Mon Aug 10 2026
Boulders Beach
A rainy start to the Cape Town adventure, so a slow start.
We woke up to some pretty heavy rain, poor visibility and fairly chilly conditions. The forecast was correct! But it looked like the rain should pass in the morning, so we had a relaxed start to the day.
As the clouds passed overhead and the sun started to shine through from behind Lion’s Head, we were presented with a spectacular double rainbow over the sea!
Late morning, we decided to explore the local area a bit. Our apartment was adjacent to Clifton Steps, so we headed down the steps to Clifton 2nd beach directly below us. We were presented with pristine white sand and an empty beach surrounded by high value properties. I imagine these beaches are rammed in the summer, but we pretty much had them to ourselves!
We walked around Clifton via Clifton 3rd to Clifton 4th, then up to the road to Camps Bay, another lovely beach with cafes and bars along the road behind it and a lot more people milling about. There were some interesting art projects on display by the road and footpath. We got as far as some rocks sticking out into the sea at the end of Camps Bay, and walked out to look at the sea and rockpools, only to overlook the fact that the tide was coming in quickly. Before we knew it, we were cut off from the sand and had to carefully time our and position our leaps to minimise wet feet whilst retreating to the beach!
We stopped for a coffee/hot chocolate/smoothie and made a plan to visit Boulders Beach in Simons Town in the afternoon, roughly an hour’s drive away, to see some wild African penguins.
The drive was spectacular, across Chapman’s Peak, a cliff road with views over Hout Bay.
We got to the beach and paid our entry fee to walk along the boardwalk overlooking the penguin colony. It wasn’t as densely populated as the seal colony in Namibia, but the penguins were pretty cute and it was a fun excursion. You could get pretty close, with a few nipping at Mima’s shoes on the way around (initiated by Mima, I might say)!
After an hour or so looking at penguins, we headed back to Cape Town along an alternative, less spectacular route, but arrived just as the sun was setting so we were presented with an amazing sunset over Cape Town.
Once home, the girls decided to jump into the pool even though the air temperature was freezing! Then a braai, and we watched Jurassic Park to remind us of safaris and the lion feeding experience (which I had likened to the goat scene!)