Coastal Catamaran Cruise from the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

The V&A Waterfront and Quay 5

The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront is Cape Town's historic harbour turned into the city's busiest shopping, dining and sightseeing district, sitting between the city centre and the Atlantic. It is still a working harbour, so from the quays you watch tugs, fishing boats and the ferry to Robben Island come and go against the backdrop of Table Mountain. The catamaran cruise departs from Quay 5, the boat jetty in the heart of the Waterfront, a few minutes on foot from the main shopping mall.

Many visitors search for the best things to do at the V&A Waterfront, and a short sail is one of the simplest: no transfer, no long day, just an hour on the sea. We ask you to be at the jetty fifteen minutes before departure to check in with the host. Pickup is not included, but the Waterfront is easy to reach by taxi or the hop-on hop-off bus from any part of the city.

Leaving the harbour: Table Mountain from the sea

The catamaran motors gently out of the Victoria Basin, past the breakwater and the old Clock Tower, and raises sail once in open water. This is the moment the whole city comes into view: the flat top of Table Mountain, the pointed Lion's Head beside it and the long ridge of Signal Hill sloping down to the sea. The view of Table Mountain from the water is the classic Cape Town image that sailors have painted and photographed for centuries.

A catamaran is wide and stable, so even guests who worry about seasickness usually find this cruise comfortable on a normal day; the skipper stays close to the coast. The sea in Table Bay is calmest in the morning, which is why the 09:30 departure is a favourite, while the 13:30 sailing often has the best light on the mountain.

Granger Bay and Mouille Point

Just west of the harbour, Granger Bay is the small bay behind the stadium where the city's hotels, apartments and the Sea Point promenade begin. From the water you see the stadium's curved roof, the lawns of Green Point Park and the promenade that runs for kilometres along Mouille Point, where locals jog and walk their dogs every evening.

This stretch of the Atlantic coast is where Cape Town comes closest to the open ocean, and the catamaran sails along it slowly so that everyone can take photos. Cape fur seals often rest on the buoys here, and in the cooler months dolphins and even whales have been seen from the deck. Sightings are a bonus, not a promise; the scenery alone fills the hour.

Green Point lighthouse

The Green Point lighthouse is the oldest operating lighthouse in South Africa, lit for the first time in 1824 to guide ships into Table Bay. Its red-and-white candy stripes make it one of the most recognisable landmarks on the Cape Town coast, and seeing it from the sea, as the ships of the past did, is the turning point of the cruise. The catamaran comes about here and sails back towards the harbour with the mountain ahead of you.

If you are wondering whether the Cape Town coastal catamaran cruise is worth it, the answer is that in one hour you see the whole Atlantic seaboard from the Waterfront to Green Point without any walking or driving. Back at Quay 5 you step straight into the Waterfront for lunch, the aquarium or the ferry to Robben Island, which we can also arrange.