boulders Beach on our way to a land side view of the Cape of Good Hope. That whole area is a national park and we witnessed Ostriches and Baboons in the wild. In the evening our close friends from Babe shared with us a joint early Christmas celebrations (they were going to family in Australia) and a belated 21st celebration for Jon in the highly recommended restaurant Dash.
Tuesday was earmarked for Christmas shopping and the V&A finally saw the colour of our Rand. We set off in pairs, reconvening for a quick Pizza before the quest for Jon’s 21st present. The next day we set off together for a long awaited hairdresser appointment followed by Debbie & Jaz enjoying the spa and Stephen & Jon a Wagyu beefburger. Thursday evening, Oyster had arranged a party at the Groot Constantia estate. This is South Africa’s oldest wine farm and reputed to have supplied Napoleon during his incarceration on St Helena. It was a great evening of free flowing wine and exuberant dancing. Returning to the marina by bus, Stephen & Debbie prolonged the evening by a visit to a nightclub, ostensibly to help Paul (from Lush) to celebrate his birthday. The music was great but we were certainly the oldest there. We got back to Amelie as dawn was breaking. Jaz returned at the same time with Oliver (Pearl of Persia) and everyone thought a nightcap a good idea! Funnily the rest of the day we were in recovery mode.
You have to choose your moments to visit the summit of Table Mountain. Many days the cable-car doesn’t operate because it’s shrouded in clouds (the tablecloth). We sat at breakfast on the edge of the waterfront looking up at Table Mountain with its white tablecloth thinking today is not the day. Instead we set off on a city bus tour to get an open topped view of the city and some of its famous beaches. The tour took us to the base of the cable-car station and by the time we arrived the clouds had disappeared, the cable-car was running and there were no queues, so we hopped off the bus. A number of the other boats had queued for two hours to get up and an hour to get down. The mountain top view was spectacular.
Sunday was to be a quiet day for Stephen, the rest of the Amelie crew set off for Kleinbaai harbour in Gansbaai (160 kms from Cape Town). Debbie, during a weak moment, had promised that she would go Shark Cage Diving with Jon. At 05:30 we were collected and driven to the harbour for breakfast. We spent four hours on the boat anchored in Shark Alley off Dyer Island witnessing Great White Sharks. They are controversially lured towards the cage by Gladys, a seal cut out, and a Tuna head as chummy. Jaz took some fantastic photographs of the experience, while Jon and Debbie donned thick wetsuits and plunged into icy water inside the cage in order to get close to these magnificent predators. An awesome experience that is unforgettable.
The next two days were similarly nature related as we headed off to stay at the Aquilla Private Game Reserve. This was Jaz’s first safari and what an initiation it turned out to be. Not only did we see Elephants, Lions, Rhino, Buffalo and Leopard but also hosts of other animals. We had the excitement of our vehicle being charged by a Buffalo and also witnessed a Buffalo and young bull Elephant having a set too. The encounter stopping after the Elephant, using his trunk, threw a log at the Buffalo! The evening of our return saw the Oyster World Rally crews gather at the Ferryman’s bar to celebrate Debbie’s birthday. There ensued a splendid evening quite literally including dancing on the tables and drinking a variety of shots (Soweto Toilets, Springbok and Tequila). One of life’s little miracles is that we got Debbie into a McDonalds, with our friends from Proteus, to fix a carb craving in the early hours of what was now, Christmas Day.
Christmas Day was bitter sweet for Debbie, great to share lunch with Jaz and Jon, but sad to see Jaz off to fly back to London later in the day. Anyway not long until March when Jaz joins us again in Guadeloupe. Boxing Day Jon organised with the Oyster World Rally crews, a climb up Lion’s Head mountain for sunset. The Lion’s Head looks up to Table Mountain and has 360 degree views of the city, sea, bays and beaches. 28 of us reached the summit and we celebrated in true Oyster style. The climb up the cliff face was strenuous albeit aided by sweaty rungs, ladders and chains. The attached picture shows us all just before we descended in the fading light.
Another active day followed with a cycle ride through the winelands, stopping at Groot Constantia, Buitenverwachting and Steenberg estates for wine tasting. The day ended magnificently with an elaborate picnic in the sun within the grounds of the Steenberg estate. Upon leaving, we started our purchasing of the beautiful wines sampled on this estate. Stowing the huge quantity that we bought displaced some of our regular stores and other homes, within Amelie, were sought out. We now have the odd occasion when we can’t find what we’re looking for!
Saturday was Jon’s last full day in Cape Town and we decided to find a sports bar that was televising the rugby at Twickenham.....Exeter Chiefs v Harlequins. Jon and Debbie got into the groove and adorned themselves in the Chief’s colours, using different shades of eyeliner for the purpose. Unfortunately this display did not help Exeter Chief’s fortunes.
Seeing Jon off outside the airport was very emotional but we have since reflected on the time we spent with both, Jaz and Jon, full of laughter, humour and general catching up.
Theoretically, save for some New Year’s Eve celebrations, it was down to work, getting Amelie ready for her Atlantic crossing. We started well on the Monday by getting the sails down for checking and repair plus chasing people to fix Wally (the hydrogenerator); check the rigging (Amelie was found to have a cracked cap shroud but luckily our emergency rigging kit and new chocks in the mast gave her a clean bill of health); clean the hull and stainless steel and repair a faulty freezer condenser plate. After one day of effort, New Year’s Eve was already a lazy day with Debbie being pampered in the spa and Stephen making friends with Kym, George and Andre from the News Bar. More to follow on our new friends who now call Stephen, Mr. Sparkle as he had enlisted their help in trying to track down some sparklers for some dutch kids on another boat.
New Year’s Eve was held at Den Anker restaurant and 54 Oyster World Rally participants attended, successfully organised by Jean from Legend IV. We enjoyed a fantastic five course dinner liberally washed down with South African wine, which incidentally, we found far superior to Australian wines and at a fraction of the price. Sadly for Debbie there wasn’t any dancing but nonetheless we had a great evening socialising, as evidenced by Debbie not arising from her bed until 4pm on New Year’s Day.
Thursday and Friday saw us working hard on Amelie, interspersed with visits from friends; drinks at Jean and Alan’s apartment (overlooking the marina) and restaurant suppers. During the day on Saturday, we joined Ian on Yantina to see the start of the ‘Cape to Rio’ race, not aware at the time of the tragedy that would ensue when one crew member from the Angolan boat, Billie, lost his life when the fleet hit extremely bad weather. The South African yachting community went into mourning. Stephen also had news from his Auntie Gill that her husband, Peter, had finally lost his battle with cancer. He was a giant of a man in life and as was his way fought his illness stoically and with humour, his rest now is well earned.
That evening we joined Leo and Karin (Duchess) for a night out at the Waterfront. Stephen discovered the following day that he had lost his debit and credit cards. Getting replacements would be a logistical nightmare and we would have been without them until Jaz’s visit in March. Luckily our waitress found them and locked them in the night safe until we collected them. Stephen is now a proud owner of a nice slimline wallet!
Back to our friends from the News Bar. They had kindly invited us to Chez Kym for a traditional South African Braai (Barbecue). Additionally, Andre had prepared and cooked a Pojikee (difficulties finding out how to spell this - meat stew with dumplings, traditionally cooked in a cast iron pot over fire) which was truly delicious. We spent a warm afternoon in Kym’s garden (a novelty to us as our garden is the sea) eating, drinking and getting to know one another. We decided to return the compliment by inviting them to a roast supper on Amelie the following weekend.
Monday the 6th of January marked a year from the start of the first Oyster World Rally and we celebrated the following day with an impromptu ‘Jump Up’ on Amelie. Duchess, Babe, Purusha and Wolfhound enjoyed a variety of takeaway food with Karin as the DJ using our new bluetooth speaker. We danced the night away. Bearing in mind the numerous distractions in getting Amelie suitably prepared, Stephen called time at midnight and got everyone off the boat, much to the dismay of Trish and Debbie.
During the final week we managed to get through our two page list of chores which was helped enormously by Kym being on holiday, not only running us around in her car but having the local knowledge of where to buy what we required. Distractions did include a sad farewell to Tim and Fay (Dreams Come True), a very nice dinner in a Japanese/Peruvian restaurant with Debbie and Eddie; supper with Serendipity and Babe’s wine tasting evening.
George and Kym joined us on Amelie for a roast lamb supper with roast potatoes cooked in goose fat, yorkshire bullets (sorry, puddings) for Kym and to keep Debbie happy, some vegetables. Alas, Andre couldn’t make it but he sent his plate to be filled together with a bottle of wine dressed with the South African flag. It was George’s first time on a boat and not only did he look the part, we believe he enjoyed the experience.
Our final evening in Cape Town was spent with Stephen (Valentine) and Richard (Proteus) in the Royal Cape Yacht Club looking out over their windswept marina. Something we hadn’t mentioned before, the mountains produce some very strong winds which locally they call the ‘Cape Doctor’ as it blows all the germs away.
At 08.15 on Tuesday, 14th of January we set off from Cape Town, closely followed by Pearl of Persia, Babe and Satika, to get some sailing after a month in the marina.
Cape Town, you looked after us well with your warm welcome, great wines, new friends and unforgettable memories. Dankie.
Southern Atlantic, here we come.