Today we headed south from central Cape Town, down the Cape Peninsula, eventually as far south as Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope (which are not the same place). But first, a couple of other places catch our attention.
The first is Simon’s Town, also called Simonstown. It is named after a Dutch governor of the Cape Colony between 1677 and 1699 (Simon van der Stel). He noted it was a safe winter harbor. Which brings us to a discussion of the geography of the Cape Peninsula area. Let’s begin with a map.
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| Cape Peninsular and False Bay |
In the upper left corner of the map Is Cape Town and Table Bay (named after Table Mountain a bit to the south. In the middle of the map is a large body of water called False Bay. It’s a bit of a misnomer, because it most certainly is a bay. The name comes from the fact that many early sailors mistook this bay for Table Bay, because the cape just before the entrance to False Bay, Cape Hangklip (which is in the bottom right of the map) supposedly looks a lot like Cape Point (which is in the bottom left of the map) – at least when viewed from a sailing vessel being tossed around by winter storms. And remember that before the Europeans called this the Cape of Good Hope, they referred to it as the Cape of Storms.
Now, you might have noticed that Cape Hangklip is further south than Cape Point. And if we included more of the map to the east here we would find even more land even further south. But isn’t the Cape of Good Hope the southern-most place on the African continent and thus the dividing line between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean? Well, it turns out it is the southwestern-most place – everyone agrees to that. Whether it is the dividing line between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans is a matter of some debate, as we’ll discuss in our next post on the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point.
Now Simon’s Town (remember that’s where we’re first heading) is located on the eastern shore of the Cape Peninsula about half way down, on a piece of land that faces north. Because the land faces north (and thus the sun in the winter months here in the Southern Hemisphere), the residents claim that winter in Simon’s Town is much more pleasant that most any place on the Cape Peninsula. Having visited on a particularly blustery and cold day, I can’t confirm that. I do note that the claim is on the tourism bureau website and not repeated in Wikipedia.
While Simon’s Town was founded as a Dutch settlement in the middle 18th century, it was occupied by the British at the end of that century and become a Royal Naval Base in 1814. In 1883 it was finally declared a municipality. During the Second World War it was heavily fortified against an attack that never came. Following the war the town was visited by King George VI and the future Queen Elizabeth. In 1957 the naval base was transferred to the South African Navy. The South Africans declared it a White Group area in 1967, resulting in forced removal of nonwhites.
Some of this is at least vaguely interesting but no reason to stop here (although we need to pass through Simon’s Town on the way to our second stop for the day). It is a pleasant enough looking little harbor town.
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| Simon's Town Harbour |
But to make a stop there should require something more. Like this:
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| Able Seaman Just Nuisance |
What you are looking at is a statue of Able Seaman Just Nuisance. He was the only dog ever to be officially enlisted in the Royal Navy. When he died, in 1944 at the age of seven, he was buried with full military honors.
A very short story about how he became an able seaman. He hung around the ships at the naval base and preferred the gangplank – a particularly difficult spot given he was nearly 6-1/2 feet tall when standing on his hind legs. This is how he got the name Nuisance. He later developed a taste for train travel, and the seamen on the train would try to hide him. However the humorless operators of the South African Railways and Habours warned Nuisance’s owner that he would be put down unless he was prevented from boarding the train, or had his fare paid. The sailors, however, came to his rescue and since members of the armed forces could get free rail travel, naval command enlisted him as an Able Seaman, listing his trade as “bonecrusher.” If you want the full story, he has his own Wikipedia article (of course). And if your vision is especially good, you can try to read this display about him that was in the store nearby his statue.
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| Just Nuisance's Display |
The statue that is pictured above was made by the artist Jean Doyle and erected in 1985.
OK – we’re in Africa and some of the reason we’re here is to see wild animals. We haven’t done that well so far but that should change soon. And Able Seaman Just Nuisance might have engaged in some wild behavior, but hardly qualifies as a wild animal. But our next stop provides wild animals – although hardly iconic to Africa. Penguins.
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| African Penguin |
This is a classical specimen of the African Penguin – the pink gland above the eyes, which is emblematic of this species, helps them cope with temperature changes. When the temperature rises, the penguin’s body sends more blood to that area in order to be cooled by the air surrounding them. This causes the gland to turn darker pink. Other characteristic features include the black facial mask, the upper part of the body are black while the underparts are white although spotted and with a black band.
Until the 1980s they were only found on islands off the coast of Namibia and South Africa. The Boulders Beach colony, which is where we saw them, did not exist until then. The African Penguin is endangered and it is feared that it could be extinct within 15 years.
Here at Boulders Beach they are found at the beach:
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| Penguins at Boulders Beach |
and on rocks:
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| Penguins on the Rocks (Not a New Style of Drink) |
as well as on the grassy areas adjacent to the beach as in the case of these two love birds.
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| Penguins in the Grass (Holding Flippers) |
OK – they’re probably not actually holding hands and I’m guilty of anthropomorphizing them shamelessly. But I couldn’t resist both taking the picture and sharing it with you. And it is apparently true that they are monogamous and each pair returns to the same site each year. This is true of some of the penguins we saw in Antarctica as well.
The newborn penguins have fluffy downy feathers and which they gradually molt.
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| Molting Juvenile Penguin |
This one was almost done molting, and they can’t go into the water until they have reached the adult plumage.
Next it’s on to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope.
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