The Cohen Family Adventure Summer 2011: 1st Day in Cape Town

Our first full day in Cape Town was Monday, August 8th. Even though it's winter in South Africa and we expected that we might have cool weather, the temperatures were unseasonably mild & in the high 60's - low 70's during the day. We started the day by driving along Chapman's Peak, one of the most spectacular coastal roads in South Africa (if not the world) that hugs the coast of the Atlantic Ocean for miles and miles.

Chapmans Peak Drive rises from the harbour of Hout Bay, meandering through the 114 curves of Chapman’s Peak to follow the rocky coastline along some truly magnificent views of the sandy bays below. The combination of steep, almost thrilling rocky inclines, shimmering blue waters and expansive skies simply take the breath away. All of this done with a white-knuckle grasp in our right-hand-drive Mercedes Vito van on the "wrong" side of the road. To compensate for this, there are thankfully, a number of rest areas en route to simply stop, drink in the views, or purchase some crafts from the locals.

Chapmans Peak Drive closed due to a fatal rock fall in late 1999, for just short of three years, denying visitors to the country some of the best scenery on the Cape Peninsula. The eventual upgrading of Chapman’s Peak Drive won international acclaim as one of the most innovative road engineering projects, beating another eight international projects to win the 2004 civil engineering award for road design.

At one of the rest areas, we met a singing group from America that was on tour in South Africa. Included in the group was a 6th grade boy from Wellesley that will be starting at the Middle School this month with Josh. What a small world indeed!!

We stopped on Noordhoek beach for some fun in the waves and then drove through the beautiful villages of Kommetjie & Scarborough, winding our way eventually down to Simons Town, a Royal Naval Base and the home of the South Atlantic Squadron under the second British occupation of the Cape in 1806. Our friend Pete lived here during his time in the South African Navy.

At Boulders Beach in Simons Town, there is an impressive colony of African Penguins. The African penguin inhabits just twenty-seven sites. Most are on inshore islands, of which the best known is Robben Island, the island used as a prison for the isolation of political prisoner. There are only three penguin colonies on mainland sites. This mainland colony at Boulders Beach in Simons Town has over 2500 birds.