Scenic Chapman's Peak Drive

The locals call it Chappies and the last time we tried to drive this fantastically scenic route, it was closed due to mudslides. This time Chapman's Peak Drive was open and the only noted warning was for rockfalls! Hmm … we're from Colorado. We know about Rocky Mountain rockslides and rockfalls. We decided to chance it. After all, it's considered one of the most scenic drives in the world … how could we miss it?

Chapman's Peak Drive is a tortuous toll road only ~9 km (5.6 miles) long with a reputed 114 curves (I didn't count) that twist and turn and switchback, tightly hugging the rugged coastline of Chapman's Peak (593m/1945') between Noordhoek and Hout Bay on the west coast of the Cape Peninsula. The narrow two-lane road precariously clings to the side of  near-vertical granite walls offering astounding views of the Atlantic bays below. There's a certain thrill we get from looking up at the sheer granite cliffs above us and then down at the Atlantic waves crashing onto the boulders below.

The road was constructed between 1915-1922 with the use of convict labor, “hewn out of the stone face of Sheer Mountain”.

Who was Chapman, for whom the Chapman's Peak was named? I was sure it was named after a local governor or some old politician, but it wasn't. According to the historical website,  is was named after John Chapman, a ship's pilot on the English ship, Contest, (or was it Consent as noted in another history?) who was asked to row ashore to scout out possible provisions when his ship was becalmed in Hout Bay. He noted the peak and bay and recorded them as Chapman's Chaunce, a name which subsequently became official on all English charts.

The day was waning, but the light was good for photos. We could see the remnants of the previous week's mudslides. Retaining fences and guards have been erected over the years to contain rocks and boulders from tumbling onto the road, but we wondered just how effective they'd be if the mountainside had a mind to meet the sea.

The remnants of  East Fort, originally constructed in 1781, stands sentry above the road and the bay. The fort was nearly destroyed by a bush fire in 1990, but has been restored by a local historical society. “ … equipped with its eight restored 1750s-era, Swedish-made guns, it is the oldest working battery of original guns in the world.”

There's an overhang that sort of takes your breath away as you drive towards and under it.

There are several turn-offs for taking it all in without risking life and limb.

We're glad to report that we completed the route unscathed … no rockfalls, no mudslides.  I noted today that the drive was closed once again due to high winds. Timing is everything.

Favorable Exchange Rates

It seems wherever we travel the last few years, the exchange rate has risen dramatically and never in our favor … until our arrival in South Africa, that is. Americans don't think about how strong or soft the dollar is. Why would you if you're always dealing in the same currency? If you're traveling abroad, however, the dollar exchange rate is very important to your budget. It's the difference between dining out and eating aboard or taking an inland trip or not. When we were in Australia, the American dollar was weak. Australia is an expensive country to start with and adding a premium of 10-15% on top of that to account for the exchange rate was painful. Every Australian dollar we spent really cost us US$1.12+. Ouch! Now that we've left Australia, the exchange rate has dropped to about 75¢ to the US$1. Goes to show how our spending in a country contributes significantly to their national economy.

South America was one of our favorite places to be when it came to favorable exchange rates. We could eat out in Ecuador for US$5 per meal and the national currency was the US$! In Venezuela, diesel cost us about 12¢ a gallon … delivered to the boat. Our haul-out and boatyard bill totaled over a million bolivars, but the cost was actually around US$600. In Colombia, the exchange rate was ~2500:1.

There are several currency converters available on line. I tend to use the same one, Oanda, all the time and we check it regularly if we're making big purchases. When we were in South Africa in 2007, the exchange rate was about 7:1, rand to US$. When we arrived in Durban last December, the rate hovered around the 11:1 mark. Today, we saw over 12:1, heading towards 13. Great for us; not so good for South Africans trying to buy imported products. The largest denomination, R200, is worth about US$16. That said, we've been spurring on the economy with all of our boat repairs … very good for local merchants and tradesmen.

South African money is great, by the way - very colorful with pictures of Mandela on one side and the Big Five on the other. I learned that the abbreviation for the rand, ZAR, stands for Zuid-Afrikaanse Rand … South African Rand in Dutch. The bills are in R10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 denominations and become about 1/4” longer with each denomination increase.

They've also got a nifty bi-metal R5 coin.

The Namibian dollar, at our next port of call in Lüderitz, is tied to the South African rand, so we'll be doing okay and we don't have to spend our last rand before leaving South Africa since they accept rand as well as dollars. Heading across the Atlantic, however, will not be to our advantage as our US$ is only worth 62¢ against the St. Helena pound, the currency of both St. Helena and Ascension. Our dollar won't go very far there, but hopefully we'll be all stocked up and won't have to spend much. On the other side of the pond, who knows?

Winter in Cape Town

I wrote previously that it was “beginning to feel like winter” in Cape Town, but now it actually is winter. Folks in the southern hemisphere don't stand on ceremony and wait for the solstices and the equinoxes to signal the beginning of the season. Nope, they conveniently jump into it on the first of the month. June 1st … it's winter. December 1st, it's summer. Just as well, I can never remember if summer … I mean winter ... begins on the 20th or 21st of June anyway.

Winter here means rain and cold temperatures and, believe it or not, snow in the mountains a bit further inland. It is definitely cold and raw. We're not talking sub-zero temps and we're not worrying about the water around us freezing or anything. It's just a bone-chilling cold that you can't seem to shake … outside and inside the boat. This morning it was 4ºC (39ºF).  Luckily, with shore power available, our little electric heater does an adequate job of keeping the chill off although it's always a competition to see who will be up first in the morning to turn the heater on. Leaving our warm flannel sheets takes sheer will power.

The weather seems to come in spurts. We watch the GRIBs as high pressure areas overtake lows and the fronts move along quickly. Our view of Table Mountain varies from cold and clear to cold and opaque. The tablecloth seems to be in place more often than not. Foggy, misty mornings are frequent and the deck is always wet in the morning. We rarely leave the boat for any length of time without our rain jackets. The first trip to the clubhouse in the morning is downright painful. I'm into T-necks and warm socks and fleeces and sweatshirts and gloves  … and that's inside the boat!

The days are short – 10 hours of daylight now and still decreasing. When it rains and the skies are grey, it seems the days are even shorter. We find ourselves getting up later and going to bed earlier. With the cold and darkness, we're in bed reading by 9pm. We're definitely sleeping longer hours … kind of like old bears.

We had, of course, no intention of being here this long. We had a schedule … we really did. Originally March was our departure date from South Africa. Then, since we didn't arrive in Cape Town till April, mid-April became the new departure time. Repairs  delayed us significantly, as you know, and here we are “sitting in the dock of the bay watching the tide  (and warm temps and good weather) roll away”.  When we finally do leave Cape Town, at the end of the month, the trip promises to be a cold one … but happily, we'll be heading towards the warm.