Hout Bay, South Africa

Hout Bay is part of the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour in Cape Town (if you take the mini peninsula tour) but it is also an easy drive if you have a car.

 

(Hint: Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

After a leisurely drive through the town we head to the wharf.

Here we easily spot “South Africa’s very first Harbourfront emporium” (that’s a quote from a tourist brochure).

Walking out onto the long wharf I am impressed by the picture before us … a combination of colourful boats, blue water, greens on the mountain sides all framed by the mountains.

Fisherman use this harbour so it was not very long before we spot a lobster fishing boat…

…complete with lobster fishermen!

Walking along the shore we find many shops – both indoor shops and street vendor type shops.

From this area one can also take a cruise to Seal Island to see seals in their nature habitat.

Look, here comes one of those cruises back into the harbour.

While here you can get a passport from the Republic of Hout Bay.

Seriously!

We learned that years ago an eccentric resident declared Hout Bay a republic and issued passports. It is a tourist thing nowadays but there are rumors that one had been accepted as a real passport many years ago!

This same resident created a mini castle in the hills. It is locally known as “Buckingham Palace”.

It is way up in the hills but with a long distance lens we were able to capture the above image.

Driving out of town on the Chapman’s Peak Road, we look back upon…

this lovely view of Hout Bay.

And there just to the left is Seal Island.See the seals? No?

Well, enlarge the photo (by clicking on it) and look at the small islands in the upper left corner. Those little black dots are seals resting on the rocks.

(And at the bottom of the photo is one of those cruise boats coming back from viewing the seals.)

Do continue on Chapman’s Peak Drive. Well worth it!

The road is less than 10 kms long but it is quite spectacular. It actually is listed in many tourist books as one of the most spectacular marine drives in the world!

And…it is the home to a famous bicycle race/ marathon.

Hugging the mountain (Chapman’s Peak), the road twists and turns as it climbs higher and higher. Some of the drops down to the Atlantic are rather dramatic!

After reaching the top you descend into a pretty valley

and more expansive beaches.

So that is a glimpse of Hout Bay and Chapman’s Peak drive.

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