Cape Town

On a good day, the TVs here on the ship get about 15 channels. Some nights, after I can’t stand watching a movie for the third time or am tired of trying to figure out the way cricket works, I flip to the ‘Crystal Adventure’ channel. This station runs a preview of our next couple ports while tour guides from the ship talk about what to see and do in the towns. The first time I saw the preview for Cape Town, South Africa, I watched it 3 times in a row. They played a slideshow with pictures of beautiful beaches and spectacular views and the guides were so excited just talking about it. Cape Town was the light at the end of the tunnel while we crossed the Atlantic.

Another reason my parents and I were looking forward to Cape Town was because we would see a familiar face there. My dad worked with a guy named Jason who lives in Cape Town but moved to the states for a few years to work for Rodale. He’s really nice and eagerly welcomed us to his hometown when we docked on March 2nd.

Since Cape Town was voted one of the most beautiful ports to sail into, we woke up early to stake out a good spot on the back deck for breakfast. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had an incredible view of the flat-topped Table Mountain and Lion’s Head peak as we sailed in. After breakfast, we met Jason outside the port and hopped in his brand new Audi (talk about luxury). He took us through the downtown business-y area and then we made our way out the mountainous country area. We drove for awhile and saw the beautiful beaches and spectacular views just like the pictures on the TV. I was constantly looking all around trying to take it in, I had to restrain myself from pressing my face up against the immaculately clean windows. We stopped to talk to the ‘shark spotter’ for a few minutes. There is a pretty big population of Great Whites on some of the beaches in Cape Town, so one person is employed to look out over the beach and sound an alarm if one is in the area. I can image that sound to be pretty terrifying if you’re actually out in the water.



Our next destination was to the penguin colony. It was strange that the same type of animal we saw swimming in the frigid waters of Antarctica seemed very happy waddling around a beach. They were a lot more active than the Magellan penguins we saw in the Fauklands… but then again if I lived in the Fauklands I would probably nap my life away too. Some were swimming in the ocean and a bunch were up on the beach sitting on eggs in their little nests. We saw chicks too, although they were molting and not in their most attractive stage. After we had our fill of penguin entertainment we went to a little beach area. It was like a secret cove or something, I feel like I shouldn’t even be telling you about it. There were penguins sitting on the rocks and you could go right up to them. My dad got chased by one, that was pretty hilarious.



From the top-secret-cove-beach, we went for lunch at a lovely restaurant called the Black Marlin. Now as you can probably guess, the ship feeds us pretty well. Who am I kidding, we eat like royalty. But the fresh seafood we had at the Black Marlin was unlike anything even Crystal could offer. My mom had prawns that were a foot long and the fish was so fresh I swear it was twitching. So after stuffing ourselves we more or less staggered back to Jason’s car and continued on to Cape Point, the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Jason said some days when the current and winds are just right, you can actually see the distinction. Once we arrived, we were inclined to take the funicular to the lighthouse at the top. Instead we made ourselves walk the path and just like every long climb we’ve taken this trip, it paid off and at the top another amazing view unfolded before us.



The highlight of the drive back from the Cape was when we came across some baboons hanging out in the middle of the road. They didn’t care the least that cars were trying to get through and just sat there gnawing away at something. My parents and I thought this was the most entertaining thing, Jason just kind of shrugged and said they’re becoming a nuisance.

Back in town, we went to this awesome bar overlooking the ocean for a ‘sundowner’. In South African lingo, a sundowner is simply where you hang out at a bar and watch he sun go down. Brilliant…why don’t Americans have fun names for things like that? It was a lot of fun and we celebrated the day and drank mojitos. Later when Jason dropped us back at he ship, my parents called it a night but I went back into town with a few of my friends from the crew. It was nice to get out with a younger crowd and overall, it was an incredible day.

Since it was the end of the third segment, we had 2 more days in beautiful Cape Town while the new guests boarded. That morning we met Jason around 10:30 at a coffee place on the waterfront. The waterfront is so nice, lined with lots of shops and restaurants. We all had lattes and later met Jason’s parents there. We sat and talked with them for awhile, their South African accents are just lovely, like something between an English and Australian accent. I could listen to it all day. It was raining so Jason decided to take us out to the wine country for wine tasting and lunch. Even in the rain, the scenery was so beautiful on the drive there. It was like a little slice of France with all the vineyards and a quaint town. The place we went for the wine tasting was a sort of bunker built into the side of a hill. Inside it was very nice and we sampled some wine and champagne from the nearby vineyards. So sophisticated…

Hah, anyway for lunch we went to a charming little restaurant and shop with Jason and his parents. There we had a wonderful meal of cheese, more fresh fish, and homemade pasta. It was truly French in the sense that it lasted several hours because we spent a lot of time talking. It was about 6ish when we arrived back at the ship and there we put on some warmer clothes and hopped a shuttle back to the waterfront for some shopping. While we waited for my mother in the grocery store, my dad and I made an interesting observation. You really realize how far from home you are when you’re in a grocery store in a foreign country. The place itself it quite familiar, but upon closer inspection you become lost in a world of strange brands. It took my mom 10 minutes to pick out a bottle of lotion. We really didn’t have much energy after that so we wandered around a bit and then went back to the ship.

With a few days notice, Crystal allows friends and family to come aboard while we are docked. Since Jason was so gracious in showing us his beautiful city, we thought we would show him our home (for the time being). First things first, we took him to have coffee and pastries in the Bistro. We made it clear to him that you really haven’t started your day here unless you have at least 3 pastries. After that we gave him a complete and detailed tour of the ship. This time I think Jason was the one having a hard time taking it all in. Although, now I understand how he felt showing us around. We thought Jason deserved a break after hauling us around for 2 days so we spent a good 20 minutes in the hot tub and then had lunch. The majority of the meal was spent devising ways in which Jason can score a sweet job on a cruise ship like my dad.

The ship was set to sail at 3pm that day so after lunch, we walked Jason to the gangway and said our goodbyes. Up on deck they had a sail-away party because, you know, you can’t go a day without a glass of champagne here. The weather had cleared from the previous day and we had another nice view of the city but this time with puffy clouds over the mountains. I have to say, I was sad to see Cape Town go. So if I can’t be found back in Pennsylvania once May arrives, your best bet will be to check a café or beach in Cape Town, South Africa. And you might as well not book a flight back because once you’re there, you’ll see what I mean.



Bye Cape Town, I love you!