The dry dock had been empty when we passed earlier in the week, but now it was occupied by two ships.
There was a rowing competition in progress in the harbour
While waiting for the boat to depart, we saw seals in the harbour, but they were too quick for us to photograph.
There were magnificent views of Cape Town from the boat as we headed out to sea.
The maximum security prison from the sea.
Robben Island is now a world heritage site and one cannot just wander around. New arrivals are herded into a fleet of buses for the tour. The island has been used as a prison, an animal quarantine station and a leper colony by the Dutch, the British and the South African regimes, so there's plenty of history there.
This is the leper graveyard
This small open prison camp only ever had one inmate, Robert Sobuwke, leader of the Pan Africanist Congress. He encouraged black people, who were then required to carry identification at all times, to destroy their pass and hand themselves in at a police station. In the event of a mass protest, the police system simply would not be able to deal with the number of protesters. A protest march led to the Sharpville massacre. Robert was kept in the building on the left. The other rows of cells were built later, bigger than the solitary confinement cells in which Nelson Mandela was kept, they were used as dog kennels.
This is a quarry where prisoners worked. The cave to the left was the only refuge for the prisoners from the sun and was also used as a toilet. In time, the warders avoided the cave and the prisoners had use of it. It was in this cave that the more educated prisoners taught the less educated at a time when education was banned in the prison. Later, this restriction was relaxed and many prisoners followed correspondence courses.
This pile of rocks at the entrance was made when ex prisoners revisited the island for a reunion after their release and commemorates their visit. Nelson Mandela laid the first stone.
The 'Irish village' is where the medical staff lived when Robben Island was a leper colony - there are seagulls everywhere.
The prison governor's house is now used when state dignitaries visit the island.
We were allowed out of the coach for 10 minutes to take photos etc. There was a good swell and good visibility across the bay and towards Table Mountain.
This gun was part of the Second World War defences, however, it wasn't ready until 1947, so has never been in use.
The lighthouse
The Anglican Church still stands being the only privately owned building on the island
This is a shrine next to the prison in honour of a muslim prince who died there.
We left the bus and entered the high security prison where we were shown round by an ex-political prisoner. He gave moving accounts of this time there and his much worse time in police detention. No one ever escaped but they did find ways of exchanging information and Nelson Mandela did manage to smuggle out a document, another was discovered by the guards buried in the garden.
There were communal cells of which this is one. It would have housed about 70 prisoners. The mat in the middle was what the prisoners slept on until the Red Cross kicked up a fuss and bunk beds were then used.
But the elite prisoners (leaders) were held in individual cells in block B. This was Nelson Mandela's cell.
When we left the prison, it was a short walk to the boat, but we took the path to the penguin boardwalk - we guess this raised walkway is above the nesting area but it was not the right time of year to see them there. However, there was a hide by the beach and we got to see a large group of African Penguins on the beach.
On the way out of the harbour, John managed to snap two seals basking on the artificial rocks of the harbour wall surrounded by nesting cormorants. It was quite rough on the way back even in a large catamaran. There was a collective Aaaah when we went over our biggest wave.
Back on the mainland, we found some lunch and ate it outside watched closely by these 4 Nobel peace prize winners: Albert Lutuli, Desmond Tutu, F W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela
In the evening, we ate a good meal at 'Savoy Cabbage' where we had a clearview of the kitchen. John had a salad with beetroot and cheese, followed by lamb and Pat had a goat's cheese salad followed by impala.
Pat and John on tour