The last of my major tours on this trip for myself was a voyage to Robben Island which is a World Heritage site. I would have been on this tour the previous day if it had not been cancelled due to bad weather. The tour starts from the V&A shopping mall area on the Waterfront where the boats undock from.
Upon landing on Robben Island, we were put onto buses like prisoners in a way. Once onboard, my tour guide named Toyer Smith told us about many facts I did not know about the island as there is much more to it than just a prison building. Toyer told us he had done Robben Island tours with President Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Celine Dion, and for many travel videos during his 22 years of doing guided tours to the island.
At the end of this 1st stage of the tour, my tour group was handed over to a former prison on the island who spent 6 years there. This former inmate here gave us many stories of what daily life was like, ways they communicated with other prisoners, and the punishment for disobeying the prison guards. A few tasks prisoners did include: Breaking limestone, carrying it, paving roads, and sewing.
To give you a better sense of distance from Robben Island to the nearest shore land of Cape Town, the fastest time recorded by an Olympic swimmer was about 90 minutes. TIP: If you take the tour please do not miss the boat back to Cape Town. As the tour came to an end you could understand the hope that Nelson Mandela and fellow prisoners had to end apartheid when they looked over to Cape Town and saw Table Mountain in the backdrop of the city.