Cape Town Part 2: Somerset West, Helderberg, Stellenbosh, and Franschhoek

[Kyle]We previously mentioned that one of Maryanne’s friends, Shana, had generously offered to let us house/cat sit for her while she took a brief work trip.

The day came and Shana picked us up from Hout Bay, we swung by her house to drop off our stuff and to pick up hers, and then we drove her to the airport. To keep us from getting bored rattling around in her big house with her adorable cat, Timmy, she had booked us lots of things to do in off-the-beaten-path places that only locals know about.

First was a sunset picnic at an outdoor concert under the shadow of the magnificent West Peak in the Helderberg Mountain Range, which was a lovely way to put a cap on a longish day.

A concert at Helderberg Nature Reserve (where the main visitor centre is built using old tyres

Shana lives in Somerset West a neighbour to Stellenbosch which is one of South Africa’s big wine regions. She had booked us for lunch the next day at Lourensford Wine Estate. Before that, though, we had a few hours to pop into Vregelegen Winery, which she also recommended. The holiday crowds had not yet begun, so we had the whole reserve to just us and a few other widely scattered couples.

We had a lovely meal AND a wine tasting (with a turkish delight pairing) at Lourensford winery. They also have some nice grounds with plenty of sculture art. It has a car museum and a host of interesting shops (like chocolate makers). You could easiily spend a day here. We had a delicious lunch!

We visited the historic Van Ryn's Brandy Distillery (which is a great included a barrel building demonstration - this takes a 3 year apprentiship!). We added in a tasting paired with chocolate

The Vergelegen has beautiful grounds and the tasting there was generous and well explained

With all the wineries, (including five others during our stay), you’d think we were both a couple of winos. While that could be a danger we don’t want to ignore, the primary appeal for us is the setting. We are scenery-os.

Maryanne said it best over a tasting: Most of the wines from most of the vineyards are generally good and within the same quality range, with a couple of better standouts and a couple that aren’t to our liking. Each winery, though, is almost completely different, with different gardens and different backdrops giving each a unique atmosphere. The point of going from one winery to another isn’t the wine so much as having a gorgeous place to relax and drink it. It’s virtually the same while nibbling on a cheese platter with a glass of tap water or just walking the grounds together and not holding any wine glass at all. Thus, being the Designated Driver doesn’t totally suck while the other one gets to have all of the fun.

Ernie Else (famous South African golfer) also has his own winery (with a practice area for anyone to use). We had a great lunch there on one of our days in the area.

Reflecting back on it, I realized that Maryanne and I have been to more than a few of the world’s famed wine regions: France, Italy, California, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, plus a few minor ones as well. (Again, probably not winos – yet), but I must say that out of all of them, South Africa is the most unbearably stunning. I don’t care if the wine is 2% better or 2% worse than some other place. Look at those mountains!

Anyway, the food at Lourensford was delicious. Thanks, Shana for setting that one up. Our favorite side bit of entertainment came from our server. She was friendly and efficient, but she had the almost instantly annoying habit of saying "Hundred percent", accompanied by a saccharin smile any time we asked her for anything. I’m sure it's just some term the local youth started using, but it was hard to get past.

"Could I get another glass of water, please?"

"Hundred precent"

"May we see the dessert menu?"

"Hundred percent"

"We’re ready for the bill now"

"Hundred Percent"

"Do you want a tip?"

Peter Falk Winery

At Eikendal Winery we had a pairing with Cheesecake (not shown here)... the calories are getting a bit much but we didn't complain!

Shana had also hooked us up with a visit to the local (private) Golden Eye cinema where we had yet another great meal, and a movie sowing - ending just around sunset.

Shana was apparently unaware that we were suffering from scenery overload when we picked her up at Cape Town airport. Even though she had already had a long day, she insisted on taking an indirect route back to her house through the pretty little village of Franschhoek, where we conveniently ended up parking for an amble of the town right next to an ice cream stand.

Then she drove us into the mountains and on the very curvy road over Franschhoek Pass. It is just so beautiful here! You could spend years and never see even half of it. It’s amazing that all of this is only a few minutes from the city.

Franschhoek town, more wineries (La Motte and Haute Cabriere Wineries), the Franschhoek pass - more beauty... Tough life. Big thank you to Shana for making it all possible (that is Shana in the top picture with Maryanne)

After days of seeing just parts of it, it was nice to return to Shana’s house for dinner where we were able to sit outside and get just a little feel for what it is like to live around here. It’s definitely not bad at all, especially when we are all able to have a glass of wine...

It was great fun to play grown-ups in a real house and fuss over the friendly Timmy (the cat)

Cape Town Part 1: Hout Bay Area

[Kyle]Of course, we weren’t going to start our Cape Town fun with actual fun. First were the jobs to do.

The long Christmas holiday break was looming. Most South African businesses close from the Dec 16th holiday until after the New Year. For this reason, our first few orders of business needed to be to arrange for the few repairs we needed before crossing the Atlantic. Mainly, our primary spinnaker needed three new panels and some of the stitching on our jib had chafed through on the Richards Bay to Mossel Bay leg. Since we were out on deck already getting the sails ready for pickup, I took the opportunity to climb the mast and give the rigging a good, close inspection.

We loved our time in Hout Bay - a beautiful beach to walk on every morning, plenty of restaurants, and several grocery stores nearby. We had visitors come sea us, celebrated Kyle's birthday, and enjoyed the local Fur Seals. From time to time there were STRONG gusty winds - so it was nice to be at a secure dock for all of that. We could even see (a bit of) Table Mountain from the boat

For dinner, we ate out at the nearest real restaurant, Mariner’s Wharf. It is highly esteemed and does have delicious food, but the staff have to wear embarrassingly cheesy uniforms. I’m sure every last one of them changes at work before getting the bus home. The raised balcony seating provided us with a lovely view of sunset over the harbor.

First on our list of actual tourist things to do was take a cab to the vineyard at Groot Constantia, just a short drive from Hout Bay. Remember when Maryanne and I took our tour through the Margaret River region in Australia? Of course, you do, loyal reader. That was when Maryanne had a pang of recognition as we arrived at Voyager Estate, to which she had never been. That pang was because Voyager had been copied directly by the builders of the Voyager Estate from Groot Constantia, to which she had been many years before meeting me.

Now was her chance to come full-circle and return to show it to me for my first time. I’m glad she did. It was my turn to have that pang of déjà vu. It was just wonderful and the setting was even more stunning.

After Groot Constantia, we then went to World of Birds, which is the largest wildlife sanctuary in Africa. Since their founding, they have branched into other animals as well, so now they are just mostly birds. I, of course, was there for any parrots I could find – particularly African Greys, my very favorite. When we arrived, we were told it was almost time for the monkey feeding, so we had better make a beeline for that first.

Exploring the Constantia Wine region - all just a short cab ride away from Hout Bay

As we entered the enclosure for the Black-Capped Squirrel Monkeys, the caretaker gave us lots of instructions about the importance of not making any sudden moves and not touching, chasing or harassing them in any way. I think he was having a laugh, because as soon as we entered, they started following us and then jumped up and started climbing all over us. They were equal parts soft, gentle, curious and energetic.

World of Birds (and other things) is actually in Hout Bay - a bit of a walk from the harbour (or a short cab ride)

Later on, I was having a conversation with my favorite African Grey when a guy came by and said they were closing soon. I turned toward the exit; Maryanne turned the other way. My mistake. She had wanted to go for a run! We managed to see almost the entire place before we got kicked out. They have several varieties of blurry primates, blurry grazing animals and even a few blurry Cape Penguins!

Another of Maryanne’s South African work friends from the past (Shana) had generously offered to let us house/cat sit for her while she took a brief work trip. We would have three days with a house, a car, and a cat.

Before we could even leave for Shana’s house, another friend, Tracey, showed up to take us on a tour of some of Cape Town’s other pretty areas (they are everywhere!) before finishing at a nice restaurant in Hout Bay. We will be seeing more of Tracey later.

Maryanne used to work for a South African company and had friends in the area. Tracy met up with us for a nice meal, and gave us a tour of the local coast road (it was a bit windy).

As we were having dinner with Tracey, the wind in Hout Bay picked up. Okay, I said Hout Bay was great, but the same mountains that ring the bay can make for some big katabatic winds sometimes. (For non-weather nerds, a katabatic wind is one that accelerates as it descends. This is most often caused when the mountaintop cloud evaporates when wind is flowing over it. This cools the surrounding air, making it denser, which makes it want to sink down the mountainside. The lower altitude compresses the air, which makes even more evaporation happen, which cools the air even further, which speeds it up even more. After going through this feedback loop a few more times, the result can be winds at the bottom with double or even triple the speeds at the ridge).

I’m sure you have figured out where this was going. By the time we got back to the marina, the beach adjacent had been transformed into an airborne zone of stinging sand. Monohulls at their slips were heeling ten or fifteen degrees from the force while we had to walk leaning the same amount the other way to keep from being swept off our feet.

We had an inkling this could be a possibility when we arrived, so Begonia’s lines were already doubled or tripled and her fenders were keeping her off the dock. We had one fender in particular that seemed to be bearing the brunt of it. As I was standing there, trying to figure out how to spread the load to the others better, Richard (the marina manager) showed up, looking like it was a pleasant Saturday afternoon. He pointed out a previously unnoticed strong point on the dock to which I could tie a line to help hold Begonia off. He then went to his boat, dug two big fenders out of his anchor locker, and then brought them over to give Begonia some more squishiness.

Our particular berth was pretty good. Begonia jiggled a little from side to side, while the other boats in the marina, particularly the monos, rolled back and forth a lot. Richard told me he tries to stagger masts when assigning slips just for that reason.

We were in the first row downwind of the northern seawall, to which several big commercial fishing boats were moored. Since we had covers on our wrap-around windows to protect them from damage from flying debris, it was necessary for me to go into the cockpit and pop my head out over the cabin top to see to windward. Every now and then, as the waves started breaking over the wall, the spray would pass between the fishing boats and then form a spinning, horizontal tornado that would come right at us. I would duck below the coaming and suddenly Begonia would be doused in cold salt water.

We turned on the instruments. The wind was steady in the high forties, with gusts above 50 knots. This was compared to a forecast that said 25, gusting to 28. I wanted to stay dry by hiding inside from it all, but tomorrow’s forecast was to be ten knots higher and we would be away cat-sitting. I went outside to take several saltwater showers, launder what I was wearing and quadruple-check everything.

It got quite windy a few times in the Marina

Back inside in a fresh change of clothes, we heard the long blast of a nearby horn. I popped back outside to see Calypso, the local, glass-bottomed tour boat, steaming into the harbor and it was going fast. We hadn’t thought anyone would be out there. Now we realized Begonia’s position along the edge of the fairway might not be the best.

Calypso passed us and then turned to head straight into the wind at one of the commercial fishing boats on the seawall. The fishing boat threw a line as the guy at Calypso’s bow had no chance of throwing theirs against the wind. He got it secured and then they used the fishing boat’s big winches to pull Calypso’s stern alongside. I was expecting disaster as Calypso slowed and lost steerageway, then got blown into other boats, but they tied up like it was blowing 15, not 51.