And that was our mission for the day.

We took the sketch train to Fishhoek where we had to transfer to a bus to get to Simon’s Town. Apparently the train only runs to Simon’s Town after 2pm. At the Fishhoek station there was a “black taxi” (local guy driving a taxi- may or may not be legal) taking people to Simon’s Town as well. Our bus driver was none too happy about this.

We arrive in Simon’s Town train station via bus and commence our mile long walk to Boulder’s Beach. We pass the viewing area; we wanted to swim with them, not just stand and stare from the boardwalk. Along the path we were able to spot a few penguins starting to nest in the woods. Evidently February is mating season. But we saw penguins!! We arrive to the spot we wanted, and walk onto the beach. There are no penguins on the beach. Instead, they’re up on the rocks. Some people clamored up and sat between all of them, but we were trying to be a bit more respectful than that. We snapped some photos of the little dudes; they let us get so close we could have touched them. Then we ventured to the other side of the beach.

On the boardwalk we noticed more little tuxes on one side of the beach than the other. Alas, the only way around the boulders separating the two sections was to swim. Unfortunately somebody needed to stay behind with the non-waterproof camera, and I was the woman for the job. Nicholas got into the 65°F water, baggies only, and swam over to the penguins. I stood guard on the rock, making sure he didn’t get tangled in the kelp or surprised by a great white shark. I was also able to get some sweet action shots of him in action before the camera blinked low battery at me. Nick was able to get some incredible footage, and we celebrated afterwards by having lunch at Neptune’s Restaurant in False Bay Yacht Club.

Check out some of the insane footage that Nicholas got: