I’m saving Robben Island, the District 6 Museum, and the Cape of Good Hope and Penguin Sanctuary for my last couple of posts. Robben Island and the District 6 Museum deserve more than I can focus on at the moment and the Cape of Good Hope, Simon’s Town, and the Penguin Sanctuary are just a lot. For this post I’ll focus on a few smaller experiences. But first another #covfefe19 lockdown update.
We haven’t been locking down as earnestly as some. My dad and I go bike riding several times a week. We all live so close together it feels more like a family compound than separate households. We stay six feet, or more, apart but still chat. We also go to the parks. There are people around, but few enough it’s easy to stay away from them. No hugs, no handshakes, no touching anything but all in all, it could be much worse.
We hit the same store once a week with SM as the designated shopper. Trying to cut that back to once every two weeks, but our norm is several stores several times a week. One for fresh produce, one for local goods, one for packaged goods, a couple for “ethnic” goods, and Costco. We’ve been cooking all of our meals. We were going to get take out for the first time Sunday. I get that enchiladas and margaritas are not necessities and restaurants are suffering but increasing prices by fifty percent is not cool. So, we’ve cut back a lot. What’s your lockdown life like?
Back to South Africa. One of our travel traditions is taking a boat ride. This can be a tourist boat, a ferry, or just renting a pedal swan. Technically, the ferry out to Robben island counted but it feels like public transport. Our first choice for a fun ride on the water was the Jolly Roger, which bills itself as the only pirate boat in South Africa. Outside of the entertainment of possibly sighting marine life, a cruise on the Jolly Roger pirate ship promised a brief pirate reenactment which I’m sure she would have gotten a kick out of. LB was positively vibrating with excitement at the idea of riding this boat. Though I think it’s more because she hoped there would be a dog and a parrot as there had been on the ship in Madeira.
Most of these type of tourist cruises dock at the V&A and the Jolly Roger is no exception. So, we stopped by to arrange passage for the afternoon sailing only to be told that the winds were too rough and the ship was not going out that day. The next time we tried to arrange a sail the boat was broken. By this time, we had the city pass and the company behind the Jolly Roger is one of the included offers on the card. The third time we checked they were booked for a private event. Our time was running out on the card so we gave up on the Jolly Roger.
Instead, we looked into taking sail boat ride. As luck would have it the only time that worked for us was the sunset cruise, which was not ideal. The day cruise lasted about half an hour while the sunset cruise went from one and a half to two. It came with a glass of sparkling wine, a bottle per couple. And, of course, it’s a sunset cruise which means you don’t get back until after dark. All of this meant it was not particularly child friendly. But children were accepted, so we booked it.
Getting to the correct boat proved to be a bit of a kerfuffle with us being sent hither, thither, and yon before we were finally pointed in the right direction. Still, we managed to get there on time. The crew didn’t blink twice at having our 4yo on board and outfitted her with a life jacket. Having been on the water before we were prepared for a temperature drop and had brought extra layers, but were glad for the blankets that were handed out. Once the sailboat steadied, they even offered LB a chance at the helm, which she eagerly took. All in all, it was a far more pleasant experience than I anticipated and I would highly recommend it. Even with a kid.
The V&A Waterfront is the hub of tourism but if you need to go shopping because, say, your preschooler has outgrown almost all of the warm weather things you packed for her, it ain’t cheap. For that kind of shopping Access Park was recommended from several sources. You’ve got to drive or Uber out there, but getting a ride back was no problem. The area sprawls and there are a lot of shops. Be prepared for lots of walking. It’s also not the most physically inviting place. Some of the deals at the outlets are not deals at all and the cheap stores here probably weren’t any cheaper than they were elsewhere. But it was way cheaper than the V&A, we didn’t want to spend a lot of time looking for places to shop, and Access Park had pretty much everything right there. Including a grocery store. What they didn’t have is a lot of places for lunch. We ended up a Pizza Hut. My recommendation is to either plan your visit between mealtimes or pack a lunch. All in all, I wouldn’t bother coming out here unless you need to replace an entire wardrobe.
Even when, or really especially when, we are booking for a month, we like to spend the first night or two at a hotel nearby. Getting the lay of the land. Which is how we ended up spending our first few days at the New Kings Hotel. We ended up making two separate bookings for the three nights we were here. One room was supposed to be nicer but I couldn’t tell you which one. The first was bigger, the second more comfortable. The breakfast was decent and the staff helpful. The hotel is above a grocery store. All in all a solid deal for a solid price.
Next week I’ll talk about penguins, zebras, and baboons. Stay home, stay healthy.