Capetown Part 2: Kalk Bay, Cape Point, and Cape of Good Hope

 After exploring the waterfront for a couple of days, we moved about half-way down the cape to the fishing village of Kalk Bay. The bay has mountains on one side and False Bay on the other, which was a name given by sailors who used to return from the east and confused Cape Point (the southwestern most tip of the Africa) with Cape Hangklip, that looks similar in features, giving sailors the false impression that they rounded the cape. Kalk Bay was very artsy and had many small boutiques, art shops, and delicious restaurants. There was a large fishing pier where you could see small fishing boats bring in their daily catch, watch sea lions bask in the sun, or explore the rocky beaches. Our weather was in the low-mid 70’s all week and it was very windy, so it wasn’t great for swimming (but the boys did plenty). It was perfect weather for exploring, and we were in a great location to easily get around the cape.  This town had so much character and we loved staying here for the week. At the pier in Kalk Bay.

Starting to get the daily catch

The sea lions hung out with the the fishermen, and would hop up on the pier or swim around the water. The kids loved watching them.

We had a wonderful AirBnB that was about a block off the main road, in an old house downtown. The house was decorated with local art, had lots of antique furniture, and was a great set up for our family. This was the kitchen and dining room, looking from the back of the house.

Looking down on the same area from upstairs.

The living room was upstairs along with the kids room, and our room was downstairs. This opened up to a balcony where we could sit, and the best part was the park across the street that the kids played at each day.

Nice patio outside the kitchen area.

Park across the street from the house. Right off the main road, there were blocks of homes just like ours and this large park in the middle of it. Lots of neighborhood kids played at the park and the kids made friends each day. Our house was just a couple to the right of the right-most house in the photo.

Having easy access to this park was a highlight for the kids, and nice for Nathan and I to sit on the balcony and watch them play.

There was a railroad that went along the coast. This was looking into the harbor where the fishing boats docked and the pier. 

Because the water is so rough, they created ‘swimming basins’ along the coast, which is a public protected area where people could swim. It was about 300 m from our house, so we went a couple times. The water was very cold, but the boys still got in to swim. Eliza dipped her feet and that was enough for her…and us.

They walked along the protection wall to the other side of the basic. It was so windy and the waves were really big outside the wall, even though you can’t tell from the picture. Contemplating where to jump in.

Caleb got a little push, but they did it.

Almost every afternoon, Benjamin wanted to jump off the pier, despite this sign…and everyone else doing it.

More around town. As expected, we found a favorite ice cream shop and went there every day after dinner!

There was colorful local art sold all over the place.

Benjamin loves art and one of his highlights was meeting a local artist! Our house shared a driveway with a charity shop and during the day they used the driveway to sell store items and a place for this artist, Amos Jack, to sell his work. As soon as we arrived on day one, Benjamin was drawn to his paintings and wanted to get some. Amos was such a nice man, and one day invited Benjamin to draw with him. They spent a couple hours drawing and Benjamin helped him when customers came by. Amos drew Benjamin a sketch of his favorite painting of the rooster, and Benjamin drew Amos a picture of a monkey that evening and gave it to him on our last day. It was a really neat experience for him!

We got Benjamin a few of his favorite paintings.

This is the painting of the rooster that Amos drew in Benjamin’s drawing notebook.

There were so many cute stores selling art work, locally made fabrics, and clothes. This was a neat store that sold pillows, table clothes, napkins.

Another day we took a short 30 minute drive to the Cape Peninsula, the southwestern most part of the country, to see Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The small blue dot on the southwest part of the peninsula is where we were.

Table Mountain National Park entrance.

Once we got into the park, it was not busy at all. Lots of open roads and gorgeous scenery on all sides!

Our first stop was Cape Point, which is a large mass of land on the Cape Peninsula. The highlight of this part was the baboons. We read that baboons were common in this part of South Africa, and we were definitely in their home! They roamed everywhere and were very aggressive when there was food in sight. This one eventually was hit with a taser gun by a staff member when it got too close to a child!

There was a cable car to get to the top. The Flying Dutchman was a legendary Dutch ghost ship that never made it to shore and was doomed to sail the seas forever. Thankfully we made it to the top and back :) Another fact about Capetown is it was settled by the Dutch, so many of the signs and street names were in  Flemish.

We made it to the top!

The view of Cape Point were breathtaking. The pictures don’t do it justice.

The beach in the close up is called Diaz Beach. We wanted to hike down there, but heard the baboons were very aggressive on the trail, and it was a long hike so we decided to just see it from the top.

We walked up the stairs to visit the lighthouse.

We took in the beauty a little longer, then took the cable car back down.

More fun creatures along the way.

There were baboons everywhere as you drove along the road. We stopped at a secluded beach along the way, and there were people eating food with a pack of baboons waiting near by. Each time one got close, which was pretty often, the people would throw huge stones (not hitting them) to deter them. Between that and then turning around and seeing about 5 baboons jumping on someone’s car and shaking it in the parking lot where we were also parked, we decided it was probably best to go:)

The next stop down the road was the Cape of Good Hope. The sign is self explanatory. There was a huge crowd of people waiting to get their photo in front of this sign. We did not wait, but were able to snap a quick picture between people taking turns. 

The beaches are rocky and rough in the this part of the world!

Each day we continued to be amazed with the beauty of this country. Next stop was penguins in the wild, surfing, and botanical gardens.