Back in Cape Town… again.
The final weeks before launch, now firmly scheduled for Monday, July 18th. Still so much work to be done, you can see the progress on the latest Build Gallery.
Aside from the build, we’ve also had some fun times in Cape Town. Talisha from Balance took us out to do some touristy things. We went up Table Mountain, for instance.
We took the early cable car up, hoping the fog would lift after we got there. It did, a little, then came right back. Still it’s a fun visit, and it’s an amazing place. The the mountain is about 1080 meters high. The plateau is about 3 km across, and is almost totally flat. The highest point on the mountain is a 3 meter cairn constructed by an English astronomer named Mclear.
We tired of waiting in the cold for the fog to lift, so we descended again, and Talisha took us over to Lion’s head and Signal Hill, which were below the clouds and had a great view of the mountain and the whole of Cape Town.
Cape Town from Signal Hill. Table Mountain still in the fog.
We also visited the Castle, which used to be right on the shore, but they have filled in Table Bay to make the port of Cape Town. Interesting history, somewhat tragic. The first Europeans here were Portuguese did a lot of slave trading. The Dutch and English followed and weren’t much better. The history is presented in a reasonably honest way. The brutality is discussed, without shame. It amazes me how the diverse society of South Africa, which only ended a repressive apartheid policy within my lifetime, had become a place where there’s at least some recognition of the past, but not recrimination and blame. Mandela really earned that Nobel Peace Prize.
Lots of shopping for the boat. Silverware, kitchen stuff, and sheets and towels, etc. Sage will be our home for the next few years, the goal is to make her as comfortable as possible without adding too much weight. Also, bouncing around on the ocean can be hard on plates and glasses, so selection of these items is difficult. I’m sure we’ll break a few things on the crossing, so I’m buying extras to send home with Liz.
With the launch of Sage rapidly approaching, the next update will be a big one. Hope you come back and have a look!