This has been one hell of a week. Trying to do the usual, plus study for my midterm, all while being on lockdown has kinda sorta sucked. SM has been super helpful but he’s also working.
On top of all that I have been absolutely exhausted. Seriously felt like I’d been victimized by a vampire. It was like something had its hooks in my soul, weighing me down. We humans can normalize just about anything, as the current situation illustrates. But having experienced this I am even more empathetic with those that experience chronic fatigue syndrome.
For me it wasn’t an illness so much as a restless mind not allowing me to sleep. I joined the throngs having lots of vivid dreams, but not the linear ones I am used to. These were mostly stress dreams. With which I am unfortunately not unfamiliar. And a full-on nightmare which is quite rare, thank goodness! I only need seven hours a night but for the past couple of weeks I’ve been lucky to get half that. It reminded me of when LB first joined us. At least then she took naps, so I got to sleep when she did.
Back to South Africa.
As mentioned in the previous post, we did the Cape of Good Hope and Boulders Penguin Sanctuary on a daytrip we booked with a discount through the city pass. This is definitely another case where a car rental or a deal with your Uber driver would be preferable. Boulder’s Penguin Sanctuary is just outside of Simon’s Town, a destination in of itself, and one we did not get to enjoy due to our tight schedule.
We were there in November, which is the last month of whale watching season. The whales leave Antarctica to feed, mate, and reproduce in the warmer waters off of False Bay meaning that South Africa offers some of the best land-based whale watching in the world. Southern right whales are the most common species to visit False Bay, and they tend to start arriving throughout May. Adults reach up to 15 meters in length and weigh up to 60 metric tons/over 66 US tons.
Right whales will be around until the end of November with their numbers peaking during October. Other whales that can be seen during the season include humpbacks, orcas, and killer. Bottle nosed dolphins show up in November overlapping the end of whale season and hanging around until February. Plus, there are hard to spot Byrde’s whales that are present in South African waters all year round.
There are many boating companies that offer whale watching cruises but none of them quite worked out for us. Land based viewing is also possible. The whales can be seen from Cape Point from the deck at Two Oceans Restaurant, the Lighthouse Keeper’s Trail, and the beaches. Another way to go whale watching from land is to take the train between Muizenberg and Simon’s Town. Coastal Road, between Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town also offers some good vantage points for whale watching in False Bay. While on the bus we were able to glimpse one cresting whale from afar.
On the bus we were informed that we could not buy children’s tickets for Boulders Penguin Sanctuary on the Hop On Hope Off Cape Point tour bus. Kids tickets are about half that of adult. Having been warned that lines can be quite long we opted to buy an adult ticket only to find no line at all when we arrived. Even without lines it was hurry, hurry, hurry to get to the site. The bus parking lot is about a ten-minute walk across a very inviting beach, through a small market that invites one to linger, and past various drink and eateries including an ice cream parlor. No time for that if we want to spend time with penguins in the wild!
Admittedly, it was a very cool and highly recommended experience. The boardwalk cuts right through the penguin’s grounds. Despite having been warned that the penguins are a bit more standoffish than they used to be thanks to the misbehavior of throngs of tourists they really were all around us. Definitely close enough to touch if you’ve a mind to be bitten by a wild animal. By this time LB had seen penguins in multiple aquariums but this was and would continue to be a highlight of the Trip for her. We did manage to grab an ice cream on the way back. It was delicious.