While you’re shopping around for a Cape Peninsula Day Tour, you’ve probably noticed that the boat trip from Hout Bay to Duiker Island to see the Cape Fur seals is normally included with most operators.

At Convoy Tours, I stopped including it. Allow me explain why.

The first reason is timing.

The first boat usually departs at around 8:00am, while many tour companies arrive in Hout Bay around 9:30 or 10:00am. From there, they head off along Chapman’s Peak, down towards the penguins, and typically arrive at Cape Point at around 1:00pm.

By 1:00pm, we’re long gone.

At Convoy Tours, we like to get to Cape Point at around 9:30am, before it gets crazy busy. We’ve already visited the penguins before that.

In fact, we like to be down around Simon’s Town and Boulders Beach so early that you may even get the opportunity to see wild penguins walking around outside the national park. It’s a much more organic experience. Obviously, we can’t guarantee this, but it’s something we strive to make possible.

There’s another reason we don’t include the Hout Bay boat trip: the sea can be rough.

Often it isn’t, but it can be. Boats are always a little bit of a hit-and-miss on a standardised private tour, particularly when you’re trying to fit everything into one day.

And there’s another thing to consider.

The red open-top sightseeing bus goes to Hout Bay.

So if you want to visit Table Mountain, see the city and Company’s Garden, go to Hout Bay, have some lunch around Camps Bay and take the boat trip out to see the seals, I’d suggest doing that separately.

Take the red open-top bus, hire a car, get an Uber or simply explore that part of Cape Town at your own pace.

The big thing for us — and something that is also weather dependent — is getting down to the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point and the penguins before they become busy.

For us, that’s what the whole day is ultimately about.

It’s about experiencing the magnificence of the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point without spending the day stuck in queues and crowds.

It’s having the opportunity to walk the Cape Point trails if you want to, enjoy the funicular without a huge queue, and stop for a nice coffee without feeling like you’re in the middle of a zoo.

That’s what’s baked into the cake with us.

That’s how we run our tours.

We don’t want to arrive at Hout Bay at 10:00am, take a boat trip, and then eventually reach Cape Point at one o’clock in the afternoon when it’s packed.

The Cape Peninsula is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and we want you to experience it that way.

Back in the day when I ran group tours and did visit Duiker Island to visit the Cape Fur Seals, I always used a company called https://circelaunches.co.za/ I liked the staff, especially one Afrikaans guy who was always jolly and welcoming, I really liked him but his name escapes me now.

In fact, here is a little video I made years ago when we did go there. It shows Hout Bay Habour, the market and the boats

So, a bit like Table Mountain, our suggestion is to do the Hout Bay seal trip yourself. Do it separately, preferably earlier in the morning, enjoy it on your own steam — and leave the Cape Peninsula to us at Convoy Tours.

Why we don’t Visit Table Mountain on the Tour for similar, weather dependent reasons