Fishing and Fun in Struisbaai

2017-03-06 | puppy1952

Our daughter, Laurie, brought a group of friends to stay this past weekend. What a great time we had with Cara and Shaun, Dylan and a young girl visiting from Turkey named Cansu – pronounced Yunsue.

They all drove up together after work on Friday evening and we met them at The Michael Collins for dinner. The fun began from there and it was midnight before we got to bed.

In spite of this Dylan, Shaun and Earl were up bright and early and went out on Kiora to try their luck on the five and twelve mile banks. And it all went well – more of that later.

We girls chilled a little longer in bed but when we arose Cansu cooked us a Turkish breakfast. She heated olive oil in the pan, threw in chopped green peppers, tomato and garlic and fried them till soft then mixed in some eggs and then topped it with grated cheese and cooked it slowly. We sat out at the picnic table and enjoyed this delicious feast.

Breakfast was a Turkish Delight – Cansu and Cara

Our mission for the day was to show Cansu what the area had to offer so off we set to climb to the top of the Agulhas lighthouse.

Cara and Laurie stayed down below but I went up too. The last ladder that takes you to the top is the scariest of all. You may only go up one at a time. When I reached the top I found a mom and a very scared little girl refusing to go down. I stopped to encourage her telling her the story of two other little ones I’d recently had in the tower who were just as terrified but very brave. Just hold on tight and don’t let go and you will be fine, I said. I think just hearing a voice other than her mom’s did the trick as the tears dried up and she went straight down.

Dad and Little Sister were waiting to welcome her – what a brave girl!

Cara and Laurie walking Caper the Daschund

Magnificent View from up there

Down the scary ladder she goes

But she was not afraid

It is compulsory for every visitor who comes this far south to stand at the very tip of Africa. As it was the weekend there were a number of visitors but the wait was not too long.

In 982 a Japanese fishing boat, The Meisho Maru 38 wrecked at Cape Agulhas and can still be seen on the rocks today. We took Cansu to see it.

The rocks are rugged – you wouldn’t want to run aground here

Cansu poses with the ill fated Meishu Maru

The threatened Black Oystercatcher

Casper loves the beach

Some fynbos

By this time we were all hanging out for a cup of coffee so the delightful gift shop, Potpourri, was our next port of call. We sat outside as we had Casper and shared a scone – a first for Cansu.

Potpourri

The boys, in the meantime, were having a great time at sea. Soon after we got home, Earl called to say they were on their way in and they had fish for supper.

There was a lot of activity at the harbour and some fishermen were cleaning their catch and throwing the guts into the sea. This attracted about ten stingrays into the shallows.

A stingray swims in the clear water

These creatures have become very tame, will eat from a friendly hand and allow people to stroke them. Cansu was fascinated. She kicked off her shoes and waded in. One of the locals had bits of fish and was feeding them. He told her the stingray was pregnant.

Getting close and personal with a ray

“It feels like a jellyfish with fur,” she said

I yelled to Canu to watch the tail but I was on the jetty and she didn’t hear me.

Ouch – the tail brushed against her leg

Cansu got a fright and there was a small graze on her leg which bled but there was no harm done – the spikes did not penetrate her skin and there was no swelling or pain afterwards. We just treated her with Allergex ointment and she was fine.

The Fishermen returning after a successful day at sea

Shaun has a Santa and a Red Stompneus Dylan has two Red Roman

Laurie made us a lovely spinach salad, Cara made garlic bread and new baby potatoes and Earl fried the fish – we had an amazing feast.

More of this lovely weekend to follow.

Struisbaai Marlin Competition 2017

2017-02-21 | puppy1952

Last week The Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling club once again hosted the Marlin Competition. This annual event is a great drawcard for deep sea anglers and a wonderful highlight on the Struisbaai calendar. This year 27 teams from all over the country took part and the competition ran for six days of which only two were not fished due to poor conditions.

The club catered all meals for the teams and there was a wonderful vibe at the evening dinners. Earl and I hosted Andrew, who was the communications officer and we were appointed the official photographers for the week!

What a Spread

Hardworking Girls behind the scenes

The rules of the competition were fairly complicated but this is how I understood them. A marlin had to be landed, photographed, a DNA sample taken then released. A video of the fish swimming away also had to be taken. The angler/boat who caught the last fish would be declared the winner – this was so that their enthusiasm would last to the bitter end!

Three fish were landed. Osprey caught the first, Woes Lekke the second and Salti the third.

Crew from Woes Lekke with DNA Sample – second Marlin landed

On one of the evenings Andrew was the Auctioneer and some generous bids were made for the wines donated by some local estates.

Wines on Auction

Sold to that man over there

Should we or shouldn’t we – they did

A special wine bottled in honour of Shanga

Shanga is Andrew’s dog who goes everywhere with him

And what am I bid for last year’s banner? Quite a lot it turned out and this year’s one went too.

The auction raised R39 000 for the club. Thanks to all the bidders this will be put to good use a Suidpunt Deep Angling Club.

On Friday there was a pirate party at The Club which was great fun. Earl and I were the judges and we found it difficult to choose so in the end gave one individual prize and one group prize. There was no female prize and I was the only girl to dress up and the judge can’t win!

Tattooed and scary?

Captain Morgan ready to pillage

Beware of this lot on a dark night

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The organisation of this event was mammoth. The caterers did an amazing job and kept us all well fed.

Hungry anglers enjoying the catering

Struisbaai, I think, thoroughly enjoyed having the anglers visit for a week and each afternoon the harour was a fun place to be as the boats returned from sea.

The winning boat escorted in by the birds

Feast from the fishermen

No fighting please – there’s enough for everyone

The Stingray will not be left out

Second boat to land a Marlin

Team Salti were the winners

Share your world 6 February 2017

2017-02-06 | puppy1952

Here are my answers to Cee’s Share Your World 6 February 2017

Regarding your fridge, is it organized or a mess inside?

Funny you should ask because if I’d read this question this morning my answer might have been quite different.

Of course I like my fridge to be neat and organized but for the past few days it has been in a bit of a state so today I sorted out the chaos! I threw out left over food from last Monday’s anniversary party, poured mayonnaise from an almost empty jar into an almost full one, checked to see that the milk wasn’t past its use by date and put veggies into containers instead of leaving them in their punnets and plastic wrappings. I didn’t know this was going to be a question today so don’t have a before photograph – but here is what my refrigerator looks like after its clean out this morning!

Well the above is how my fridge looked when I started this post but then my adopted grandson, Sam and his friend, Daniel who are staying with us for a few days, came back from a night time fishing trip with four geelbek and a skipjack so they now have pride of place till tomorrow morning when they can be cleaned. Guess what we will be having for dinner tomorrow!

Sam (left) and Daniel had a great evening out on Sam’s boat Red Head

Lovely fresh fish

Do you prefer your food separated or mixed together?

Depending on what the meal is – I like each vegetable to have its own place on the plate but I eat them together with the meat or fish – a bit of fish and a bit of veggie on one fork is the proper way to eat isn’t it? I do not eat one food group at a time – first the peas, then the carrots and leave the best till last – that’s crazy. I like mixing the flavours.

Sushi of course is fish, vegetable and rice rolled together in a sheet of seaweed and I love that.

Do you prefer reading coffee table books (picture), biographies, fiction, non-fiction, educational?

If it is printed I read it. But if the first few pages don’t grab me I have no qualms about setting it aside. I like well written fiction. My favourite authors are Anne Tyler, Chaim Potok, Bryce Courtenay, Barbara Trapido, Mavis Cheek,Maeve Binchy, Anita Shreve. I also love books by South African authors about South African life. Michael Heyns, Rayda Jacobs, Pamela Jooste and Maire Fischer have written some amazing fiction. I am reading a book by Deon Meyer’s Icarus at the moment.

I have/had a huge collection of coffee table/reference books. I had to give most of them away when we sold our big house in Cape Town – it broke my heart but there’s no room for them in Struisbaai. I still have too many.

Close your eyes. Listen to your body. What part of your body is seeking attention? What is it telling you?

I’m thirsty – time to have a lovely cold glass of water. If I don’t drink enough water my blood pressure drops and then I wonder why I’m so exhausted.

Share your World #Week 46

2016-11-15 | puppy1952

Here are my answers to Share Your World #Week 46

Are you a traveler or a homebody?

I am a traveler and use my home in Struisbaai as a base although I love it there too! Most of my travelling is done within South Africa and mainly to places where the game roam free.

What kind of TV commercial would you like to make? Describe it.

I would like to make a TV commercial encouraging parents to make reading to their children a bedtime ritual – there are so many benefits to this – special bonding time, improving vocabulary, creating a love for reading. Too any parents thing having children read to them for homework is what creates a good reader. They are wrong – it’s the other way round.

Describe yourself in a word that starts with the first letter of your name.

Here are a few – Happy, hopeful, hilarious, hip, honest, hungry for adventure.

List some fun things for a rainy day.

Definitely not playing board games. Snuggling up with a good book, blogging, reading blogs or watching a good movie.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

We have sold our family home in Cape Town and were there to pack up last week. I am grateful that most of the junk has been sorted and moved off to places where it will be put to good use. Our much loved and very old piano has gone to a little girl who is beginning lessons next year and this really makes me happy.

I am also grateful that we have found somebody to landscape our garden in Struisbaai – The rockery is done and I just love it!

The Cape Francolin also likes the new rockery

Next week will require another trip to Cape Town – I am sure I’ll be grateful for what is achieved there but I am not looking forward to going back so soon!

Spending Quality Time With Friends

2016-06-27 | puppy1952

We recently had our very good friends, Heather and Peter, spend time with us. It was an enormously happy time and the Weather Man obliged us with some stunning sunny days.

It was great to show them the improvements we’ve made to our home although they’re not quite finished yet. We enjoyed meals together, immersed ourselves in catching up on each other’s lives and it was a treat to take them to our favourite birding spots. We have so many shared interests so it was great to have an extended time together to enjoy each other.

The sunny days made it all the more exciting and although winter birding is not as productive as spring and summer we managed to do pretty well each day. Tuesday found us on the Arniston Road.

Jackal Buzzard

Rock Kestrel

Denham’s bustard

Denham’s in the foreground – steenbok in the background

There were hundreds of our national bird, the blue crane in the farmlands

A malachite sunbird enjoying the aloes

A bee, his only competition

Cloud Cisticola? Not sure about this LBJ’s identity

The Arniston Hotel where we enjoyed a great lunch

Arniston

Arniston fishermen coming in from a day at sea

On Wednesday we chilled at home till later in the afternoon when we set off to Agulhas Light house. On the way we enjoyed some birds and then went to see the light house museum.

There were literally dozens of African Black Oystercatchers on the rocks

A little egret soaking up the sun

Enjoying the lighthouse museum

After the museum we took a drive to Suiderstrand picking up a couple of birds and enjoying the views.

The famous “Pietie se huis” which is now part of the Agulhas National Park Rest Camp.

A Black Shouldered Kite with a hapless mouse for dinner

Bokmakierie

In the evening we introduced our old best friends to our new best friends over a stunning braai of ribs, chops and sausage

The next day we took off down the Elim Road and were thrilled with all the birds we found before having lunch at The Black Oystercatcher Wine Estate

A gaggle of Spur-winged geese

Cape Robin singing happily

A delight to find a fish eagle

Scores of Denham’s Bustards about

Flamingos on the Salt Pans

The Black Oystercatcher

Lunch was excellent – we all had the sticky chicken salad

The sun was setting when we returned and so we popped in at the harbour to see how the boats had done. A few fish were caught but not as much as the fishermen had hoped!

Sunset

One of the ski-boats returning from a day at sea

Friday’s weather matched our mood as we bade farewell to our friends as they made their way back to Cape Town on a cold and wet day.

What a delight to have been able to share those few days with our dearest friends!

Winter Weather in Struisbaai

2016-05-07 | puppy1952

There is bitterly cold south-easterly wind blowing here at the tip of Africa. I don’t want to say that Winter has arrived with a vengeance because it could change again just as suddenly. But if this is an indication of what is to come then I’d better start taking out the thicker jerseys! We have had a few cold snaps but this morning was the first time that I snuggled down deeper under the duvet and resisted leaving the warmth of my bed. When I did emerge, I put on jeans and polo neck and settled down for some couch potato pursuits before finally taking a drive to see what the sea looked like.

I saw some impressive photographs of stormy seas on the Cape Peninsular on Face Book and although we have rough seas here, it did not seem as dramatic as there.

The harbour boats bobbing on the choppy sea

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The cormorant and oyster catchers didn’t seem to mind the weather

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What a treat to see a common whimbrel on a stony beach near Agulhas

Agulhas Lighthouse

I ventured out of the car to walk a little way and it was a fight against the strong wind but it sure blew the cobwebs away. It also worked up a huge craving for a cup of good strong coffee! Our favourite coffee shop, Potpourri, is closed for renovations so we tried a little place in Struisbaai that we’d been meaning to go to for some time. It’s called The Shipwreck Cafe. Wow – what a find! We threw caution to the howling wind and ordered chocolate cake. It was the best I’ve ever had in my life – rich, moist and chocolatey.

The Best Chocolate Cake ever and wonderful cappuccino and black coffees

Earl gobbled his down in two minutes but it was a really large slice and so rich that I could only manage a quarter of mine. I took the rest home in a doggy bag!

I am extremely fussy about coffee – it has to be hot, strong and black but not too bitter- If it’s not just right there’s no milk and sugar to disguise the taste! Hats off to The Shipwreck Cafe – the coffee was beyond my expectations and absolutely perfect. If ever you’re in our neck of the woods – don’t miss this secret treasure – find the Shipwreck – it will be well worth it. We will certainly being going there again – I have to try their breakfast.

It doesn’t have a sea view but the decor is interesting

Tomorrow, Sunday 8 May, is Mother’s Day in South Africa – So Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. May your little ones thrill you with their home-made cards and thoughtful deeds. Those are the things we treasure more than expensive gifts.

Beach

2016-05-05 | puppy1952

I don’t usually participate in WordPress’s daily prompt challenge but today’s word BEACH made me want to try it.

Is there anybody who doesn’t love a beach. Have you ever heard anybody say – I don’t like the sea? I once met a young man in Zambia who’d never seen the ocean. He asked me to describe it to him. I told him about the tides, the beach and the waves and the sport of surfing.
“What is surfing ?” he asked. He was my bird guide and we were in a canoe on the Zambezi River. I was not sure how I could explain it. “You’d love it,” I said. “You know the thrill you get from riding the rapids? It’s that kind of feeling, I think but different as you stand on the board and ride the waves.” He laughed because he just couldn’t picture it.

I grew up on a beach and the sun, the sand and the sea is part of who I am. In my very early years I lived right opposite Fish Hoek Beach. As children we could just walk across a road and a level crossing and the beach was our playground. In those days children had so much more freedom than the kids of today. No adults accompanied us and once we were there we were sure to meet up with other unsupervised youngsters. We lived a car-ride away from the beach when I was raising my own kids but it was close enough to go after school and we did so regularly – the beach had everything a child desired – a play park, sand and water and dozens of other kids to play with. And for Mom – wow – you’d always meet other moms down there and we’d all chat and watch the kids enjoy themselves. I wonder how moms without beaches cope – a beach is a calming place – a grouchy kids becomes all smile the minute her toes touch the sand.

Fish Hoek Beach

The beach was also part of my teenage days. It was the place to play beach games and meet your friends and what courtship would be the same without a romantic walk along a moonlit beach.

And now I still love the beach – I’m near to another one now – Struisbaai at the tip of Africa – and it’s the longest one in South Africa. It would take a day to walk the entire length of it. And the sea is warm and there’s the prettiest fishing harbour that buzzes with activity. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t take a walk along the beach winter or summer. Summer of course is the best when the sea is warm and swimming is pleasant.

Struisbaai Beach

Struisbaai Harbour

I love the wild, the mountains, the bush and the desert but I need the beach – it is part of my being.

Struisbaai -Two Oceans Marlin Competition

2016-02-24 | puppy1952

When there is a fishing festival or event, our quiet little fishing town wakes up and shows its true colours. The Tenth Two Ocean’s Marlin Competition held here last week, ( I mentioned it briefly in a previous post) seemed doomed to failure as the weather provided only one good fishing day which was last Friday. The boats that got to the 45 mile bank were confronted with green and cold water but worked their way back to Halfway House where the water was better and managed to get a few big yellowtail and a Dorado.

Other boats fished outside of the 12 mile bank where they found shoals of small yellowfin tuna. No marlin were hooked but some were sighted.

It’s a marlin competition so no other species counts for the trophy. So when the weatherman predicted that Sunday’s conditions would be perfect, they decided to extend the competition by one day! And this is how the competition was saved with one boat catching and releasing a 90kg marlin, the only one caught, thus winning the competition!

Our harbour was graced with many beautiful boats and brought many locals and visitors down to have a look.

Some of the boats that graced our harbour

Gwaza is done for the day

I love the name of this boat!

And this one – translation – Hectic Leaks

@Work – Good name – Fun Boat

@Work’s towing vehicle – Just love it!

Black Pearl with crew on board

Le Boss coming back after a fun day at sea

And Marco Polo are the winners!

The seagulls certainly welcomed them as did our friendly stingrays who were only to happy to accept the scraps from fish cleaning that were thrown into the sea.

Waiting for a hand-out

Dozens of Cape Gulls – adults and juveniles

Fish guts are a great meal for a gull

This juvenile Kelp Gull nabs a sanck

Others want a bit too!

One of the stingrays

Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club were amazing hosts and each evening good food and company was provided.

A lovely braai being prepared

The amazing catering team

The prize-giving was a happy affair and there were some lovely prizes handed out.

A great new tackle box.

The winning team – Skipper – Rikus holding the trophy

Enjoying the prize-giving

Share your world Week 8 2016

2016-02-23 | puppy1952

Here are my answers to Cee’s Share Your World Week 8

What household chore do you absolutely hate doing?

Cleaning windows. I don’t mind any other household chores but somehow the cleaning of windows is too much for me – I just can’t get them clean. So I never clean them – instead I employ somebody else to do it. It’s well worth the money.

What was the last URL that you bookmarked?

It was about making a Banting Toasted sandwich – but I haven’t tried it yet! Low Carb toasted sandwich

Close your eyes. Listen to your body. What part of your body is seeking attention? What is it telling you?

My stomach is telling me that I am hungry. I’ve been busy doing household chores, made the salad and am now ready for some flash fried tuna. (Hubby is going to make it!)

Would you rather have a two-bedroom apartment in a big city of your choosing or a mansion in the country side in the state or country where you currently live?

I am happy with the house at the sea-side where I live. My caravan is also an attractive option. The mansion would require too much time doing household chores – imagine all those windows!

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for the stunning weather we’ve been having -lovely sunny days but not too hot and we’ve even had a shower or two of much needed rain. I’m making the most of the sunny days and usually have a morning and afternoon swim in the sea. Whatever the coming week has to offer I am sure I’m going to love it.

Share your World – Week 7

2016-02-18 | puppy1952

These are my answers to Cee’s Share Your World Questions

What are you a “natural” at doing?

This is a difficult one. There is nothing that I am really very good at. I throw myself into all sorts of things and enjoy them but I don’t ever reach very high levels. The one thing I do find is natural to me is relating to children.

I also find all things computer related easy to learn and I enjoy teaching others how to use their devices.

Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?

When I was a child I always wanted to live in a double story house and my wish came true at age 13 and I loved the house on the mountainside that we lived in. It’s the only double story I’ve lived in and it had a view of the sea.

What was your favorite subject in school?

English and Typing. The most important and useful things I ever learnt at school was how to read and how to type. But I also enjoyed History and Accountancy.

Complete this sentence: If only the rain..

If only the rain would fall in the drought stricken areas of South Africa. It’s the worst drought we’ve had in 30 years. The crops are failing and the food prices are rising. People travelling to the worst affected areas are taking drinking water with them. Hopefully relief will come soon. In South Africa we don’t complain about rainy days – well hardly ever.

“What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?”

I am grateful for new friends made and old friends who remain good friends.

I am looking forward to whatever the new week brings – hopefully a drop in the galing south easterly wind so that the fishermen can go out and compete in the Marlin competition here in Struisbaai, Western Cape, South Africa

Share Your World Week 5 – Happiness

2016-02-03 | puppy1952

Cees Share your World Challenge

If you had a shelf for your three most special possessions (not including photos, electronic devices and things stored on them, people or animals), what would you put on it?

This is a tough one because my photographs and electronic devices are the first things that I’d grab if my house were on fire! My favourite pieces of art hang on the wall so they wouldn’t go on the shelf – I have a painting of a house that hung in my grandmother’s house that I really treasure. The artist was 11 years old when he painted it. He grew up to become a successful and very well-know artist in this country and is now about 70 years old.

Another painting was done specially for me by my Aussie friend Wendy – I love Rainbow lorikeets and she painted the most beautiful picture of them for me.

There are others – too many to mention so I’ll save them for another time. Other things I treasure are my jewellery – specially a gold and diamond necklace given to me by my darling husband. Then there are all the cards our kids have given us over the years. I keep those in a file. I have a little memory year book made for me by a class I taught a few years back – well it was organised by Ashleigh’s mum – but it has a message and a drawing from each child – and that is probably my most prized possession of all.

If you had a box labelled ‘happiness’, what would you put in it?

Lots of things make me feel happy – the view from the top of Sir Lowry’s Pass, arriving in Kruger National Park on the first day of a holiday there, plunging into the sea early on a summer morning. But I can’t put these things in a box – I would have to put photographs or a poem about them inside the box instead.

What do you want more of in your life?

Not much, actually. I have pretty much everything I’ve ever wanted. However, I would love to travel to Australia again. I’d also like to go to some places I’ve never been to before -India, USA, Italy and Holland. Also another trip to the Greek Isles wouldn’t be shunned.

Daily Life List: What do you do on an average day? Make a list of your usual activities you do each day.

Now that I’m retired I’m asked this question quite often. It’s not easy to answer as I don’t have a routine and we’re not always in the same place for long so what we do differs from week to week. But when I’m at “home” my day would go something like this.

Wake up any time between 7 and 8:30 – Check my emails and Facebook in bed – sometimes, not always. Get up and do 45 minutes of gym ( I have a space set up for this) After this run (slowly) to the beach and have a swim in the sea. This is the best part of my day.
Hubby brings my towel to the beach and drives me home. He then cooks me breakfast which we enjoy at a leisurely pace.
While he is cooking I make the sugar water solution for the birds so that we can enjoy the sugar birds, sun birds and witogies who partake of this treat while the seed eaters enjoy the seed we put out for them.

The Hoopoe doesn’t rely on us for seed or sugar water – he is a worm eater

Sugarbird at the sugar water feeder

After breakfast anything can happen. I try to do all the necessary household chores first. Monday and Thursday are my house cleaning days when the house gets a thorough doing but on other days it’s usually just the kitchen and bathroom that has a proper cleaning. Then there is washing ironing which might get done in the afternoon. (Boring I know – but it has to be done!)
We sometimes take a trip to watch birds or to shop in our nearest big town – Bredasdorp. Sometimes we’ll even take a longer drive just to explore other places in the Overberg.
The computer consumes quite a bit of time – I organise functions for The Bird Club so emails have to be sent and dates organised. Hubby does a lot of business on his computer and often yells for me to help him with this and that. I blog and check facebook. I sort out and edit photographs.
Then there’s my new hobby – crochet. I am busy on a blanket at the moment. I also read a lot.
Most afternoons I head to the beach for an afternoon swim and/or surf on my boogie board.
Then there’s shopping and dinner to be cooked.
I’ve left out socialising. We don’t have a huge circle of friends in Struisbaai but we often have people to stay. Having said that friends of ours have moved to Struisbaai now and we’ve seen quite a lot of them!
After dinner we usually watch television – we have a media player and have just finished watching the entire series of Downton Abbey which we loved. We’re now on Suits and White Collar. We seldom watch SABC television and we don’t have DSTV.
Sometimes I read before going to sleep – this includes reading Blogs.