THANK YOU

With the Old Year drawing to a close and the New Year rapidly approaching, Fiona and I would like to say.

To everyone who takes the time to read and comment on our blog. All the people who give us the such valued input. To all the people who shared our little stories and video moments as well as our small group of followers that show us support. A Very Big.

THANK YOU

If you asked me a little while ago, would I ever be writing blogs, even small ones I must say. I would probably turn and give you a somewhat confused look. Then continue with another conversation. However here we are, just over a year later with a whole new aspect to our lives. (It still tickles me that  I live on the very very tip of this African continent and I can share my thoughts with anyone in the world)  In the future if there is any aspect  of our blog that takes your interest and you would like more on that subject, please feel free to leave us a comment or alternatively send us an e-mail. It is really great to get feed back from all different people,we greatly appreciate it. We love chatting and interacting with you all. I would also like to add that a lot of the time we don’t post specific posts as we are not sure if its of any interest to anyone, but maybe it is!  So feel free to let us know if you would like us to expand on any particular subject.. So here is looking forward to the year ahead.

Best Wishes to all for the New Year.

Dan & Fiona

 

 

Lets Ride

Well the silly season is in full swing. This means a few noticeable changes, ( I will leave that post for another time). One change that any casual observer will notice is the huge influx of traffic and congested roads. Therefore making it a great excuse to utilize the recently repaired bike for a little sight-seeing (any plausible excuse to take the bike out at this stage works for me). We set off nice and early to a market on the other side of our peninsular. Lets see how the other half live.

Not a bad place to park the bike and start our day

 

Fiona and I both were thinking that we should have brought our swimming stuff with us as  the water looked so inviting (bit odd to be driving a racy 1000cc motorbike in full jackets , gloves and backpack spilling over with mask, snorkel and fins (one thing at a time Dan….One thing at a time.)

We strolled around taking in the sights and sounds, drank great coffee, then made our way to the harbour waterfront as I have a thing for boats. (I came to the startling realization last year, I am actually interested in most things).

If I am not mistaken we counted six boats like this one pictured above, in various stages of decay. I remember this boat not that long ago being a working vessel. Quite sad indeed. The vessel owners are not getting permits to continue fishing. So they sit neglected, until the inevitable happens. Our country’s fishing permits have had a serious shuffling, in an effort to make everything more “politically  correct”. Thus all the permits were re-allocated. I even heard of an inland woman’s knitting club getting a permit. To remain PC we must have fisher woman. Even if they don’t actually fish or even know what blue water looks like. It looks good on paper and that gets votes. I wont even start talking about the permits sold off to a foreign country where all the toys come from as I don’t want to get negative about it all.  Governments really do strange things for the short-term while their people struggle.

The good thing is the local kids have the best marine jungle gym and play area, If you don’t mind rusty steel and broken glass. Ok, lets be honest, I am a bit jealous of these kids.

We took a few min to watch how (lets call them salvers) remove the more valuable components of the vessel with nothing more than a hack saw blade and elbow grease. One thing Fiona noticed, as the kids were climbing all over the remains of this boat is they were repeatedly saying O BAMA. Yes that’s correct South African kids between the ages of 10 and 16 were calling out O BAMA! Whilst swinging on the ropes like agile spider monkeys.  We could not work that one out. Anyone have any ideas on that ? One kid in particular approximately 10 years old (pictured above) managed to hand over hand from the jetty to the boat and back faster than I could tie my shoe laces.( yup, that’s me getting jealous again). He would have a bright future in rope access rescue.

The day turned out far better than expected. We had wonderful weather. My bike runs really well and I even managed to get convince Fiona for a much-needed ice cream stop. A win win on all fronts.

This day out has inspired me to visit my local pier. The last time I dived there I managed to obtain a great fishing rod and a full set of lures. However most of my time was spent wrestling a particularly ornery octopus for a water logged cell phone.( It was a bit ridiculous on the part of the octopi as it wasn’t even a particularly good phone) Seems everybody is getting tech savvy these days.

Thanks for reading

Dan

Hitchhiker Blues

Everyone has been told at some stage never to speak to strangers and never to pick up a hitchhiker. Fiona and I tend to avoid this type of thing but a few days ago it could not be helped.

Driving slowly looking for a place to swim we noticed a thud in the back of the truck. Typical.. No thumb out.. No please would you mind , just jumped in expecting a free ride. Your kidding me . I must say this is not the first time this has happened but I was not going to get out and argue.

How dare he. The arrogance of it all. How does he know we are going the same way !

I  laughed and said to Fi, I should ask him if he would like a coffee and the New York Times. Prince charming did not seem impressed with the ride quality nor was he interested in small talk with us.

It seemed like he had other things planned. He invited a special friend along for the ride. Even though I have tinted windows, he knew we could see the shenanigans in the back.

He was not bothered in the least. I was starting to understand what late shift taxi drivers may have to deal with. Things were starting to get  festive.

I know ,  in the back of my car at the beach!  Who would believe that story. Needless to say once he had… ummm done his thing , I was given the signal to stop and the two secretive  lovers pulled themselves together then  politely disembarked. You guessed it, I did not get a tip, not even a Thank You. How rude!

Fiona and I did eventually get to our lunch and swim, Even though I cant stand the pictures of food thing. I thought I would just add a snap shot of our lunch in to clean this post up a bit.

This place never ceases to amaze me. Just another simple day at the beach.

Thank you for reading

Dan

 

 

 

 

Sunshine Blogger Award

Armchair Zen

Thank you to Matthew Wakelee for nominating us. His blog Ordinary Man Extraordinary Dad. It was a great unexpected surprise to be nominated for this award, we certainly had fun answering the questions. We look forward to reading the responses to our questions posed to our nominees.

Rules of the Sunshine Blogger Award:

• Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
• Answer the eleven questions set by the person who nominated you.
• Nominate eleven other blogs and give them eleven questions to answer.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post.

Our answers to Matthew’s questions:

What is (or was) your dream job?
Minimal working hours, maximum pay!

What is your favorite National Park?
SANParks

What is your favorite food?
Dan – Biltong
Fiona – Pastries

What type of camera do you use?
We use combination of GoPro, Canon EOS1100D and cellphone depending on the environment and situation.

Why did you start blogging?
We wanted to be able to record our memories digitally as well as share our travels and adventures with others.

How long have you been blogging?
Just over 1 year.

What is your favorite animal?
Dan – Doesn’t favour a particular animal
Fiona – Manta Ray

What is your favorite beer?
Dan – Cederbrew
Fiona – Cederbrew

What place is at the top of your Bucket List?
Dan – Russian Tundra and/or Canada
Fiona – Antarctica

What is your book?
Dan – I scribbled on a napkin once
Fiona – In drafts at the moment, still in production phase

What is your favorite state?
South Africa doesn’t have states. We have 9 provinces. Our favourite being the Western Cape

Our blog nominations:

Sharpened Axe

Hanna’s Walk

The Ordinary Compass

Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

How To Provide

Cape Town Pulse

My Hiking My Life

Traveling Rockhopper

Our Rumbling Ocean

Armchair Zen

Life in the Overberg

 Questions to our nominees:

What made you start blogging?

If money was no object, what would you do?

What do you prefer Marine or Terrestrial environments?

If you were a kid and you knew then what you know now. Would you have chosen a different profession and what would it be?

Do you prefer sweet or savory?

If you could save one animal on the planet which animal would it be?

Favourite music genre and/or band?

If you could earn a salary from blogging, would you do it?

What are your views and thoughts on global population numbers.

Where do you live now? If you had to move to a foreign country where would you go to?

When was the last time you spent the entire day without your cellphone and/or iPad?

 

Thanks again for nominating our little blog. Dan & Fiona

 

 

 

 

 

Boulders Beach Experience

View while lying on Boulder’s Beach

I don’t often go to Boulders Beach & surrounding areas. Let alone I seldom swim at Boulder’s Beach purely for two major reasons.

1. Unless you hit the beach in the weekday, it is generally crowded with tourists experiencing the amazing scenic beauty that Simonstown has to offer. Whilst those who have absorbed the scenery, spend their time snapping pictures of the African Penguin who exit the beach in their ‘tuxedo suits’ strutting the beach as if they are on a fashion catwalk!
2. If you enjoy floating / wading in knee high water this beach is perfect for you. However if you are more of the adventurous type, favouring snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking & surfing then this is not the beach for you, as many of these activities are banned from the beach because of it being a breeding colony for the African Penguin.

However I decided to take my mom for her first Summer swim of 2016! It was a calm, hot day and I knew this would make the perfect setting for mom to have a splash without getting bowled over by an incoming wave!

We set out & arrived by 10h30 shocked to see there were only a handful of people on the beach, unlike previous experiences where we have been rubbing shoulders with strangers. We took in the beauty that we are so lucky to call Home. Watching the penguins continuing their daily activities & retired yachtsman setting sail in the background. All adding to the ease of slowly getting in to what mom described as “chilly” water yet in the next description she felt as though we could be somewhere in the Mediterranean.

African Penguin couple

Mom was determined and took the plunge quicker than I was able to! Shocking! Given I am the one who swims considerably more than she does, but perhaps I was simply enjoying the new change of scenery as it is completely different (both in landscape & water conditions)  to our usual beach 10 minutes away.

The rock formations are incredible and simply amazing to take in while swimming in & around them. Many display granite exfoliation, where huge layers peel off over time (similar to an onion & its various layers) & its not always easy to be able to see this taking place in nature yet at Boulder’s its a common sight.

Our swim was fabulous & we had a really great morning at Boulder’s Beach. So great we are going there again this week. Hoping to have another great experience.

This beach does have spectacular granite formations and great examples of exfoliation taking place.

Thank you for reading. If you are a visitor to Cape Town, I definitely recommend a visit to Boulders Beach. Aim for early arrival especially during November – February. You can pack a picnic and sit on the beach or have a lunch at the nearby restaurant before taking a dip at the beach. Either way it really is a special stop which I think many locals tend to acknowledge.

Fiona 🙂