About 7:30 AM I went out on the balcony to watch the fishing boats take off; they're rather small boats loaded with six men each - I don't know where they put the fish! A tractor with a special rig on it drags the boat to the shore and then chugs up the beach, turns around and with a metal bar in front, pushes the boat out into the surf. I can't imagine the tractor lasts very long since it is submerged in the salt water half way up the wheels! Last night I saw the fishermen walking up to the hotel kitchen each with a large stringer of red rock fish, so you know the hotel serves really fresh fish.
After breakfast I insisted that we take a short walk around the village, even though it was cloudy and looked as if it might rain. It was a quick walk but nice to see some of the old buildings again.
We took off about 10:30. The drive to Hermanus, where we're staying for the next three nights, is only two hours, but we wanted to take the back dirt roads, so it took all day.
We worked our way south to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa, named the "Needle" by the Portuguese as their compasses worked for true north at the point the Atlantic and Indian Oceans came together. In the 14 years since we've been there, a beautiful boardwalk has been built about one mile long which makes walking easier and protects the amazing variety of succulents that cover the sand and rocks.
We then drove past marshland and fynbos through the large Cape Agulhas National Park that surrounds the point, spotting birds and seeing some old Cape Dutch farmhouses and barns. We drove through the town of Elim, a very neat old town with a huge church surrounded by small cottages.
Pink Protea We arrived at the ocean again and found ourselves on pavement once more and made good time along the shore to Hermanus, a very popular seaside town that may explode with Cape Towners tomorrow for the weekend, but since the weather's not very good, we may be spared the crowds.
Pied Avocet
We had both forgotten to locate our B&B on the computer; we knew the general area of town, but it wasn't where we guessed it to be, so we were stumped as to what to do, when RR remembered that his loyal GPS can also work as a talking car GPS does!! Gps not only knew where our B&B, Francolin Hof Guest House, was, it lead us there! Great relief at the end of a long day! We were greeted by Krista and led upstairs to our lovely room with a balcony overlooking proteas, spectacular mountains and the ocean!
We cleaned up, rested, and then drove one mile down the road to a very pleasant Thai/Vietnamese restaurant where I had flatbread with bbq pork, spinach and cheese that was great and took care of my hankering for pizza, and Bob had green curry with chicken that was also good. For dessert we split a dish of hot tapioca with bananas and peanuts.
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