Hout Bay, South Africa

Entrance to Hout Bay - Misty

We entered Hout Bay on a cold and freakishly misty day on 28th January 2014. A two days sail from Knysna, we passed Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of the African continent where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean officially meet.

Hout Bay is a town near Cape town which is surrounded by mountains to the north, east and west and the southern Atlantic Ocean to the south.

A beautiful bay

  

We berthed at Hout Bay Yacht Club (S 34.03.017 E 18.20.894) for slightly over a month. It lies about 15 nautical miles south of Cape Town harbour. The view of the mountains are spectacular. This is one of the busiest fishing harbours in Western Cape.

It may look serene but Hout Bay does suffer from very strong Katabatic winds from the East. We experienced winds of up to 50 kts one night.

We often had Cape Fur Seals hop onto the pontoon next to us. I found it interesting to know that they are the largest fur seal species, can live up to 21 years and exhibit large sexual dimorphism i.e. the males and females differ in size.

Cape fur seals feed on shoaling fish, squid, octopus, sharks and rays

I was surprised when I heard them bark like dogs. It's no wonder they are often referred to as "dogs of the ocean".

The one on the left must be a bull (male). The bulls can grow up to 2.5m in length and weigh 200-350 kg, the cows are much smaller at 1.2-1.6m and 40-80 kg. Males have a large chest and a thick mane and the smaller females have a silver-grey fur.

This is pretty much what they do all day :)

We also spent some time working on Raptor.

Replaced the rubbing board on the starboard side

Curious Cape Fur Seal came to check us out

Made some chopping boards

And we bought a second hand Singer sewing machine made in the 1930s at a flea market just opposite the Yacht Club.

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Plettenberg Bay, South Africa

Plettenbery Bay

Plettenberg Bay is located in the Western Cape Province, part of South Africa's famous Garden Route, about 32km from Knysna and 600km from Cape Town. A small town with beautiful beaches and lots of nice houses! 

We got a lift from a couple we met at Knysna Yacht Club. It was really nice of them. They highly recommended we hike the Robberg Nature Walk which is one of the most popular trails in the area.

So when they dropped us in town, we visited the tourist information center to inquire more information about the walk. The friendly tourist information officer told us that it's about 25-30 minutes walk to the park entrance.

Walking to the Robberg Nature Park

No problem, we thought. However, we walked and walked and walked and walked for 2 hours under the scorching sun before we finally got to the park entrance. Not quite the half hour walk we were told.

We tried to hitch-hike after an hour or so, but sadly no one stopped for us (perhaps it was because we looked too dodgy). I later googled the distance between Plettenberg Bay and Robberg Nature Park. We had walked 8 kilometers!

Nice houses on the way to Robberg Nature Park

More nice houses

The Robberg Nature Walk is one of the nicest but toughest hikes I've done. Perhaps it was because it was an extremely hot and sunny day, with no shade along the entire trail and the fact that we had already walked 2 hours before, and drank most of our water with no where to fill up again.

The terrain is quite hilly, a lot of uphill and downhill, uphill and downhill again on a mix of sandy and rocky ground. Some even classified this trail as technical. We really enjoyed the spectacular views of the bay, the cape fur seals, the rocky coast as well as the beaches. 

Gorgeous view of the beach

Finally made it to the Robberg Nature Walk entrance @ 2pm

There are three circular routes along the Robberg peninsula of varying distance and difficulty.

1. Walk to The Gap and back to the car park, round about 2 km.
2. Walk to The Witsand sand dune and down to The Island and back is about 5.5 km.
3. The round trip via The Point is 9.2 km. Not recommended for young children and faint hearted.

Of course, we decided to take the round trip via The Point.

Best time for whale watching offshore is from May to November

One of the many shipwrecks in Plettenberg Bay

Wonders of Nature

Hello

Cape Fur Seals

Frolicking in the ocean

Lovely to look at but they're really smelly

Cape Fur Seals down below!

No shade throughout the trail

Getting dehydrated

The Point - the tip of the peninsula

A Dassie!

Follow the Cape Fur Seals markers

Last selfie - Trying to stay positive

Alex up ahead

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Almost there!

We survived! but not my shoe

We completed the trail in 3½ hours and got a lift back into town. Would definitely do it again but will be better prepared for it the next time - get a ride to the park entrance (not walk there), an early start in the morning so it's cooler, bring lots of water, sunscreen, hat, maybe a pair of binoculars and wear good shoes!

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