Finally have some time!

We have arrived at our little cottage called "Quainton" in Hermanus on the east side of False Bay, because the explorers thought it was Table Bay when they came around the horn from India, only to find a dead end!

Pat and Randy went off to get his morning coffee so I have some time. We are spending ten days in Capetown, SA, before we join our OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) group in Johannesburg next Saturday. We will be flying to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana (check out OAT's website for Ultimate Africa for trip details)

I booked all our reservations on Airbnb.com website. We had an adequate, if sparse, apartment on the 5th floor near the waterfront downtown area of Capetown for 4 nights. The waterfront is where all the restaurants, shops, etc. are so the location was great. On arrival we walked down a and ate a wonderful fish dinner ata Seviga's on the waterfront. We went back on our last night as well, this time with Chester, Pat's distant cousin. His wife Rosemary is in the hospital getting cancer treatment so we didn't get to meet her. Chester was a font of information as he had a lived in SA most of his life. His  father who was much, much older than his mother led a long and adventurous life, making his fortune    Managing copper mines up in Messina near the then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe border. He bought thousands of acres along the Limpopo River bordering the two countries (it is now a game reserve bordering Kruger National Park).

Chester gave us a copy of a book his mother Margaret Emery had written on her life in this weekend getaway camp where they stayed in framed little rooms covered only in mosquito netting scattered around the area. Lions and elephants would sometimes come right up to the rooms! One story told of Gus, the father, taking his bath outside and leaving the water in the tub for a morning wash. during the night he thought it was raining as water drops were coming through the netting. Turns out an elephant was sharing his tub and spraying himself with the water! I don't want to get THAT close to wild elephants. Anyway it has made for fascinating reading!

We were warned we might not get to visit the two major sites in Capetown if winds were high or weather was bad. so we spent the first day up on Table Mountain via cable car for gorgeous views off the area. We spotted a family of daisies up there, related to the elephant with the same bone structures but small like a badger.

We cabbed down to the waterfront for lunch and our 3 pm boat ride out to Robbens Island about 20 minutes ride. This is where