Sardine Run

An unseasonal Sardine Run is on at the moment in the sea around Cape Town. I was on Hout Bay beach this morning and the water was alive with these little fish no more than 25 cm long. They seem completely disorientated, some of them swim up onto the beach and lie there flipping before some tern swoops down and flies off with them.
The photo on the left shows one that has just stranded itself and lies there flapping and gasping. They are sardines (Sardinopsis sugax) and theories abound as to why they do this - but it is still rather mysterious.
There were hundreds and thousands of seagulls, terns and cormorants - as well as dolphins and seals (and no doubt, sharks), all having a feeding frenzy. The local humans also cashed in.

Rules are not there to be obeyed

Capetonians are not renowned for their compliant behaviour!

Sea Swallow

Another weird creature of the open ocean cast up on Fish Hoek Beach: a Sea Swallow (Glaucus atlanticus) - a gastropod mollusc that has lost its shell. It is about 20 cm long, and according to George Branch's book Two Oceans, it floats upside down on the surface of the open ocean, gulping air to keep it afloat and feeding on Bluebottles and their relatives. It can utilize the stinging cells of their prey for their own defence. So this is how it would look to us looking down on it from the air.
I wonder what these strong winds we are experiencing in Cape Town will blow in next?

Pot of silver?

Rainbow over Silvermine - a showery, blustery day today. Silvermine is a section of the Table Mountain National Park where once, many many years ago, the early Dutch settlers prospected for silver in vain. Now its a glorious nature area in the middle of Cape Town.

Eye candy

Christmas shopping along Simon's Town Main Road today - and this shop caught my eye. It is The Meeting Place where you can enjoy delicious teas and lunch in a wonderfully relaxing and pretty shop while admiring the lovely Christmas gift displays like these well dressed reindeer (in Arran and Fair Isle knits) - and lots lots more. I feel positively Christmassy now!

Arty afternoon

The National Gallery has a most interesting exhibition on at the moment entitled Listening to Distant Thunder: The art of Peter Clarke curated by Philippa Hobbes and Elizabeth Rankin. There is an accompanying book for sale too, but annoying, the shop was closed today as it is every Monday. Clarke is one of Cape Town's most talented artists, and he lives in a terraced house in Ocean View where he and his family were evicted from Simon's Town during the infamous Group Area Act forced removals of the National Government in the 1970s.
Also, annoyingly, one is not allowed to take photos inside, but here is a photo of the poster advertising the interesting and thorough exhibition outside the National Gallery.

Southeaster

Today is blowing a gale in Cape Town, but that didn't stop us from taking the dogs for a windy walk on Fish Hoek Beach. The Southeaster had cast all manner of life up onto the beach like this Bluebottle (Physalia physalis) and Violet Snail (Janthina janthina): prey and predator.Darwin was fascinated by barnacles and this in one of the barnacles he studied - the Buoy Barnacle (Dosima fascicularis) which has washed up on Fish Hoek Beach in great numbers.
It looks like a large version of the Goose Barnacle but has its own plastic-looking float. Apparently these chaps have benefitted from all the human-generated flotsam and jetsam in the ocean as their juveniles use it to settle on before they make their own floats.
Another Violet Snail or Bubble Raft Shell - a gastropod that floats on the open ocean using mucous-coated bubbles that it secretes from its foot. It eats bluebottles.
A deserted and windswept Fish Hoek - with the car park rapidly filling up with sand. Tomorrow I hear the weather will be utterly perfect.

Oudekraal

Still beside the seaside, this is Oudekraal which is along Victoria Road between Camps Bay and Llandudno. A popular spot with divers and a great place for a picnic or a braai. You can just make out the white buildings of the Twelve Apostles Hotel in the centre of the photo too. Lion's Head is on the left. The sea is icy cold here - especially in summer when the Southeaster wind, which was pumping today - blows the surface water northwards, and cold water wells up from under the sea causing what is known as upwelling. On the other side of the peninsula, the sea is a totally different temperature.

Beside the seaside ...

A very typical old South African seaside holiday house on the beachfront at Kommetjie, a seaside village on the outskirts of Cape Town. A bit ramshackle, a big enclosed veranda and white walls. This one has a signpost with "No bad guys allowed in this house" handwritten on the gatepost. I wonder what it refers to - humans or seagulls?

Our Mountain

After all the hype and Pop Idol-like fever, Table Mountain eventually made it into the "provisional new 7 wonders of nature" that some company dreamed up. I dont really agree with all this commercial branding hoo-hah, but I do agree that it is a wonder of nature! Here is a view looking at it from above Simon's Town - the back of the traditional view. You can see Devil's Peak on the right, and the table part of it just to the left. What makes it so special is not just its shape and size, but the fact that it harbours an amazing diversity of plants - more indigenous species than the whole of the British Isles. Plus some interesting insects and animals like the Velvet Worm - Peripatus.

Honouring the fallen

Not a poppy but a single arum lily to honour this poor soul in the Parish Road Cemetery in Constantia on Remembrance Day, 11/11/11. There are quite a few Second Anglo-Boer War graves in this small cemetery - all British soldiers who died here during this war that took place from 1899-1902. Sadly, many of them died waiting to go home as the dates include 1903 and 1906.

An Italian in Africa

At the top of Rubbi Road in the seaside village/suburb of Kommetjie, with gorgeous views over Long Beach, is this very Italianate Catholic Church of St Josephs. It was built in memory of Joseph Rubbi, who was born in the village of Marostica, near Padua in Italy, in 1873, and who came to South Africa where he became a successful builder and prominent citizen of Cape Town. There is quite a lot about the chapel and the man on this Cape Town Family History Society webpage.

Scene in Long Street

An elephant trying to cross the road in Cape Town's trendy Long Street. I wonder if he is also offered the odd joint?

Time check

The Time Ball Tower in Cape Town's harbour harks back to 1894 and has was restored and officially recommissioned in November 1997. It is next to the Harbour Engineer's former residence, Dock House. The Time Ball, a large painted ball that drops at a predetermined time, enabled the ship's master to test the accuracy of his chronometer whilst docked in Cape Town. (Interesting for all who read and enjoyed Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel.)

Standing stones

High up on the Kalk Bay section of Table Mountain are these strange standing stones. They are the eroded remains of what were once cracks in the mountain but they really look like they were sculpted.

Gone gardening

Cool summery weather - ideal for gardening. Our closest garden centre is Ferndale Nursery in Brommersvlei Road, Constantia - a really good garden centre which has been a family business here for years and years and years. Surprisingly, they dont have a webpage but here is a reference to it on The Gardening Blog. Their colourful displays are most interesting, but altogether too tempting. (The lady in white is part of the display - as is Michaelangelo's David.) Needless to say I bought a whole lot of things, including some absolutely beautiful roses. I try very hard to be an indigenous gardener until I am confronted with roses! So no time to blog and surf, have to hit the garden ...

Parlez-vous?

The Alliance Francais in Long Street is quite an institution in Cape Town, and you don't have to be French to pop in for lunch, or even better, early supper. On Fridays they have a food market which is open from 10 am till about 3 or 4 pm. The Brie there is as smelly and delicious as any you can buy in Paris.

A city in a city

Not sure what you find beyond these gates as I have never been into the Century City development, other than to entertain my boys when they were boisterous kids wanting to go on the cobra at Ratanga Jucntion, but it sounds amazing.

Picnic at Allée Bleue

Driving up to the picnic lawns of the Franschhoek wine estate, Allée Bleue, you are aware of layers of history, layers of vines, and layers of fences. White iceberg roses ramble over the fence that lines the driveway, each row of vines has its own fence to climb along, and the white wall of the original homestead is the final fence - and behind that whitewashed wall is your destination - a fabulous picnic place. And it takes just under an hour to get there from Cape Town.
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