If you haven’t yet visited Cape Town, South Africa well this is another little reason to add it to your list of reasons why you should visit! I’m absolutely biased as I’ve grown up in this gorgeous city & I can say for a fact that it has everything you’re looking for.
We live in the Cape Peninsula about an hour from the city that I grew up in, but my daughter had an interview this morning so we decided to make the most of the drive in and enjoy the Waterfront area for a few extra hours.
On the foreshore you will find our working shipping port, yacht club and The Waterfront, which is a huge development of high end shopping, foodie type restaurants, and snazzy apartments overlooking the canal.
A good friend of ours has owned and run the Stand Up Paddle club on the canal for years and we’ve had the good fortune of being members for years and years. They are perfectly positioned for the regular members to visit, paddle and store their SUPs on site but also attract hundreds of visitors and tourists looking to try out this water sport in the safe environment of the canal for a couple hundred Rand per hour.
A while back we used to come to the Thursday evening SUP time trials and get in a paddle with friends after work. These days we don’t get here as often but it still feels like home even after months of absence.
My husband brought his board from home and started his paddle while I took Taylor to her interview (all looking good). He covered a good 6 kilometres doing the route from the club to the island 3 times and then finishing with a paddle down to the Convention Center end of the canal.
Here’s a map of my route. You can see the long skinny canal with its 2 islands at the north end. The clubs sits near the middle of the length of the canal and is a part of the Battery Park complex.
Battery Park has recently been redeveloped from an empty concrete car park to a multi level car park including a skate park on the roof open to the public with basket ball courts and green area for picnics. Water level there are shops, restaurants, skate shops and the SUP club AND down below in the carpark basement is the Rollerskate Rink! So much to do in 1 block of space. They’ve seriously maximised it’s use and encouraged the youth back into the neighbourhood with good clean fun.
I took a paddle after my husband and did a loop from the club to the islands and back. It’s a 1.5 kilometre distance and under today’s conditions it was very easy and peaceful.
We have some pretty incredible friends, one of which has started a foundation called the Little Optimist. It raises funds for the Red Cross Children’s Hospital amongst other things supporting kids who’ve got off to a rough start. So today our friend Greg was here at the club teaching a bunch of kids to sail in little boats called Optimists.
They did a great job too. The kids were soon in the water sailing in the canal in the tiny breeze that gave a little puff every now and then. Serious admiration for the whole team.
I paddled through the little crew of sailors and headed up the familiar canal finding my stride. My husbands board is a little narrower and more tippy than mine, but don’t worry!!! I was dry for the entire paddle and kept my phone tucked in but close at hand. (Risky business but someone’s got to do it)
Please excuse me if some of my photos are a little blurry but standing on a board, while holding a paddle and trying not to drop my phone in the canal is a little bit of an art and balancing act.
The island area is actually a part of the One & Only hotel at the top end of the canal. If I was going to book a spot in this hotel I’d stay on the island with its own pools overlooking the canal.
The canal is actually fed by pumps bringing water from the yacht basin because the canal is at a higher level than the sea! Between the marina and canal is Lock which is periodically used to allowed boats in or out of the canal. You would have noticed that most jetty’s only have canoes or SUPs tied up and the only boat that I saw was the City Sightseeing Red Boat that takes tourists up and down the canal from the Convention Center to the One & Only.
The boat passed me on the second time around and made my paddle a little more bouncy. I’m good to go with ocean paddling so this wasn’t a problem but I was slightly curious to see how the newbies that had just geared up would do. Luckily everyone managed to stay dry and made it through the bumps.
The vibrancy and freshness of the area is always invigorating and has a real feel good factor.
One of my favourite parts of the redevelopment is the amount of graffiti that’s been included in the beautifying of the area. Even a dark walkway below the road bridges has been brightened with awesome art and has added character and life to an otherwise dark space.
I can’t believed it’s taken us such a long time to get back here for a paddle. My husbands back injury was actually the catalyst as Stand Up Paddle Boarding is excellent for improving core strength and stability. The flat predictable water means that he can exercise in a controlled environment unlike SUPing on the ocean.
My daughter would be here all the time if we lived closer. She quickly took over the board as I was getting back to the club. You can spot the flat edge of Table Mountain in the far background with the city just behind her.
Duiker sea birds and a seagull sunning themselves
I’m a huge fan of the outdoor lifestyle and you don’t get much better than this (unless it was on a lake or the ocean).
So don’t forget to add SUPing on the Canal in Cape Town to your bucket list. And look me up when you visit!!!
PS. I can’t believe this is the middle of our Winter. It’s forecast to bucket down with rain next week 🥶
