Muscles, Mussels and Fossils in Mossel Bay
Besides being the home of our Shark Dive and the Champion "Post Office Tree" in the middle of the Bartolomeu Dias Museum Complex, Mossel Bay has much to recommend itself.
It has beautiful beaches, one of which was a stop on the largest inflatable boat race in the world, the Trans Agulhas Challenge. We watched it from the deck of the very accommodating Mossel Bay Yacht and Boat Club.
It was amazing to see these boats come flying from their start in Plettenberg Bay and run aground at the finish line in the middle of the crowded Mossel Bay Beach. Nerves and muscles of steel!
There were more muscles hard at work excavating one of the newer sites of one of the oldest Middle Stone Age humankind habitats in the world, the archaeological site at Pinnacle Point. A team of international experts have been busy studying ancient fossils left behind at the Pinnacle Point Caves, quite possibly the world’s first-ever seafood restaurant – albeit a self-service establishment.
But neither of those are the mossels that Mossel Bay was named for. It was named for the abundance of edible mussels in the bay. We had them at the Portuguese hotspot Bahia Dos Vaqueiros, but they are available everyone. Delicioso.
Gorgeous George
George is veddy English having been named after the supposed illegitimate son of King George III, dontcha know? George Rex, who lived on the nearby Melkhoutkraul estate, neither confirmed nor denied his lineage to his dying day. George has beautiful Cape Georgian architecture and is the site of the Outeniqua Transport Museum.
Alas, the Outeniqua Choo-Yjoe steam train does not run anymore. The line was wrecked after flooding in 2009 and is currently "indefinitely" closed. Or in South African parlance, it will reopen "just now."
Alex was very disappointed as were we. We all have a soft spot for steam trains having lived in a former train station in Fanwood, NJ for 25 years. There is still hope ...
Wilderness is WildWe drove up into the wilderness of Wilderness National Park and after all of our car travel, we took many much-needed hikes through its yellowwood, milkwood, ironwood and stinkwood forests.
The views were stupendous! You could see the many lakes on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other side of the narrow strip of barrier island along the Garden Route.
We stayed in Sedgefield
We stayed in a cottage in the centrally located Garden Route village of Sedgefield. It was a quiet respite set on the dunes in the middle of the interlocking inland lakes and the Indian Ocean.
There are several lakes strung along the N2 - the Langvlei, Rondevlei, the Swartvlei and the Groenvlei - and they called to us every day, "Come sailing, Kastens!" But as hard as we tried, we could not find a boat to rent.
This hobie sat on our shore unloved and unsailed the entire week we were there. No one seemed to know how to get in touch with the owner who was clearly taking his holiday elsewhere! We managed to get the names of some other boat owners from the Mossel Bay Yacht & Boat Club whom we will contact before our next visit outside of high season.
On either side of Sedgefield were a couple of wonderful Saturday food and craft markets.
We were able to fully stock up with the meats and veggies, the fresh bread, herbs and sauces that we needed for a week full of evening braais ...
... and the wine and snacks we needed for our nightly card and 30 Seconds game nights too.
Knysna is Nice
Knysna is a lovely town that could easily have come intact to South Africa straight from Cape Cod or Marin County. In the words of Yogi Berra or John Fogerty even, it was like "déjà vu all over again."
Knysna is the home of the July Oyster Festival but luckily the little devils are available all year round from the oyster farms on Thesen Island and from ocean beds in Plett Bay.
And to wash those oysters down, we turned to Knysna's other culinary delight, the largest independent brewery in South Africa, Mitchell's Brewery.
Vince first tasted Mitchell's beer at the Jozi Craft Beer Fest last May and he insisted we stop in for a fresh beer and a sample tour and taste. Lucky we did because this was a farewell tour of sorts.
Mitchell's is moving to bigger digs come early 2014. The beer has been brewed by Lew Mitchell and now Dave McRae (who has been with Mitchell's since 1984) in its original home plant and brewpub for the past 30 years using hops grown locally all along Mossel Bay.
We found Mitchell's right in the middle of its big move to its new home right on the Knysna Quays. Its production is going to double and its beer garden is going to feature a full restaurant after the move. The increased production will make their distribution centers happy in Joburg and Durban. They insist that their quality will not falter with the increased production and there are currently no plans to distribute outside of South Africa. This will make Vince happy too!
Knysna is also the home of the largest indigenous forest in South Africa. The Knysna Forest was once home to the last remaining forest elephants in the world. Their descendents are now safely settled in Knysna Elephant Sanctuary along with some of South Africa's other orphaned, rescued and culled elephants.
Plett Bay has Plenty
Plettenberg Bay has plenty to do. We did not do any of it ... except eat some of its excellent oysters. There was just too much to do along the rest of the Garden Route and we prefer to come back and visit Plett Bay outside of the busy holiday week when the beaches and restaurants are teeming with vacationers. Then we will be able to just stay put at the lovely Beacon Island Hotel and never leave!
No comments:
Post a Comment