Boulder Beach

It had been overcast the day of our arrival, so we were a bit curious about Table Mountain and it’s proximity to Cape Town. After a restful night, my husband woke up, walked to the window, opened the blinds and simply said “NO WAY!”. I walked over and dropped my jaw next to his; Table Mountain isn’t NEAR Cape Town, Cape Town is built INTO Table Mountain. Even from the tight corridor streets of the Kloof Neighborhood where we were staying, as the clouds cleared we saw Table Mountain looming above us in between the tightly packed buildings, so close it seemed you could reach out and touch it. The smaller counterpart to Table Mountain known as Lions Head was equally stunning and looking down on us as well. My husband, being an avid photographer, couldn’t wait to get his camera and drone out and capture this other-worldly landscape in all of it’s glory. 

The day remained a bit overcast and so we had to cancel our walking tour of the city, but this didn’t deter us from exploring on our own. We hopped in our rental car and hit the road to Boulder’s Beach, home of the infamous South African penguin colony. After buying some trinkets from the local vendors on our way to the national shoreline, it didn’t take long to find our first group of penguins basking in the afternoon sun. As we continued down the boardwalk, we saw hundreds of penguins jumping in and out of the water, curiously eyeing the tourists and relaxing on the warm rocks. After taking more photos than we needed and getting our fair share of daily cuteness, we hopped back in the car and took the scenic route back to the southwest side of the cape. As the highway wound along a craggy shoreline and we passed through pastel-colored beach town after beach town, complete seals playing just offshore, we realized how hungry we were. The time had come for us to get out fill of oysters on the half shell (which I hadn’t been able to stop talking about), and we did just that: 24 each to be exact. With full bellies and another days worth of memories-of-a-lifetime, we found our way back to the hip, cozy Kloof Street neighborhood and retired for the evening.