We're getting very accustomed to our morning view.
We're now off to catch the 11:00 ferry to Robben Island having bought the ticket when we were at the Waterfront on Saturday. We walked a different way to the Waterfront this time but it was still in an okay area and being fairly early not many people around. I like this idea of chairs on the steps.
Not sure why the traffic cones are quite so large.
Great sculpture
Most of the next few pictures are of buildings I photographed on Saturday so apologies for the repetition. The Clock Tower
Old Port Captain's Office.
I almost didn't spot Ian!
It's a good job we'd already got our tickets as they're sold out for both this and the 14:00 crossing - I guess everyone who visits Cape Town makes the pilgrimage to see where Mandela was incarcerated for so long. There was a small exhibition in the waiting room, although it was difficult to navigate around the displays as there were so many people.
I'm quite glad about that!
There was a security guard on the door stopping anyone going on to the pontoon but when I spotted this seal I asked very nicely and he let me nip out for a couple of shots. I think having a "professional" camera for once was to my advantage as several others with mobile phones were refused.
Our ferry boat heading in.
This guy was "crowd control" and was more than happy for me to photograph him.
A few views as we pulled out of the harbour.
The black cabin on the RHS is reserved for VIPs.
Table Bay Hotel
There are some very swanky yachts moored here.
I've no idea if this was a usual helicopter park or if there was an incident on the breakwater.
This is the DHL Stadium which was designed and built for the 2010 Football World Cup.
Unfortunately the tablecloth is well over the mountain this morning and rain is forecast for later.
This beautiful young lady battled hard against the extremely strong winds to smile and hold on to her hat.
It really was unbelievably windy and virtually impossible to stand up. I'd braced myself against the bars to take the other photos and suddenly noticed my own reflection.
Approaching Robben Island
I thought the fencing around the harbour was very appropriate.
Having walked the length of the harbour we were then stuffed onto very battered old coaches.
And driven around the island on a rather boring tour. The coach barely stopped and any photos had to be grab shots through the window.
A graveyard whose occupants apparently died of leprosy (not sure when though?).
This is the lime quarry where Nelson Mandela worked and the famous cave where he'd sit to eat his lunch out of the blazing sun. He was originally forbidden to wear sunglasses and the blinding glare of the lime seriously damaged his eyes.
Halfway through the island tour we stopped for a coffee break (it was a 10 min coach trip for goodness sake!). Needless to say neither Ian nor I wanted a drink and so we just wandered around.
South Africa is very fond of these giant picture frames.
A very small penguin colony.
Sooty Oystercatcher
Pretty sure this is just kelp again.
I'd rather hoped for a view of Table Mountain rising into a gloriously cloudless blue sky; but this is what I got and actually I quite like it.
When we finally reached the prison we were met by our guide. All the guides here are former "political" prisoners but our guy never said exactly what he'd been arrested for and he was rather difficult to understand. We did establish though that he never met Nelson Mandela!
The entrance to the Maximum Security area where most political prisoners were held.
It was undoubtedly a grim place; but although the displays and descriptions were clearly accurate, the buildings held no sense of the past so it was all rather sterile and almost could have been a school dormitory.
The guide went into quite detailed explanation regarding the segregation of the different classes of prisoner (he was an F if I remember correctly) and this shows the different food allocated to different races.
A heavily censored prisoner's letter.
The standard prisoner uniform but pre 1964 Black prisoners were made to wear shorts, not long trousers.
The level of violence against prisoners was disgusting.
The small exercise yard.
At one end of the yard Mandela and other prisoners planted a small garden.
"To plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it and then harvest it, offered a simple but enduring satisfaction. The sense of being the custodian of this small patch of earth offered a taste of freedom." -Nelson Mandela
The tour culminated with a view of Cell 5 Block B where Mandela was incarcerated from 1964-1982 (he was then transferred to another prison before his eventual release in 1990). Apparently in the latter years here he was allowed more furniture including a bed from 1973, prior to which he would have slept on a rush mat.
I don't really know what I expected from the visit but, sadly, I have to admit I was rather underwhelmed.
We walked behind this guy for quite a while whilst I tried to read his tattoos - it's a list of marathons he's run.
Heading back to the main gate we saw this 5' long Mole snake
The predicted rain had arrived by the time we were back to Cape Town - it made for rather monochrome viewing
But come sunset we were treated to a spectacular sky.
