According to the International Shark Attack File, one human was killed by a shark in 2007 and according to fishing studies, humans killed an estimated 38 million sharks – seems a little unfair. When are the sharks going to make a movie about us? They could call it Gluttons I, II and III and the slogan can read "Give them a planet and they'll F*&K it up"
Its sad to see how misconception is causing the demise of yet another creature on this earth. This past December I took some tourists to see how the locals pull crayfish on the Hermanus New Harbour wall. This is a very popular activity with quite a few participants queuing at the gates before sunrise to secure the best spots. When the gates are finally opened, it’s like the start of the Amazing Race, with young and old scrambling and pushing to get to the few “special” spots available. Sometimes things get out hand and verbal abuse has even become physical abuse and all for those “special” spots. What is a “special” spot – one where your net doesn’t snag on the way up or down and where the crayfish climb onto your net like they catching a bus at a terminal.
Every now and then someone would pull up a net and get a little more than what they bargained for. As is the case with crayfish, pyjama sharks also find it hard to resist the interesting concoctions people stuff into the bait bags and occasionally this weakness causes them to get pulled up in the crayfish nets. On this particular day, every shark I saw pulled up, got a knife point in the brain and was tossed back in to the water. In the 30 minutes I walked along the wall, I witnessed the demise of three sharks. This is common practice all around the world, on a daily basis and somehow I don't think these figures are added to the statistics.
When confronted about this brutal practice, the fishermen insist that not only do the sharks eat all their bait but the sharks are to blame for the decline of the fish in the area. Now I understand that these people find it rather tedious to have to replace their bait every now and then, but does this justify the shark’s death? At least the guys I saw threw the bodies back into the sea so something else could eat off it, but it’s not natural and definitely not healthy practice. Blaming the poor sharks for lower fishing stocks seems a little short sited as how many fish do sharks eat and how many fish do we catch for our consumption? How many humans need to eat??
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Deep in the Amazon jungle, hidden from all things civilized, day and night exists to protect us from the passion between the sun and the moon. With love so great that the Sun’s heat scorches the earth and the moon’s tears floods the land, having them together would be devastating for the earth, so to remedy this they will only touch through the shadow of an eclipse.
The ancients always had a beautiful way of dealing with the unexplained. Words like passion and love still existed in their lives and still had value and meaning to others. In a way it’s almost sad that science has answered many of these mysteries leaving us with orbits, alignments and gravity instead of gods, fireballs and demons. Why are words like love and passion never acceptable answers anymore?
Anyway this post is actually about a full moon paddle we had on Wednesday night. Here in Cape Town most of the paddling clubs organize full moon paddles when the weather permits. These are usually very popular amongst paddlers from all walks of life and Wednesday was no different … I suppose its got something to do with the “full moon effect”. I was unfortunately a little late due to work so Suz, Caron and I didn’t paddle with the group. As you can see from the pics, the conditions were fantastic. No wind, glassy seas and some really interesting sunset moments. When we arrived at Clifton we passed the group as they were heading back. It was actually quite amazing to see so many kayaks paddling together.
We stopped for snacks before turning round and heading back. At this time the sun was starting to drop below the horizon and it didn’t take long for the darkness to set in. I always find it so amusing to see how people start paddling faster the darker it gets. Another strange phenomenon is how people tend to try to paddle closer to shore when it gets darker - if you cannot see the break, does it not exist?
In retrospect we should have done more trouble to be on the water 05h30 on Thursday morning to paddle during the lunar eclipse. That would have been quite amazing.
Glassy seas with Lions Head and Table Mountain in background
Side view of Lions Head with sunset effects
Boats, birds & sunset
Moon peering around Signal Hill
Why wake up at 05h30 on a Sunday morning(the only sleep late day of the week) and drive 100km into the middle of a mountain range?
Why hike up into a mountain for a further 5km carrying a loaded backpack and a wetsuit only to clamber down into a ravine again?
Why stuff your already hot and sweaty body into an even hotter and stuffier wetsuit?
Why jump into the icy cold mountain water, crawl over ledges , dive under overhangs, jump down 9m cliffs, swim between boulders and slide on slippery stones to make your way down a river?
Wikipedia describes 'kloofing as an adventure activity typically involves the descent of a deep ravine or watercourse that may be dry or wet. The defining factor is usually that the ravine is several times deeper than it is wide. All manner of walking, scrambling, climbing, swimming, plunging, jumping, bumslides or abseiling (rappelling) could be involved.’
The name ‘Kloofing’ is derived from the Afrikaans word ‘kloof’, meaning ‘gorge’ or ‘ravine’ and is also known as canyoning. The sport is mostly suited for the summer months when the rivers are lower and the temperatures are higher but there are rivers suitable for kloofing in winter too. Ideally it would not be a great idea to try kloofing when the rivers are in full flow as you may end up in the ocean or in some farmers watering dam.
In South Africa there are numerous places to go kloofing, all with different difficulty levels and challenges. In most of the harder kloofing routes you will inevitably be faced with an obstacle referred to as the point of no return. Go any further, and you will no longer be able to go back to your starting point, the only way out is forward. This point of no return is usually in the form of a jump where there is no way back to the top once you have gone over. Some of the rivers provide very advanced kloofing conditions where specialized climbing equipment is even needed. Due to the safety issues it is advisable to go kloofing with experienced guides or people who are very familiar with the intended route.
Our trip on Sunday was a little shorter than we anticipated as we were faced with unsafe conditions at the first ‘point of no return’. The unexpected rain had left a tricky ledge too slippery to traverse so the trip leader made the call that all adventure seekers despise. It’s a tough call that all of us have to face some time or another in our quest for adventure.
After our enjoyable paddle earlier that morning, we headed off to one of the largest shopping centres in the southern hemisphere, Canal Walk. Yes its quite an anti-climax but unfortunately you have to do these things every now and then. It was not all bad though as this is also a great opportunity to visit all the outdoor stores and sample some new gadgets and gear. Great for the imagination but not always great for the wallet. We managed to escape relatively unscathed but who knows, next time we might not be so lucky.
On our way back home, with the kayaks still on our roof from earlier that morning, the car automatically drove past the sea and parked at Little Bay. We had no option but to get back into the water and paddle again. When you have conditions like this, you must take full advantage of the situation even if it means setting previous plans aside.
Serenity
Birds of a feather
Entrance to the marine realm
On Friday the weather forecast predicted ideal paddling conditions for Saturday so we made arrangements to paddle from Oudekraal in the direction of Sandy Bay. Due to the rocky coastline around that area, the conditions have to be better than average to ensure great rock garden exploration and safe landing in an emergency. At 10h00 on Saturday there was still a nasty wind blowing at Table View so we made the call to paddle from Three Anchor Bay instead. Three Anchor Bay seems to be one of the few places sheltered from the South Easter in the Cape even when the wind is howling everywhere else.
Greenpoint
Wreck of the Athens(1865) on the left of the photo
For a change of scenery we opted to paddle to the Granger Bay Marina instead of the usual route to Camps Bay. This is a much shorter route but on a good day you can paddle close to the shore and enjoy the kelp and rock gardens. The visibility was better than usual giving us the opportunity to investigate the world below from the comfort of our warm cockpits. Even though the outside temperature is usually very warm in summer, the sea temperature seldom heads much higher than 10 degrees Celsius. It is also quite a known fact amongst the diving community in the Cape that good visibility is synonymous with icy waters.
Granger Bay Marina guardians
About 50 meters from the marina, Paul spotted a dolphin and we all stopped in the hope that they would come a little closer. Unfortunately this did not materialize, so we continued along our route with a hint of disappointment. The Granger Bay marina would be considered a playground for the rich and famous. Here 36 foot and up is the order of the day, just a little intimidating when you barely make 18 foot. I just love the ambience in these marinas, not to mention all the beautiful toys lined up along the moorings. I often ask myself if I would rather sail or kayak, it’s a tough call because both has a charm of its own. Maybe the best option would be to do a bit of both, but fortunately, I don’t have to worry about sailing for quite some time, until my ship comes in that is.
Playground of the rich and famous
And then, on our way out, THEY came back. Paul’s technique of picking up speed seemed to pay off as they would bow surf with you for quite some time before accelerating into the distance. I on the other hand was trying to do the acceleration and take photos at the same time. It really is a case of paddle like hell, drop your hand in the water, point and shoot and hope that you are capturing at least one good photo. The more photos you take the better the chance of getting something decent in the batch. You just have to hope for the best as there is not much else that you can do. What I have learned from all my attempts is that my aiming is still slightly off, but its getting better.
This post might not be kayaking related but it serves as background as to who we are.
Suzaan and I have two children whom we love dearly. It’s amazing how easy it is to become dependent on their presence and how you miss these quirks when they are not around. Last year we visited Italy and Switzerland for a month and even though it was amazing and awe-inspiring, we often found ourselves thinking “Luna would just love this” or “Can you imagine what Solo would do now”. It’s a bond that may seems rather strange to those who do not share it but to those that do, its hard to live without. Even when they run into the house with dirty feet, or drool on the couch, or jump up against the kitchen counter, or beg for food, or harass the postman, we still love them and always will.
Luna & Solo
Luna is the elder and ironically also the shorter of the two. She would be considered the higher ranking member of the K9 section of our pack. Words like playful, inquisitive, focused and busy describe her character well. We think she may have a slight obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to playing ball, but it doesn’t seem to have a detrimental effect on her everyday quality life. Give Luna a opposable thumb and she would probably find the solution to the world’s problems. Seriously though, she is rather intelligent and capable of some rather interesting feats. On the night we collected her from the breeders, she howled at the full moon while we were driving to her new home, and hence the name Luna(Italian for moon).
Solo is considered the strapping young lad. People always complement him on his stature and appearance. But what few people actually know, Solo is more human than many humans. When Solo wants to sleep, he finds a pillow for his head, when Solo doesn’t appreciate something, he tells you outright by making some of the strangest sounds imaginable. He is a real attention seeker and often walks up to a person and places his big head on your lap and looks at you with those eyes which subtly demands to be touched. Come night time, he has to spend his customary 30 minutes lying on the bed between Suz and myself. It’s a fact of life, deal with it. Solo already had his name when he became a member of our family and his name actually suites him very well. He is one of a kind.
Solo
Fortunately Luna and Solo share our passion for the sea. It’s probably because they have been exposed to the beach from a young age as we made a point of taking them there often. But still, to this day, they go absolutely ballistic when we get anywhere near the sea and any other water for that matter. The only way to successfully control them on the beach is with a ball in hand. The ball becomes the object of desire and the everything else fades into the background.
We have often thought of how we could incorporate them into our paddling adventures, but unfortunately it’s not feasible as they are not the smallest of dogs and I doubt whether they will just sit on a platform and get towed around.
I think they understand already, that when the boats get loaded onto the car, and the gear gets packed in the boot, mommy and daddy are going to go play with their ball now.
Cape Fur Seal just chilling :)
After a few minutes of “who’s studying who” we headed on down along the long stretch of beach called Blaauwberg(blue mountain). This beach is called aptly named due to the magnificent view of South Africa’s pride and joy, Table Mountain. This is the view that many tourists spend thousands of dollars, euros and pounds to see.
The reason for Blaauwberg's Name
Ok, now picture this, you paddling along peacefully enjoying the excellent conditions when suddenly you see something dart underneath you. Now I don’t care what you say, your immediate reaction is seldom one of excitement. Its more a case of all your bodily functions shutting down on you all at once, until that is, you realize that what had just passed is in fact a dolphin. In my case fear changed instantly into exhilaration and I could help but shout out to Suzaan “dolphin, dolphin”. Well I guess it’s a rather stupid reaction and that it more than likely will scare them away, but I was on autopilot at the time. No matter how many times I see these magnificent beings, every experience with them is special. Even though it’s a huge sea they will almost always pass close by you to see what your are up to and who knows what else they do in that split second of passing. Maybe they are even checking if you are as in touch with your telepathic ability as they are. You never know.
Needless to say the camera was immediately put on standby in the hope of another encounter. With the next encounter the dolphins did give a warning by surfacing ahead of us. As they darted passed, I snapped away a few shots, hoping to capture something and these are the results.
Dusky Dolphin minus a head
.... maybe next time
We were also graced with another well known visitor in our waters, the Mola Mola (sunfish). Now even though these creatures are relatively slow in comparison, I only managed to get the picture right on top of this blog. After Photoshop did an auto levels adjustment it came out looking kinda alien, I thought it suites the hole Encounters, Alien them so I had to use it. It’s another hard lesson to learn when photographing moving targets, don’t wait for a better shot than you already have, rather take more pictures and hope one is salvageable. There will be more opportunities though, as they tend to drift along with the warmer, jellyfish rich currents.
Unfortunately due to prior commitments we only managed to paddle for about 11km, if it were up to me, I probably would have paddled the whole day away in search of another encounter.
Last Saturday I donated my carbon wing paddle to some lucky person who probably has no idea what a paddle is let alone have a use for one. My generosity was totally oblivious to me until Sunday when Suzaan asked me where my paddle was. My heart turned to lead as it occurred to me that I must have left it at the put-in sight the day before. I am not usually the negligent type so my mind automatically started working overtime trying to come up with rational answers as to where my paddle had gone. The only definite in the situation is that my beloved paddle is gone.
So this week I was faced with the task of choosing a new paddle. I have noticed, looking at all the other blogs, DVDs and books, that the flat blade paddles are by far the most popular paddles amongst the sea kayaking community in other parts of the world. This makes sense as they do allow for more stroke variations which improve your paddling experience. In South Africa however, the wing paddle comes out tops with only a very few flat blade options available. Most of these flat blades available are considered entry level paddles so you seldom get anything light and effective. The apparent reason for the wing blade bias is that here, sea kayaking is still rather small compared to the other disciplines like surf-skiing and river racing. In order to support the masses all the local manufacturers are creating wing paddles rather than flats. So, in other words, when you choose your next paddle, you are almost always going to walk out with a wing paddle, it’s by far the most available option.