Trip Report: Southern Africa Day 8 – Boulders Beach

We woke up this morning at Boulders Beach, before sunrise, got ready quickly, and were out the door in record time. We wanted to see the penguins at the first light of day, before the crowds descended on the park.

We had about 40 minutes before park opening time, and so we headed down the path along the beach toward the golf course (away from the park). Sure enough, there were lots of penguins starting to wake up and start their day, too. We didn’t have time to wander too far before we turned back and went to the park gate for opening time. There are two park gates, one by the boardwalk and one by the beach. We were headed to the beach.

Luckily, we were the only ones at that gate at 8 am! We purchased our entrance tickets and headed straight for Boulders Beach, the one spot in the reserve where you are allowed down on the beach with the penguins.

There were a good number of birds there and, to our surprise, nobody else was on the beach with us for about 45 minutes.

We spent that time running around on the beach with the penguins, who were definitely accustomed to people, and more curious than frightened of us.

Liam and Mallory were wearing their swimsuits, and even got into the water for a brief (chilly) swim.

We were able to scramble over boulders towards the boardwalks for a while, until we encountered a sign warning us not to go further.

At that point, and with a few other people coming down to the beach to join us, we turned back and left the park.

I should mention that there were lots of dassies running around the park entrance, too. This guy is about the same size as a rabbit, and its closest living relative is the elephant!

It was around 10 am and we hadn’t eaten yet, so we crossed back over the road to the Boulders Beach Lodge and went to the restaurant for our breakfast (included in our room rate).

After eating, we prepared to head out again. We went back to the park (a single ticket allows same-day re-entry), but this time, instead of going down to the beach, we headed for the other park gate, that leads to the boardwalks that take you through the main penguin colony.

This area was very crowded, and we got the sense that most people (particularly those on tour buses) knew this as being the entirety of the park, and were not aware of the beach in the park where penguins could also be found.

There were a good number of birds on the beach beneath the boardwalks, including some babies, but they were not nearly as fun or interesting to see as the ones we could interact with on the beach, and so we did not last long here.

I was also asked to remove the microphone from my camera here by a park staff member – not too sure why the camera was ok, but the mic wasn’t?!

Upon leaving the park, we headed into Simonstown on foot.

We wandered through the streets and back up to the main road, passing another beach, some craft markets and the wharf area. We were planning to eat at the Salty Sea Dog in Simonstown at some point, but were still far too full from our late breakfast to do it now.

We also swung down to the office of the Simonstown Boat Company to see them in person. We had booked a short boat ride out to Seal Island for the afternoon, but had received an email a couple of days in advance telling us that our sailing was cancelled on account of the weather. The day was indeed very windy, but we did want to check in in person and ascertain that there really was no way we could go out. Not getting a green light to sail, we stopped in a few local shops to browse before eventually walking back to the lodge for a break.

With our second wind in us, we headed back out to check out Boulders Beach again. – By now it was quite crowded, with no penguins in sight (perhaps chased away by so many people); and with the tide being high now, there was very little available space on the sand. So we headed back out of the park, and down the beach in the other direction, again toward the golf course. We hopped along the boulders and collected sea glass for a while, until we were good and hungry. Then we returned to the lodge, asked for a ride into Simonstown, and went to the Salty Sea Dog. (The Boulders Beach Lodge proprietor arranged for a cheap ‘taxi’ ride with a friend of his. The Lodge owner was so kind and really tried to bend over backwards to help us during our stay.)

Chad, Liam and I had seafood – kingklip, hake (which we liked better), calamari and prawns, while Mallory finally got her chip buttie – literally a french fry sandwich on a hot dog bun. We finished the meal with some koeksisters, which were ok but none of us were crazy about, but we were happy to have tried some local dishes. Oh, and we also discovered that we really like South Africa’s favourite soft drink, Iron Brew!

After dinner, we came back to the lodge with the same driver and packed up our things. Tomorrow morning we have an early wake up call, and a flight out to Johannesburg.