Dateline: Cape Town, South Africa – March 2024
The Picton Castle is in Africa!!!!!
After 20 days at sea and a swift passage around the Cape of Good Hope, the Picton Castle (and her crew) are all settled in the V&A basin in old Cape Town harbour. After clearing in (as per legal requirements) in Duncan Dock, the big gritty commercial container ship area, we moved around the corner to West Quay, an old berth for sailing ships over a century ago.. The Picton Castle crew did an outstanding job shifting the ship, and on short notice as the pilot showed up sort of out of the blue, around the mile it took. Through three narrow breakwaters and to our new berth in cold rain, smooth as can be. Singling up quickly, using the sails to back off the dock – all damn good. This gang are good seamen. Liam was great at the wheel and everyone else did what was needed smartly and swiftly: Spring getting the Monomoy and Dustin and helper got the skiff away with dispatch and safely, getting lines out, the ship and stopped with a longliner ahead.
The ship is now moored snuggly to the ancient stone bulkhead with the luxurious hotel, the Cape Grace on starboard. We have a small fleet of lovely wood-built fishing trawlers on port, a vast shipyard with a lifting dock ahead, a graving dock from the 1800s (and still in use having just launched a big tug and a trawler) astern and the big and most attractive V&A Mall further on. I am not much for malls normally (an understatement if there ever was one) but this “mall” in southern-most Africa is amazing. More later on that. And the vast massive monolithic bulk of Table Mountain looming over it all. A rock island in the sky.
What is there to do in South Africa? Beaucoup plenty!
Well, for starters you can make a trip up to the top of Table Mountain overlooking the city and Table Bay, maybe a “must-do.” It’s right there. Take a cable car to the top or hike up if you like, in 2-3 hours. And look out for the rock dassies, a small furry critter indigenous to Table Mountain. Rock dassies look a bit like big guinea pigs or some kind of rabbit with short ears, but we are told that the closest related animal is the elephant. OK, sure. Little cute furry guy, a mini-elephant? Sure, why not? A breath-taking view from the top. The city, Table Bay, the South Atlantic and all of Africa lays before you looking to the north. Hike up if you want to….
Dining out and hospitality: simply put, the standard of cuisine, hospitality and service hereabouts around Cape Town is maybe the best in the world. Easily on par with the best. I do not say this lightly. I have not only never had a bad meal eating out in the western Cape, but I have rarely had a meal that was anything less than outstanding, with gracious service to match – everywhere. We are moored next what is a “food court” but food court does not usually evoke the notion of fine cuisine or superior service. But this one does just that and more. Cuisine from all over the world and Africa: Italian, Senegal, Ethiopian, seafood, Cape Malay, Sushi, fine wines, craft beers, BBQ/Braii, and so much more – the tables and chairs are beautiful African hardwood. There is often a live band in the gallery. And I cannot say enough about the kind, gracious and competent service we experience time after time wherever we go. And this was just the food court…. With the exchange rate so much in our favour, its easy on the purse as well.
Wild animal reserves: all over the South Africa these are. Big Krueger National Park is the most famous, with elephants, cape buffalo, wildebeest, kudu, springbok, giraffe and so on – but there are many smaller ones. And preserves rehabilitating lions, cheetahs, that have been rescued from poor situations. A drive down to Cape Point (the Cape of Good Hope by road) you are all but guaranteed to see ostrich in the wild, baboons and zebra. And sea lions everywhere. Baboons too. Baboons are a bit scary. But animal reserves all over the place.
Handicraft markets: these too seem to be all over the place, on the side of the road, in parks, housed in old colonial buildings. They have lots of impressive stuff: bronze castings, masks, kente clothe and stunning fabrics from all over Africa, Masai spears and shields, big ostrich eggs, some carved, spears, zebra and springbok skins, exquisite baskets made from wire, electric guitars and banjos made from tin cans, wood stone carvings, Zulu bead work, paintings. Just outside Cape Town on Table Bay in Milnerton is a half a mile of flea-market every weekend with tools, crafts, shoes and clothes, books, foods and records and all that flea markets can offer.
Cape Town is surrounded by wine producing country in this mild Mediterranean climate. The vineyards all offer wine tasting, of course, and usually also have excellent restaurants on the farms. Stellenbosch, Paarl, Constantia, Franschoek will get our crew as they get out of town and see the Western Cape. Passing through the landscape is reward enough, alone. But the best wine never leaves the farm for the big city shops, never mind export. As good as South African wine is, they keep the “good stuff.” The B&Bs cannot be beaten either. Old Cape Dutch thatched roof houses in the vineyards. And they all know about a good cup of coffee.
Robben Island: an island a few miles offshore was once a prison, something like Alcatraz. Many of those fighting against Apartheid were incarcerated there, Including President Nelson Mandela for 17 years out of his 27 years in prison. It is now a national park teaching visitors and a new generation about that struggle against Apartheid. The docents, guides and interpreters are often either former inmates and/or former guards working together to tell that story. Read Mandela’s’ book A Long Walk To Freedom. Along with the District Six museum, this is a story in need of telling. The District Six Museum is essentially the story of an “urban renewal” not that much different than such efforts in many cities in North America such as is famous in Canada in the leveling of the Africville neighborhood in Halifax. Neighborhoods torn down, families and communities dispersed to make room for others. And for less noble reasons.
Township tours. Townships are also called “informal settlements”. These are broad areas of shacks and pretty shoddy housing around Cape Town, pretty rough stuff as these are in fact slums, yet these still represent hope for those who live there, many folks having travelled from distant areas in Africa to try to make a better life here in South Africa. There are actual tours of these townships. They are eye-openers and not as grim as one might expect. But sobering indeed.
Christel House is an amazing school founded and developed to give at least some of the kids of these townships, who have nothing much to look forward to, a future with a first class private school education. Great teachers and outstanding students working to improve life and they do. We hope to visit their school and have the students visit the ship.
The Victoria & Alfred Basin, aka “The V&A”: before the construction of the bigger outer harbours the V&A was the commercial waterfront of Cape Town, still is to a degree. But now its mixed use and a very popular destination for locals and visitors alike. I suppose it’s like a big meandering city square and park- ships coming and going, fishing boats, day charters, posh and low key restaurants everywhere, buskers and dance troupes around every corner. Cafes, shops, a movie theater, pubs, music, every imaginable shop. and it is very safe here. If you never left the V&A, it would be a shame but you still would have had a good time in southern Africa.
This morning as the sun rises over the Cape Flats to our east, the gulls swirl above fishing boats getting underway, the birds making quite a seagull racket. A tug heads out of the harbour to assist in the arrival of 1,000 foot container ship. A “residential” cruise ship called The World backed out of her berth last night, with lights blazing and headed back to sea. A cool wind from the south has me looking for a sweater. Next up, will be what work we are doing on the Picton Castle these three weeks here in Cape Town. The ship comes first.
