Hout Bay

Hout Bay (Afrikaans: Houtbaai, from the Dutch for "Wood Bay") is the name of a coastal suburb of Cape Town. We visited the local museum where you can find out all about the development of Hout Bay as an area which was rich in woodland.

Hout Bay Harbour – always an interesting place with plenty going on.

    

Not being a fisherman I found it interesting watching this chap gut and clean this ‘snoek’, a fish common around South African shores. I could have bought one, but it was rather large for the BBQ. There are many seals in the harbour this one is a lot larger than the photo suggests.

         

Something a seal eats a lot of – on the number plate of a car at the harbour fisheries.

One evening we went to Clifton to visit our friends Ellen and Tony who spend about 3 months in South Africa. When you see the beach below their balcony you can understand why. Below is Clifton Beach  by day and night.

        

Although we have been to Hout Bay a few times we have never been to the World of Birds. It is the largest bird park in Africa and one of the few large bird parks in the World with over 3000 birds (and small animals) of 400 different species.

Here are just two the Knysna Loerie and Crowned Crane

     

This shot of me and the squirrel monkey was taken by another visitor. Sue had done a runner out of the ‘hands on’ area. It’s hands on for the monkeys not the visitors!

Right - Relaxing after a hard morning – it’s mango juice in the glass not a very cloudy beer.

 

Another evening we were kindly invited to Julie and Brian’s for a meal. Julie shows cats, this is one of them. The following day we went to the beach, but a sea fret cut down the visibility, but it made an interesting photo – not sure about the subject though.

        

We stayed at the Harbourmaster, which Julie found for us. We wanted somewhere within walking distance of the harbour and town. This a photo from our deck as the sun goes down. We didn’t spend too much time up here as the last couple of days were very windy.

Tony finding the geocache above the East Fort, Hout Bay. What you can’t see is the wind. We were really having to be careful so we weren’t blown over. We found another cache in a boat and to Ellen’s dismay she couldn’t find the one in the tractor, at the museum, despite trying to dismantle it.

Tony and I took a wander along the beach, it was still windy and one gust nearly had Tony in the sea! The ladies waving on our return.

            

Our last meal in South Africa. We were going from here to the airport. Our trip back was uneventful unlike the last time.

   

Hermanus

En route to Hermanus we passed through Napier a lovely little town which is described on the Overberg website as

“Napier is a beautiful little town which in recent years has become home to many artists and authors. The streets are narrow and the houses full of character. Napier has become a weekend getaway to city dwellers and over weekends you will find the restaurants and pubs filled to capacity with mostly Capetonians coming to enjoy the fresh country air.”

Dutch Reformed Church                    Cheese cake with berries – yummy!

         

Buildings in Napier

    

Hermanus never fails to impress with its fantastic coastline backed by its mountains. 

     

Hermanus Backpackers – we have visited here before and even had the same room next to the pool. It is well situated within walking distance of the town and the coastal path. We met some very interesting people here and were never short of someone to chat to.

The backpackers has at least 2 cats, a Staffordshire terrier – very friendly and a collie who sits on the couch keeping you company.

                

Behind Hermanus are some pretty high mountains which are a playground for the more adventurous. One chap at the backpackers who was paragliding had rather too far to run on take off and injured his ankle. So the following day because he couldn’t paraglide he did something less risky so went shark cage diving instead.

    Hermanus                                                        Para glider

    

      View across Walker Bay – Hermanus below

Newspaper cutting seen in the bpackers – remains of the yacht – right

Google ‘Whale lands on yacht’ there are pictures and a YouTube video.

    

Fernkloof Nature Reserve covers 4500 acres in the Kleinrivier Mountains above Hermanus and ranges in altitude from sea level to 2800 feet. It protects coastal and fynbos areas and a small patch of evergreen forest. We had a short walk here late one afternoon. We had hoped to do some geocaches here, but the South African idea as fairly easy was climbing to the top of the hills here. Although one of the caches was only 1000 feet away, in a straight line, it was 550 foot high, a 2 hour walk.

Cape Agulhas

It is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the official dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

We were actually staying at the, very nice, backpackers in Struis Bay 3 miles away. The backpackers was very colourful and the remnants of the world cup football could be seen – hence the flags.

    

In the town of Bredasdorp en route to Struis Bay was a very interesting Shipwreck Museum. We were particularly interested in the Swedish plate money and some of the bottles found in the wrecks.

             

Struis Bay (Struisbaai) is an old fishing village which for many years had a beautiful natural harbour. Some development has taken place since then but Struis Bay is still relatively untouched. Many fishermen still live here, but it is now better known for its leisure activities.

Four o’clock in the afternoon was the time many people wandered down to the harbour to watch the boats come. There was lots of activity, yelling and shouting, but all in good fun.

On the left a chap had caught a Red Steenbras (27.5 kilos) the bait had been the little silver fish –  look at his back where a chunk has been taken out.                                          Struis Bay harbour.

 

With the fishermen came these stingrays. One of them measures 2 metres across. We were told, but didn’t witness, that you could hand feed them. I didn’t volunteer.

Everyone in this area visits the southernmost point in Africa and also the dividing line between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. En route we spotted this sky which we we thought was going to bring some bad weather, but it all passed over. Nice house though.                              Sue and I at the dividing line – this is our second visit.

 

Cape Agulhas lighthouse and museum. The museum has lots of information on the light itself and other lighthouses around the world. Sue posting the post from the most southerly post box in Africa.

          

Leisure is important to Struis Bay, sport fishing in particular. The boat was on tow and we were following. I like the strap  line for the Tackle Shop.

      

Taking the dog for a walk given a new meaning. This wasn’t a one off, it happened the following day.           Me going for a walk on a busy beach!