The third squadron was probably still making…

The third squadron was probably still making its way painfully down the African coast, tacking against contrary winds and currents, while the Albuquerques were rounding the Cape in the summer of 1503.

Somewhere along this process, Saldanha had lost track of Ravasco as well.

Again, by poor piloting, Saldanha had miscalculated his Cape crossing, and ends up making landfall just north of the Cape of Good Hope.

To check if the cape had been surpassed, Saldanha anchors in the hitherto unknown Table Bay, and goes ashore.

He is said to have climbed the 3,549 foot- (1,082 meter) high Table Mountain, and observed Cape Point and the vast expanse of False Bay beneath it.

Saldanha thus becomes the first European to set foot in what is to become modern Cape Town.

During this landing, there is an apparent skirmish with local Khoikhoi, in which Saldanha is slightly wounded.

Table Mountain, as Saldanha names it, is frequently shrouded by a cloud, "the Tablecloth," which is responsible for the heavy rainfall and luxuriant tropical growth on its flat summit.