ENJOY stand up paddling, the Two Oceans Aquarium and a wide variety of boat cruises at the Waterfront this summer.
Try your hand at stand up paddling (SUP) along the canal at the V&A Waterfront. Visit SUP Cape Town at the V&A Waterfront’s Battery Park to hire a board or a small canoe. Novices can book an instructor to teach them the art of paddling on a board.
If you like the water but prefer not to get your feet wet, hop on to the City SightSeeing harbour cruise to transport you along the canal to the heart of the V&A Waterfront while learning about interesting canal stories.
The boat is equipped with lifejackets to ensure safety at all times and runs every 20 minutes throughout the day, between the Cape Town Convention Centre and the V&A Waterfront, with convenient stops along the way such as Harbour Bridge Hotel & Suites, City Lodge Hotel and the last stop on the journey is the luxurious One&Only hotel.
To explore Cape Town’s bustling harbour, hop onto a Waterfront harbour cruise which departs from the jetty outside the Two Oceans Aquarium. See key attractions, learn more about the city’s unique maritime history and expect to see and be delighted by the antics of Cape Fur Seals.
Once back on land, be sure to visit the acclaimed Two Oceans Aquarium for a glimpse of life under Cape Town’s oceans and an introduction to the fascinating creatures that live in it.
Children can experience sailing at the Little Optimist Sailing Academy at Battery Park. The academy offers unique sailing therapy programmes that are specially designed for and aimed at the most marginalised of children (health-wise and socio-economic). They introduce children to sailing and the therapeutic properties and possibilities around it. Children will learn to sail, learn about their environment and the oceans around them, as well as about safety around water and other skills and teachings based on the growth mindset. The programme is open for private functions such as children’s lessons or birthday parties. Each paid lesson will be put towards sponsoring a child who cannot afford one.
Little visitors will be delighted with a fun cruise aboard the Jolly Roger pirate boat that offers the young at heart an authentic adventure-filled experience. Tommy the Tugboat provides a fun guided tour of Cape Town’s working harbour including trips to see seals on wheels and the fishing fleets that make the harbour their home. Both boats take bookings for parties.
The Waterfront Canal Challenge returns to its pre-Covid venue in the Battery Park Canal at the V&A Waterfront on Sunday, 13 November 2022. The event is Africa’s only urban canal swim and comprises a one-mile (1600m), and half-mile (800m) open water swim beginning at Battery Park, following a circular route past the One&Only hotel, and finishing back at Battery Park.
The swim offers categories for wetsuit and skins swimmers of all ages. Some of South Africa’s top swimmers like brand ambassador Michelle Weber, who recently broke the South African women’s record for swimming across the English Channel, will be pitting themselves against each other in an invitation-only elite one-mile swim.
For a more serene experience, take a sunset cruise in the harbour and relax with a drink in hand as you watch the sunset and the city’s lights begin to twinkle in the twilight.
For more information about cruises and charters aboard the multitude of boats, yachts and catamarans that depart daily from the V&A Waterfront boat cruises, click here, or contact the information kiosks at the Waterfront. Call 021 408 7600, or email [email protected]. Visitors to the Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre can visit one of two kiosks: the first is opposite the Nespresso store and the second is near Entrance 1 close to the Clicks store.
