The rigging guys arrive and Mike goes with them to get a quote for the rigging. It’s about what he expects which doesn’t make it any easier but at least it isn’t a horrible shock.
Because we are expecting the refrigeration guy, Mike has to wait in although the rest of us decide to go out for a bit of sightseeing. Before we go, I spend ages on the phone arranging for a visit from customs to get the VAT back on all the goods we have bought that we are exporting. It turns out that producing VAT receipts is not enough to get the money back (which was good enough for Australia). Instead, we have to go to the customs office, pick up an official, bring him back to the boat, give him the receipts, show him all the matching goods, take him back to the customs office, sign documents, and then, maybe, some time later when we have cleared out and are in the middle of the Atlantic (or probably in Brazil!), the money may appear as a refund on Mike’s credit card. Or not!
We head for Simons Town, a naval town rich in history from the time of Nelson. By the time we get there it’s lunchtime and none of us have had breakfast (remember, nothing in the fridge). We stop and find a restaurant overlooking a boatyard, and watch lots of people working on boats. Terry remarks that we probably shouldn’t tell Mike that some workmen to actually turn up!
Lunch takes ages to arrive, apparently held up by the kitchens producing a new batch on babotie, the lovely South African minced meat dish that Alice and I order. I have to say that it’s not as good as the one Heine made for us. I wonder what mine will taste like when I actually get around to making it (I’ve got to use up the ton of soya mince somehow!)
Photo: Terry looking very fetching modelling my sunglasses
From Simons Town we go to Boulders Bay to see the penguins again. Alice is like Victoria and I about penguins and we spend a happy little time watching them. They have started to build nests on the beach now although it’s weird that none of them seem particularly interested in the little plastic nesting boxes thoughtfully provided by the reserve.
They seems to be having some sort of stand off. There’s two camps of penguins; one consisting of penguins standing by the water’s edge and the other standing in the nesting area with their mouths open, lying on the nests or still building nests. The ones by the water are real wimps. Every time a wave reaches a little higher up the beach, they shuffle further inland so they don’t get their feet wet.
Having only seen Cape Point from the sea (and I didn’t really see it as it was dark) we decide to visit it on land. On the way there we pass a parking area which has been taken over by large baboons. So large, and so vicious they are that there are three wardens on duty armed with whips to keep them from harming people.
We continue to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope but when we reach the main entrance point in the road (still miles away) a sign announces that the car park at the cape is full and we will have to go in a shuttle. We decide that as the day is hazy anyway, we’ll give it a miss.
On the way back, we stop at a tidal pool, a safe place to swim in the sea without being swept out to sea.
This is obviously a local hotspot at this time of year. People have brought tents to the beach behind the pool and whole families are sitting around their braiis (barbecues) with chairs, picnic tables and cool boxes. Walking down to the beach, Alice’s flip flop breaks and she continues for a while limping on the hot sand until Terry loans her one of his shoes. He earns himself a scathing look from Alice when he enquires whether it was the flip or the flop which has broken.
Suddenly Ann spots a huge, black, hairy bottom disappearing into the bushes and presumes that Terry is off for a quick wee, before we realise that it is in fact a huge, black hairy baboon. Oh, it IS Terry! (He knows I love him really.) There’s suddenly chaos on the beach. It really is a huge monster, and people gather up their children and shout ‘shoo’ in menacing voices. Alice chooses this moment to need the loo and instructs Terry to stand guard at the door of the ladies’ toilet.
We watch the baboon stroll confidently around the picnic area, going right into the middle of a family, opening their cool box before running off with a bag of crisps. He drops it afterwards, obviously looking for something more to his taste then continues to prowl around the beach. This is too much for Alice who heads off as fast as her mis-matched shoes will allow, and watches from the safety of the car.
I hang around for a while and take photos, but I’m not sure if there’s just one or more so I join the others back in the car. We go back to the V & A Waterfront so that Alice can get a new pair of flip flops then Alice and I race to the MAC shop, Ann heads into Woolworths and Terry stops for a cappuccino.
I am hoping to find an old stock of the bronze eye pencil which I love that MAC, in their wisdom, decided to discontinue (as they seem to do with all my favourites). No luck, but they do have a similar one in kohl, although I am out of luck again as they are out of stock of this particular one. Typical.
There’s an ARC function tonight at Hout Bay, but we get back from the Waterfront too late to get a lift there so we have to give it a miss. Still, there’s another one on Thursday and we will have a car by then.
In the evening Ann, Terry and Alice go to NOBU, the sushi restaurant back in The One And Only hotel, while Mike and I, (aka the paupers) go to Panama Jacks.
On the way back stop to talk to Brent and Anna on the Lagoon cat berthed next to us. What a small world. Although South African, it turns out that Ann lived for some time in the UK, earning her living as a headmistress.
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