South Africa… Exotic animals, fine wines and endless views
With 11 official languages, ~300 species of mammals, 850 species of birds and 13,000 plant species found nowhere else in the world, South Africa is a complex and fascinating country. It touts the sites of the earliest evidence of humankind, one of the world’s oldest mountains, the oldest, continuous wine route in the world, the largest, the smallest, the fastest and the tallest land animals in the world. All this and so much more. Visit South Africa with us… twice!
Republic of South Africa
Capital Cities: Cape Town (Legislative), Pretoria (Administrative), Bloemfontein (Judicial)
Land area: 432,000 sq miles...about 3x the size of California
Population: ~57.7 million (est. 2020)
Language: There are 11 official languages. Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Sepedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Tshivenda, Xhosa and Zulu.
Currency: Rand (~R7 = $1 US a/o 2007)
Highest Point: Champagne (Njesothi) 11,076' / 3376m
Government: Parliamentary republic headed by a President
Political Units: 9 Provinces
Chief products: Gold, diamonds, platinum, citrus, wine
In 1994 when South Africa's new non-racial constitution was inaugurated, its colorful flag was hoisted for the first time. The multi colors represent the diversity of the country's people.
We have visited South Africa twice during our travels. The first time in 2006-2007 we sailed from the east across the Atlantic and the second time in 2015-2016, we sailed the Indian and approached from the West . It was on our second arrival in Cape Town that we completed our circumnavigation and completed our rounding of the five great southern capes. Each visit has held more surprises for us, more adventures and a better understanding of its diversity in culture, natural wonders and in its people.
Bartolomu Dias first rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 establishing the first ocean route from Europe to India. In 1652, the Dutch founded the city of Cape Town, a re-provisioning station and stopover point on the “Spice Route” to the Far East. The Brits seized Cape Town in 1802 and the Dutch settlers, known as Boers and subsequently Afrikaners, moved north. After years of dissension and wars, the Afrikaners and Brits ruled jointly for a time. It was in 1948, that “apartheid” was legalized and not until 1994, that it was abolished and Nelson Mandela was voted into power. One of my favorite historic novels is James Michener's The Covenant which deals with the founding and settling of South Africa. Nelson Mandela's book Long Walk to Freedom is a life lesson in strife, patience, humility and humanity.
Cape Town, South Africa - 2006-2007
We arrived at the Royal Cape Yacht Club (RCYC) from Tristan da Cunha island early on the morning of 21 December 2006... just in time for Christmas. Sailing into Table Bay was stunning. The RCYC is a lovely club... very friendly with lots of amenities we hadn't enjoyed in a long time... like REALLY clean, nice, hot showers and free email/internet. Not to mention views to die for.
The royal Cape Yacht Club sits in the shadow of Table Mountain. What a view!
We began our exploration in Cape Town proper without delay. Our first excursion was to the Castle of Good Hope, reputedly the oldest building in South Africa built by the VOC (Dutch East India Company) between 1666-1679. During the course of our stay, we visited lots of the many museums the city has to offer.
Table Mountain seems to be the dominant backdrop of the city. Above the colorful V&A (Victoria & Alfred) Waterfront...a restored port area and a busy working harbor in Table Bay. It boasts boutiques and shops of all sorts, hotels, restaurants, bars and every imaginable tourist service.
No visit to Cape Town would be complete without acknowledging South Africa’s apartheid history. A boat trip to Robben Island was a sobering reminder of Nelson Mandela’s 27-year imprisonment there.
We took the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain for the glorious view of the bay and Lions Head below. Once up, we decided we'd hike down. Mistake...our knees, ankles and feet took a week to recover. Next time, we'll walk up and take the car down.
We rented a car and drove along the picturesque Chapman's Peak Drive and stopped to visit Hout Bay and Simons Town (shown above). The scenery is phenomenal. It took us awhile to remember to drive on the left side of the road, but otherwise we posed no major threats.
The drive from Cape Town down the peninsula to Cape Point Nature Reserve part of Table Mountain National Park is stunning. The scenery again was awesome along the rugged Atlantic coast culminating in Cape Point and the historic Cape of Good Hope.
Of the two lighthouses at Cape Point, the one shown is the more picturesque and is sometimes accessible, but the trail was closed when we were there.
Cape of Good Hope… One of the 5 great capes of the world, the Cape of Good Hope was originally named the Cape of Storms by Bartholomew Dias in 1488, the
first European to round the cape. It was later renamed Cape of Good Hope because of the prospect of opening a trade route to India and the east.
the baboons, though considered quite cheeky, were quite the novelty for us. We saw lots of them and were fascinated watching them in groups interact with humans and each other. Above, a Chacma baboon directs traffic at the roundabout.
That's OUR rental car the baboon is sitting upon. We waited patiently for him to leave then wiped his footprints off the windshield.
On the same trip, we visited Boulders Beach near Simons Town to view the African penguin colony aka jackass penguins because of their distinctive "bray", Hundreds, if not thousands, of penguins were in residence. A relatively new colony, there have only been penguins here at Boulders Beach since the mid-1980s
We saw them in all phases it seems from the courting process and the mating process as well as eggs and newly hatched chicks. Despite the crowds on the beach, the penguins seemed quite content to go on with life as usual on "their beach" swimming and intermingling with the locals. The award-winning film City Slickers documents the life and habits of these interesting aquatic birds. . A little trivia: There are 17 penguin species in the world and all of them live in the Southern Hemisphere.
At Stony Point near Betty's Bay, a rock hyrax or "dassie" is quite aggravated by our intrusion.
On a separate trip, we ventured along the southern coast of the Western Cape province and inland for a week. Far too short a period to see everything, but it gave us a taste for more of South Africa. Above, a Cape Fur seal sleeps on the beach at Cape Agulhas.
Cape Agulhas is most southern point of the African continent and the point at which the Atlantic and Indian Oceans converge. Interestingly, however, it’s not considered one of the great five southern capes.
Above, an example of Dutch colonial architecture which is prevalent throughout the Western Cape.
From the coast, we headed north into the Karoo. Dry and reminiscent of the U.S. southwest terrain, the temperature rose to a searing 47C (almost 117F). We visited Oudtshorn, the ostrich capital of the world. (That’s Oats-horn… we were helped with the pronunciation)
Acres and acres of ostrich farms, bred and grown for their eggs, meat and feathers. We did not have an ostrich egg omelette, but did have ostrich meat quite regularly while in South Africa and it was excellent.
We had every intention of heading back to Cape Town after Oudtshorn, but the Addo Elephant National Park beckoned us further into the Eastern Cape. The elephants were incredible. These photos do little justice to the enormity of the animals and the thrill of seeing them in such numbers and up so close.
The second of the Big 5, the Cape Buffalo, was also spotted at Addo. The waterhole was a big draw on such hot days.
Even thirsty warthogs can be cute and photogenic.
We visited both Bontebok National Park and the Karoo Nature Reserve and couldn't get enough of the animals. Above, a group of meerkats check us out as we check them out.
Head on look at a red hartebeest.
At Bontebok NP, we saw lots of "boks" including steenboks (above), springboks and gemsboks (oryx).
Above, a kudu stops for a drink.
We saw so little of South Africa and we saw so very much. We would have liked to venture into the other provinces and national parks on the east coast and further north, but our schedule didn't allow for it this time around. This is a "must return" country. Apart from the flora and fauna, we feel we missed out on the cultural diversity the country has to offer and this is an area we would like to explore further on the next trip. We took hundreds and hundreds of photos and choosing the ones most representative of what we saw was difficult to say the least.
Durban, South Africa - 2014-2015
Fast forward to 2015. We had just made an 1,800nm, challenging passage across the Indian Ocean and had arrived in South Africa once again… this time on the east coast in Durban. Our second visit to South Africa proved to be just as exciting and hold as many surprises as our first visit. See for yourself.
After a challenging passage and an especially grueling past 48-hours, we finally arrived in Durban at dawn.
Waiting for officials at check-in gave us time for a spruce-up and a cuppa before moving into a slip at Royal Natal YC.
Portugese explorer, Vasco de Gama sighted Durban's natural harbor on Christmas Eve 1497 and named it Rio de Natal (Christmas River). When the British colonized the area in 1835, they renamed it in honor of the governor, Sir Benjamin d'Urban. The Zulu call this area eThekwini, from “itheku”, meaning bay or lagoon – a reference to the harbor and the lagoon formed where the Umsundusi River meets the Indian Ocean.
Durban is South Africa's third largest city, located in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Its port, Port Natal, is the busiest container port in Africa and considered one of the top 10 busiest container ports in the world. Based on the ship traffic we saw on our early morning approach, that's easy to believe. The city itself is a hustling, bustling city of 3.5 million, with lots of traffic, both vehicular and human. The streets are crowded. Shops are busy. Hawkers, street vendors, musicians, dancers and buskers all compete for attention.
The list of repairs and replacements for Nine of Cups was long as you’d expect, but we have to say that we were very impressed with the efficiency and responses from the Durban trade community. There was a well-stocked chandlery nearby, lots of marine tradesmen were close and dependable. There was even a good sailmaker available and Durban prices were reasonable and within the budget. Perhaps there’d be more time to explore South Africa and less time devoted to boat repairs and chores.
We frequently wandered the busy durban streets, just exploring the city. we were always entertained by dancers, musicians and buskers, but mostly we enjoyed people-watching. The ladies who carry heavy loads on their heads with apparent ease fascinated us.
Durban City hall is a massive, modern Renaissance style building that takes up the whole city block and the well-hidden, mediocre Natural Science Museum.
We arrived in Durban late in November. There's something unusual about seeing a city dressed with Christmas decorations in foreign countries… as if other countries don't celebrate this holiday the way we do… and of course, they do. South Africa does celebrate, although like Australia, it's a summer holiday here and going to the beach for a braai (BBQ) is more reasonable than roasting a turkey in the oven. We missed celebrating quite a few holidays, so I was keen to make sure we got started celebrating Christmas early… especially since we'd be apart this year for Christmas. I was heading home to Boston to spend the holidays with my sister, Lin. David planned to stay with his demanding mistress, Nine of Cups, in hopes of repairing all we broke crossing the Indian Ocean.
The downtown main streets in Durban were decorated with garlands and lights and all the shops had Christmas decorations and holiday sales going on. I saw an ad on the Point Yacht Club website for a Durban City Orchestra holiday concert and a luncheon held at the yacht club and signed up for it immediately.
The Durban City Orchestra has been in existence since 1888 and is the second oldest symphony orchestra in South Africa. They were quite good, Above, we joined other cruisers in ushering in the holidays.
I returned from Boston to Durban in time to celebrate New Year’s Eve. A smiling David was waiting for me at the Arrivals Hall… a wonderful sight for my tired eyes. Hugs, kisses and gathering up of those heavy duffels already seems a blur. We boarded a shuttle for the marina and held hands on the 90-minute ride back. Nine of Cups was waiting to welcome me… yellow ribbons and all! Our New Year's Eve celebration included a bottle of champers, a quiet dinner and the chance to catch up on three weeks apart. We raised a toast at midnight and sang away the old year and welcomed the new. We made lots of plans for the New Year including some inland travel in Africa over the next few weeks. David dove right into boat repairs and I made plans for some travel
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park
South African marina neighbors offered to take us on a daytrip with them to Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (roughly pronounced Shloo-shloo-wee Umfo-low-zee). The park is located about 3-1/2 hours from Durban and Alan suggested leaving at 1:00AM in order to be at the gates by the 5AM opening time to ensure best animal viewing. We packed breakfast and lunch in a cooler, grabbed a thermos of hot tea and, all psyched for a day of adventure, we met them promptly at the marina gate in the early, early morning.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park is the oldest park in South Africa and actually a combination of two reserves originally established in 1895 and covering 96,000 hectares (290,000 acres). It is home to the proverbial Big Five: lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo and leopard. It is dissected by the White and Black Umfolozi Rivers and as we neared the White Umfolozi, we spotted our first rhinos cooling themselves the water.
Throughout this page, you can click on the thumbnails to enlarge the images.
One of my most treasured “jobs” as Nine of Cups’ first mate was travel planning (still is!). I collect the literature, read the guide books, do research online and then come up with a plan. In South Africa, especially since we were in KwaZulu-Natal (KNZ) province, there was so much to see and do, it boggled our minds. There are game parks, game reserves, marine reserves, Zulu culture and historical sites, and of course, the world-famous Kruger National Park. First things first, I headed to the tourist info office in downtown Durban and collected as many tourist brochures about the region as possible.
Since animal encounters were tops on our list, I narrowed down the game parks and reserves that seemed to offer the most animal viewing options, but tried to choose those that were a bit off the beaten track. It was summer season and there were scads of tourists (like us) that we hoped to avoid. I checked what other attractions were nearby the parks that would be of interest, as well as in-park accommodations, nearby hotels, restaurants, etc. For hotels, wifi and A/C were two amenities high on the wish-list along with clean accommodations, free parking and free breakfast. We usually like to wing it as far as hotels go, but since it was the tourist season, I wanted to at least book a couple of nights in advance.
I managed to figure out a rather ambitious and adventurous itinerary. Though it was a big territory to explore, I think we made the most of our time and money. We booked in a combination of hotels and backpacker hostels, inside game parks and out. Our route include at least three major game reserves/wildlife sanctuaries plus multiple nature reserves; a few days in Swaziland, a tiny kingdom to the north; opportunities to visit several craft and local markets, museums and cultural centers plus exposure to Zulu, Swati and Ndebele people. After several days of boat repair and maintenance, we were off on a 10 day land adventure.
Return to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi
We'd really enjoyed our first visit to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi and decided we'd return there to see the northern part of the park that we'd missed on our first visit. We drove to Mtubatuba (love that name) and entered through the Nyalzi Gate, the gate we'd exited on our previous visit. This part of the park climbs higher into the hills and then dips back down to the Hluhluwe River. The self-drive gravel auto roads are in rough condition, and David's experience in driving Colorado mountain roads came in handy. We saw elephants as soon as we arrived. Throughout the day, as we bumped along slowly on the pot-holed, gravel roads, we spotted lots of animals and marveled at this environment which supported them all. Raptors circling lazily overhead. Birds chirping and singing whenever we stopped for a few moments to listen. Endemic animals were at every turn and our ability to get so close to observe them was incredible.
As we turned the last corner of a forested path to head out of the park, an elephant crashed out of the forest, a lasting reminder of Hluhluwe Reserve.
Mkhuse Wildlife Sanctuary
Next on the itinerary was Mkhuse (Mick-hoo-see) Wildlife Sanctuary. We were disappointed that several of the roads and facilities were closed, but we managed a great visit anyway. A highlight of the park was the Nsumo Pan, a large, shallow lake and part of the larger iSimangaliso wetland system. We were surprised at how few other visitors were in the park and that suited us just fine.
Lots of giraffes stopped for a drink at the Nsumo Pan but they weren’t alone.
The park has great views of the Lebombo Mountains in the distance. The area in which we traveled was a grassy veld with enough trees to provide shade for weary animals as well as homes for a variety of colorful birds and chattering monkeys.
We could have stayed watching and observing forever, but we needed to be out of the park before dark and negotiating the rough roads back to the highway loomed in our minds. We reluctantly drove back to the gate, checked out of the park and headed back to the highway. The Shayamoya Lodge was less than an hour's drive to the north, just shy of the Swaziland border.
Our “chalet” was a beautiful thatch-roofed, secluded hut. The interior was rustic, but elegantly charming as befits an African lodge. Wooden furniture, mosquito-netted beds (twins, unfortunately), a large bathroom with tub and an outside, hot-water shower. It was positively splendid. We were invited to a braai (BBQ) in the lapa, an outside patio area and enjoyed our dinner under the stars. We returned along a dimly lighted, stone path to our chalet. We could hear frogs and insects and the night sounds of small animals nearby. An exquisite evening and the end of another perfect day in South Africa. Then we crossed the border into Swaziland. Wanna visit with us? Check it out here.
Welcome to Kruger National Park… South Africa’s Crown Jewel
Truth be told, we had thought about giving Kruger a pass. We'd heard that it would be crowded and we conjured up images of Yosemite or the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone when the traffic is bumper to bumper during the summer. But we were so close and Kruger is so well-known for its animals, we talked each other into it. It wasn't hard.
We'd made reservations for a hut inside the park, but none was available for our first night, so we chose a guest house in Komatipoort close to Kruger's Crocodile Bridge entrance and a stone's throw from the Mozambique border. For dinner, our hosts suggested Kambaku, a local golf club that overlooked the Crocodile River. Kruger was on the opposite riverbank. Much to our delight, a hippo appeared on the shore. We watched as she waddled her way into the river. And our Kruger experience began before we even entered the park.
A little background on Kruger… Established in 1898 to protect South African wildlife, Kruger became South Africa's first national park in 1926 and is the crown jewel of the South African national park system. The park encompasses nearly five million acres and is a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies. The park is home to an extraordinary and diverse array of flora and fauna species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. And we definitely got to see our share!
Staying overnight in the camp allowed us the advantage of an early gate opening at 0430. It was still too dark for photos as we drove out of the gate, but we took our time, stopped for tea and rusks at a little lay-by and watched the sun come up.
We were taking a northern route today crossing into several different eco-zones of savanna, thickets and bushveld. The causeway across the Sabie River was busy with Chacma baboons. Baboons can be a real nuisance, but these guys were just waking up like us and though they impeded traffic a bit, they were fun to watch.
Our second full day in the park was a full one as we meandered along the park roads searching, observing and being awestruck at each turn.
Searching for the Big Five… Everyone who visits an African game park, even locals, hopes to spot the Big Five: elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion and leopard. The first three are almost guaranteed, and though lions are a bit more scarce, there's a good chance of seeing them as well. All four of these animals are diurnal and easy to spot. The leopard, however, is a nocturnal hunter, secretive and elusive, especially during the day. We'd spotted four of the Big Five in Kruger, but had little hope of seeing a leopard on our last day.
David spotted a freshly killed impala in the crook of a large tree, the night's work of a leopard. Surely the leopard was close by. We had an outstanding vantage point and plenty of time. David shut off the engine and we waited. About a half hour into our vigil, David spotted some slight movement in a grassy thicket near the river's edge. The leopard approached warily and settled down on the sand. We had an obscured view, but good enough for a photo... definitely the leopard. Wow! We bagged our Big 5!
All good things, especially fun trips, must come to an end and after Kruger, we slowly made our way back to Durban and Nine of Cups. It wasn’t a direct route, however. We spent the night in the little town of Dundee in the midst of an area of KwaZulu Natal known simply as the Battlefields. There are 82 battlefields, museums, old fortifications and places of remembrance along the Battlefields Route, the largest concentration of significant battles and war-related sites in South Africa. Here, midst the lovely rolling hills and farmlands of today, the bloody Zulu-Anglo-Boer wars were fought. It's always an eerie feeling to travel through such areas. If you've visited Gettysburg or Antietam in the USA, it's that same feeling of loss, conflict and horror. We watched the 1964 classic movie Zulu which recounts the 1879 battle at Rourke's Drift. Though perhaps the truth is a bit distorted, it was an interesting movie to watch after having just visited the area. And then we were back aboard, working on the boat and already making plans for our next South African ramble.
A field of memories along the Battlefield Route
Visitors from Afar… Brennan and Hannah arrived for a visit which gave us a great excuse to forget about boat work and continue exploring South Africa. We met them at King Shaka International Airport (the name shouts Zulu and exotic South Africa, doesn't it?) and whisked them away to the Durban Marina and Nine of Cups. Read more about Shaka and the Zulus here.
Brennan and Hannah arrive at King Shaka.
After 23 hours of flights from Washington, DC to Durban, they were jet-lagged for a couple of days, but that didn’t stop us from making plans.
Tala Private Game Reserve
After wandering the streets and shops of Durban, the kids had a specific agenda. They were interested in traveling to Lesotho, the tiny country totally enveloped by South Africa. We were game for a road trip and some adventure. The Tall Game Reserve was on the way, however, and we couldn’t pass it up. Tala is a small, private game reserve about 90 minutes southwest of Durban. It claims to be “Durban's finest game reserve”, but it was hard to find out much information about it. Only one of the Big 5 was in residence… white rhinos... but there were plenty more critters to see as we drove along the gravel roads, rarely seeing another vehicle. We had no sooner cleared the gate than a flock (or herd or pride or flush … take your pick) of ostrich came strutting over the hill to greet us. Brennan's comment … “Man, they're bigger than I thought!” kind of sums up close and personal encounters with most African animals.
We left Tala Game Reserve in mid-afternoon and made our way along winding country roads to the little town of Himeville, South Africa … and then a little beyond. We moved from the Indian Ocean coastal plain to rolling hills, through valleys to the foothills of the Drakensberg Range (Afrikaans for Dragon Mountains). We arrived at the Sani Backpackers Lodge in Himesville, South Africa and really loved our quaint accommodations. Check out our trip to Lesotho here.
Finally Back to Sea
Then we were back in Durban and the kids were gone and we were planning our departure from Durban. It was delayed by a family emergency back in the States and when we returned, we waited for an interminably long time for a decent weather window to tackle South Africa’s Wild Coast. There are more than 2,000 shipwrecks, dating back at least 500 years, off the South African coast. The Wild Coast is a section of coastline between KwaZulu-Natal (Durban) stretching south to the port of East London in East Cape and it's claimed more than its share of ships. Several ships simply vanished without a trace. The sail from port to port is about 265nm and there are no safe havens in between. Hence, the reason we sought local knowledge and we were keen on waiting for a reasonable weather window of at least 2-3 days.
Read about this fast, but perilous passage here.
East London
The East London Breakwater was a very welcome sight for two weary sailors.
The unique and funky coelacanth
With our sail down the coast from Durban to East London, we've moved from Kwa-Zulu Natal province to Eastern Cape. The city of East London was founded in 1836 as the result of a survey of the Buffalo River by Royal Navy Lieutenant John Bailie. The town logically grew up around the river's mouth. In fact, the whole metro area including surrounding towns and East London as its hub, is now referred to as the “Buffalo City”. East London is South Africa's only river port and it's a busy one since it's a new car terminal for Mercedes.
We didn’t wander around all that much. We were confined to quarters for several days due to severely inclement weather and later because we’d been advised that the riverport could be a bit dicey. We did make it to the East London Museum. The museum’s primary claim to fame is the coelacanth (pronounced seel-ah-canth … who knew?), a “funky fish with limb-like fins” presumed to be extinct 50+ million years ago and caught in a nearby river in 1938. Read more about our East London Museum tour here.
Bird Island, Algoa Bay
Our next port of call was Port Elizabeth, about 134nm to the west. About 35nm east of Port Elizabeth and only about 7 nm from the sand-duned shore of Algoa Bay, lies a small group of islands and rocky outcrops known as the Bird Island Group. It's a protected area and home to South Africa's greatest colonies of Cape gannets, African penguins, roseate terns, Antarctic terns and kelp gulls. There's a seal colony nearby on Black Rocks and consequently, the population of great white sharks abounds in this area as well. Though we hadn’t planned a stop at Bird Island, when the weather changed and the seas churned like a washing machine, we found ourselves there for a night’s anchorage with a view of its inhabitants. It was quite a lovely place with birds absolutely everywhere. Rafts of them floated all around the boat, seeming to chat amiably and ignoring us for the most part. From the boat we could hear the din of the huge colony of gannets ashore.
The Bird Island Lighthouse is stunning… at least from a distance. Historically, a wooden lighthouse was erected in 1852. It was a pretty remote area with little means of communication. After 1906, this improved a bit when carrier pigeons took messages from the Port Elizabeth Lighthouse to the Bird Island Light. Work on a stone lighthouse began in 1872. The lighthouse has now been fully automated. The last permanent lightkeeper left Bird Island in 1968. Maintenance is now performed periodically by a technical staff which arrives by helicopter.
Mosselbaai
Mossel Bay (Mosselbaai) is a small port city of ~60,000 people on the southern South Africa coast, midway between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. in the province of Western Cape. It was here on the shores of Mosselbaai that the Portuguese explorer, Bartolomeu Dias and his crew first set foot on South African soil in February 1488… the first Europeans to do so. He named the bay, Angra dos Vaquieros (Bay of Cowherds?), but thankfully, it was later changed by the Dutch to Mossel Bay because of the plentiful supply of mussels and oysters found here.
Dias and his crew didn't explore much on their first foray ashore. They made a hasty retreat when the locals threw stones at them. We, however, anchored peacefully in the bay and were warmly welcomed ashore.
A tourist town on South Africa's Garden Route, the highlight for us was visiting the Dias Museum Complex. The museum complex is comprised of several buildings with a lovely botanical garden in the center. We entered the museum through a replica of the granary built in 1786 by the Dutch East India Company.
I was particularly interested in the Post Office Tree which sits in the botanic gardens under a large, spreading milkwood tree thought to be more than 500 years old. I love this kind of stuff. Here's the story. In 1500, a Portuguese navigator, Pedro d'Ataide, returning from India, left a message in a boot hanging from a tree near a known fresh-water spring, warning that Calcutta had been overtaken by Borneans and was no longer safe for Portuguese. In 1501, Joao da Nova found the note and diverted his fleet to Malacca to avoid altercation. In this way, the first “post office” in South Africa was founded.
Sailors have left and retrieved letters and notes here and many other well-documented places for centuries. We came prepared with written postcards and stamps and I, of course, felt compelled to mail them from the famous Post Office Tree. The museum provided a large “shoe” mail box in which to deposit them and promised to hand cancel them, providing the unique, official Post Office Tree postmark.
In 1988, a full-size replica of Dias' caravel, built in Portugal, set sail from Lisbon to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Dias' landing in Mosselbaai. On arrival and after much fanfare, the ship was laboriously transported from the harbor and moved intact to the museum where it is now proudly displayed. We were able to climb aboard the caravel and explore above and below decks. There were some modern conveniences installed on the replica for the 1988 crew... like heads, a galley and sleeping quarters. The original caravel had sleeping quarters only for the captain and there was no galley nor heads. The 1488 crew slept out in the elements, cooked on deck and were on their own for toilet facilities. We had a great view of Nine of Cups from the museum lawn.
On another day, we decided to visit the Cape St. Blaize Lighthouse, built in 1864. The lighthouse sits high on a rugged sandstone bluff that is riddled with caves. We headed to the point and walked a bit on the Cape St. Blaize Trail.
We departed Mosselbaai en route to Cape Town and rounded Cape Agulhas! Cape Agulhas is the southern-most geographic point of land at the tip of the African continent and according to the International Hydrographic Organization, it is the official dividing line between the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans. We were back in the Atlantic Ocean.
A tribute to Neptune as we rounded the last of the Great Southern Capes.
After a brief stop in Simon’s Town (False Bay) for a respite and a return visit to the South African penguin colony, we continued on our way to Cape Town. Dias named it the Cape of Storms when he rounded it in 1488. Portugal's King John II changed the name to the Cape of Good Hope, in anticipation of finding a trade route to India. In 1580, Sir Francis Drake called it the "The Fairest Cape in all the World". It's the legendary home of The Flying Dutchman, whose ghostly crew is forever doomed to beat its way around the cape without ever successfully rounding the headland. We, on the other hand, were indeed successful. David hauled out our best Mauritian rum and offered Neptune a good tot, thanking him as always for his continued protection of Cups and crew as we rounded the fifth and last of the great southern capes and headed to Cape Town… at last.
Revisiting Cape Town
There was much to do on our return to Cape Town… several boat projects including the furler repair, new chain plates and new sails plus general maintenance… months’ worth. Midst all the boat work, however, we managed to explore Cape Town once again… revisiting spots we enjoyed previously and seeking out new places to explore. Take a look at the highlights below.
We couldn’t resist a return visit to the top of Table Mountain. The views of the city are stupendous. This time we took the cable car up and walked down. Bad decision… Marcie’s knees complained all the way down. Still, it was worth it!
We celebrated our circumnavigation at St. Helena Bay and West Coast National Park in South Africa’s Western Cape. The sunsets were pretty spectacular.
The wave action in Kalk Bay was nothing short of amazing… and we were glad we weren’t trying to get ashore in our dinghy!!!
We completed our circumnavigation of the world in Cape Town. What constitutes a bonafide circumnavigation? Find out here.
A little more South Africa? Take a look at some of our blogs to give you a little more insight into this awesome country and its people. Just click on the image to link to the blog post.
As always, when it’s time to leave a port, we have mixed emotions. On the one hand, we will miss the friends we’ve made and the conveniences of being ashore. On the other hand, there’s always the next port and the adventures that await us. Join us as we bid adieu to South Africa head up the coast to Namibia.