Position 33:54.52 S 018:25.14E

1158 UTC       20^th June 2007

Well we have finally arrived in Cape Town, and are now alongside the Victoria and Albert Waterfront.  The weather is gorgeous today, despite it being the depths of winter here, with temperatures around 30 degrees.

The pontoons are littered with sea lions, are they are proving fun as they swim in the marina, quite often just lying there with their flippers in the air, and their heads out of the water.

21^st June.

Went out for a few drinks last night, and so most are nursing hangovers.  Ken and I went for a tour of the Cape of Good Hope peninsular, taking in the spectacular views.  We visited Simonstown, where there is a colony of penguins, who have made one the most gorgeous beaches there home.  There is a boardwalk down to see them, leaving the penguins in peace.  There were many baby penguins there today, who must have been finding it hot in the heat.

We then went on to visit the Cape of Good Hope which is the most South West point of Africa.  We saw a number of baboons here who, given the chance, would steal any food, they were very cheeky.  After a bit of a trek, we visited the old lighthouse, and walked down to a view point over looking the new one.  Cape Point had never looked so calm, with zero wind and blue skies, it looked totally forgiving.  If only Cape Horn had been so kind.

June 22^nd

Today I took a trip to take in the sights of table mountain.  Although climbing up it was an option, I decided to take the cable car, so that I could enjoy the view.  Cloud interrupted the view towards Cape Point but it was still an awesome view of Cape Town and table bay.

June 23^rd

After table mountain I went in search of getting myself on a one day safari.  Now some may say that it is a bit of a canned experience, but I was to enjoy it nonetheless.  An early start at 0530 was a bit of a pitfall, but in a couple of hours we were driving through semi desert, north of Cape Town.  I was of to visit the Aquila Private Game Reserve, which is a bit like a safari park I guess, except that they can eat each other.  After a fantastic breakfast, we got in the 4x4 and made our way into the reserve.  Within minutes we had seen Hippos, closely followed by elephants.  We got to see most things in the short 3 hour drive round, with our extremely knowledgeable guide, and I would highly recommend the tour to anyone who cannot get out into the “bush”.

Ian Jinks returning to Ondeck Sailing signing out.