It was very nice sleeping in a real bed again. We had nothing in particular planned for the day, so we were in no hurry to get up and slept until 8am – and even then, we took our time in getting ready.

The hotel suggested using Uber to get to and from the Two Oceans Aquarium on the V&A Waterfront in downtown Capetown; we were traveling with another couple, so I ordered an Uber XL and off we went.

The Aquarium was busy but not horribly crowded, and admission was only R220 (about $13) per person. We spent about three hours there and saw pretty much all the exhibits, though we didn’t watch any feedings.

The first tanks as you come in are in the “Diversity Gallery” which is devoted to showcasing the diversity of marine life in Atlantic and Indian Oceans, which border South Africa.

The first tank we saw was filled with colorful fish – my favorite was the Trigger Clownfish.

There’s a tank dedicated to “Nemos” – fish that featured in Finding Nemo. The western clownfish were the star of that tank.

And what would an aquarium be without a display of jellies?

The tube anemones were interesting (and hard to photograph correctly – our iPhones insisted on changing the color, but my Lumix did OK in RAW mode).

Some of the animals were hard to find, like this octopus:

This sole was a little easier to see, but not much:

There was a whole room given over to moon jellies; it was a restful place.

They have a couple of large tanks to hold big collections of marine life.

When I saw this fish, I thought it should be named the “politician fish”, but it’s actually an “Old Woman Angelfish”.

The Devil Firefish looked pretty scary:

And there were many more fish to enjoy – this Red Stumpnose amused me.

We walked through the Shark Tunnel and escaped with our lives:

After that, we went outside to see the seals – it reminded me of our visit to Año Nuevo early this year.

The other couple ordered an Uber and we walked to the pickup point at the front of the Aquarium to be greeted by a nice large car and a driver asking if we were his pickup. We said ‘yes’ and got in and he started driving – after a minute or so, he asked where we were going. We told him and he took us back to the hotel; then he asked for R280 (compared to the R120 I paid this morning)! It turns out that he wasn’t an Uber – he was a regular taxicab! The other couple are not regular Uber/Lyft users and didn’t notice that the app had given the driver’s name, the car description, and the license plate to expect.

The Uber had shown up a little after we left, so there was also a cancellation fee to pay – what should have been a $8 trip (with tip) wound up costing $21!

Lessons learned: Use Uber in Cape Town, not taxis, and be sure you’re in the right car before setting out!

More of our group arrived today and many of us met for dinner at Mantra, a seven-minute walk from the hotel. It was raining hard for part of the walk, so we got pretty wet, but it was worth it – the food was good and the prices were impossibly reasonable by California standards (our dinner, with wine, salad, main, and dessert came to $60 for the two of us). And the view of the Atlantic wasn’t bad, either, once the rain stopped.

The walk back was a little less pleasant – it was blustery, and there were quite a few beggars along the way. Most of them asked politely for small change, but one guy was almost aggressive and followed the group for a block or so before giving up. Dave (our travel agent) told us about a group he’d escorted on a previous tour, where one of the travelers decided to make a donation – he had fallen behind the group and was pulling out a fat wallet from his back pocket when Dave realized what was going on and intervened before he could make himself more of a target, just in case someone was watching.

Lesson learned: it’s good to carry a little cash in a front pocket so you don’t need to pull out your wallet all the time!

We touched down in Cape Town a little before 11am local time – this flight was on a plane with BA’s new “Club Suite” arrangement, and it’s a huge improvement over their old “Club World” that we’d flown from SFO. Everyone faces front, everyone has direct aisle access, and there’s even some usable storage around the seat.

I slept better than I did on the previous leg – it wasn’t the best night’s sleep of my life, but it sufficed.

We landed a few minutes early; we hadn’t checked any luggage and were near the debarkation door, so we were almost the first people to arrive at Passport Control and didn’t have to wait in line there. Total time from off-the-plane to find-our-driver was less than 15 minutes. We were lucky – our driver said that six international flights arrive within a few minutes of one another, and people on the final flight often have to wait a couple of hours!

We stopped to get a picture to prove we’d been to Cape Town, and then it was off to our hotel, the South Beach Hotel in Camps Bay.

Our travel agent told us to be alert for the first view of Table Mountain – we didn’t have to wait long; it was visible a minute after we left the airport. Unfortunately, it was slightly rainy and I had somehow set my camera to ISO 12800, so the photo leaves much to the imagination.

We’d arrived early, so our room was not quite ready; we left our luggage and took a stroll around the neighborhood. The weather had improved considerably on our drive from the airport; it was sunny and not too cool, and we could see Table Mountain almost as soon as we stepped out.

We were also just a block from the beach; it’s on the Atlantic, and there’s a lot of wave action.

Our hotel is in an upmarket area; it’s next to the “Theatre on the Bay” and a couple of blocks from the Promenade shopping center and lots of restaurants.

We returned to the hotel and they’d finished inspecting the room to make sure it was up to snuff.

It’s a very nice room – kitchenette, living area, and a view.

We had lunch at Primi, chosen because our travel agent mentioned it, the hotel desk said it was good, and it was the first restaurant we found. It was quite good – worth a return trip.

After lunch, we wandered around the area a little more before going back to unpack. There are a lot of ways to spend time and money here.

We went back to the beach to enjoy the sunset; we were not alone.

Table Mountain attracts hang gliders – I bet the view is amazing!

We had dinner with the other couple from our group who have already arrived. We wound up back at Primi for the same reasons as we’d chosen it in the first place – well-recommended and close! Luckily, it was as good in the evening as it was in the afternoon.

I am looking forward to sleeping in a real bed tonight. Soon!