World Cruise - Cape Town, Day Two

Up early this morning, we caught the first shuttle bus into the Wharf and talked the driver into letting us off at the aquarium so that we could catch the first HOHO bus to Table Top Mountain. When we got to the red line bus, we were told that the cable car to the top was not operating because of the strong winds at the top. I guess that explained the lack of a “tablecloth” of clouds there this morning. Wind conditions were subject to change and we still wanted to see the sights on the other route so we boarded anyway.

We covered some of the same territory that we’d seen in the city the day before and then went up to the cable car terminal on the side of Table Top Mountain. The cable car was still not running and it was reported that there were gale force winds on top. We were disappointed. Had we taken the red route the day before, we’d have been able to make the ride. The up side of the situation was that we still had one more half day here and the possibility of riding the cable car before we sailed.

Our route took us back along the sea shore and past all the beautiful beaches we’d seen the day before. I had a second chance at some scenic shots.

Once back at the HOHO station, we decided to do a little looking around at the shops and market area. There was one large warehouse type building that had been fixed up to house lots of small booths that sold all sorts of things from clothing to African art and jewelry. We happened upon a small booth that had lots of interesting beaded jewelry and one caught my eye. The lady who owned the business said that all the beading was done by the Zulu and she would order certain designs when she ran out of them. I bought my necklace of black, gray and white beads and planned to wear it at dinner.

Lion's Head and Signal HIll

It was lunch time and we opted to try walking back to the ship. Bob estimated it would take about as long to walk to the ship as to the shuttle bus and he was pretty sure he knew the route after having been by it several times on our bus trips. Sure enough it was an easy walk and an interesting one that took us past the dry dock area where there were several large boats being repaired and painted.

 After lunch Bob was off to play paddle tennis and me, I was off to do laundry and some reading. My necklace was a hit at dinner and so much so that I had to direct another friend to where I had bought it.

The next morning we heard that the cable car was still not running so we decided to walk into the Wharf area and just wander around. We were facing seven days at sea and didn’t want to spend our entire day on board the ship. We did some souvenir shopping. This was after all the first time we’d been to South Africa and who knew when we might return. By the end of the day though we knew we would return someday. There is lots more to see and do in this area and it is a beautiful place. And there’s that cable car ride we never got. . .