Quite a first day in Cape Town!
It's late, and I have to be up early, but I don't want to get behind on day one! I'll just see how far I get before I run out of steam.
I started the day fairly early, and woke up to singing. I do wish I'd recorded it! It was the type of singing that you see from S Africa, with a woman singing out a line and a chorus of others responding. It was a wonderful way to start the day. I found out when I went down to the lobby that there is a large meeting of trade union members staying here, people from all over the country. They were waiting for the bus to take them to the conference, and sang as they waited. All of the union members are wearing the same colorful clothing (as it turns out, they had different identical outfits for each day), and tonight, as they moved around the hotel, they all carried flags on long white sticks. (They were also doing a lot of in-room partying when I got in last night,)
There is also a marathon in town this weekend. Actually, I think that there are several, as there are wheelchair athletes here too. So they are also running around in their running gear. Plus there are women rugby players at the hotel. I'm feeling very unathletic as I watch all of these thin, healthy people run around!
A few more notes before I start on my day. First, I hadn't realized that they drive on the left here. Riding in the shuttle this morning, I was reminded of when Mom and I got to Ireland on our last trip together in March 2019. I picked up the rental car and drove once around the parking lot before driving out onto the road. Mom and I laughed so much that trip, as I'd drive down tiny lanes or zip through traffic circles. Moment like this morning, I really miss her. I would loved to have called her to laugh with her about our Irish adventure and driving on the "wrong" side.
I walked out in front of the hotel this morning and saw 2 new birds in the trees by the road. And there I was, with no camera or binoculars. I did manage cell phone pictures, so that's something. By the end of the day, I'd identified 14 new birds. But more about that later.
Breakfast is included with the room, so I headed down. I had a freshly made omelet, coffee, and fresh fruit. It was a nice buffet, though could not compare to the first buffet in Morocco. Still, it had a lot of different types of food—I'll try to take some pictures.
I had booked an "Ocean Wildlife Adventure" trip via Viator, so after breakfast, I took the hotel shuttle to the waterfront. It stopped at the enormous Victoria Wharf, where there is a mall and lots more. I had a 10 minute walk to the place I was meeting the boat, and the walk took me about 40 minutes. Flowers and birds were everywhere! I just had to stop and look!
I did finally get there, only to find that I was 30 minutes early. Not a problem—I birded and added 2 new birds.
The boat trip was amazing! It was a small boat with a captain, a trainee captain, and 6 passengers. Everyone was really into what we saw. (What we didn't see were dolphins or whales, though we did see a distant blow from a whale). It was relatively smooth, which actually meant some really big swells (at least 3-4 feet). Since it was so calm, the captain decided we'd circle Robben Island. I hadn't planned to visit the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, but I did get to see it.
Now I wish I'd arrived a few days earlier than I did. I'd love to do some more exploring on my own. But I'm sure the group tour will be wonderful.
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