Stony Point Penguin Colony in Betty's Bay

Stony Point Penguin Colony in Betty's Bay

Thursday 6 ^th of August 2015 and we left Hermanus bound for Betty's Bay to check out the Penguins. We had a beautiful weather and scenery. We were driving along the coast line all the way. We even passed some Springboks so no need to go to any reserve to see them.

But Antelopes in Africa are like the deer’s in Europe and they are wild. I think the main difference between Deer’s and Antelopes is that Deer change their horns while the Antelope have the same horn all the life. Anyway, the South African rugby Team have thought me that the Springbok spells with one o and not two. The rugby team are named after the Antelope Springbok.

We turned off Route 44 at Betty's Bay and we were soon on the beach. They had built a platform a few hundred meters long along the beach. The African Penguin is endangered so weare not allowed to leave the platform as we would disturb.

Houses on one side and the beach on the other side. The Penguins were all the way up in to the gardens where they hadn't put up any fence around the garden. The Penguins are also called the Jackass penguin as it sounds like a donkey. And you could hear the Penguin from under all the bushes.

It was a terrible noise from all over the place. It cost 10 Rand to get in on the platform but the Penguins was everywhere. But

Rock hyrax - Dussie

The rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) or rock badger, also called the Cape hyrax is one of the four living species of the order Hyracoidea, and the only living species in the genus Procavia. Like all hyraxes, it is a medium-sized (~4 kg) terrestrial mammal, superficially resembling a guinea pig with short ears and tail. The closest living relatives to hyraxes are the modern-day elephants and sirenians.

The rock hyrax is found across Africa and the Middle East, in habitats with rock crevices in which to escape from predators. It is the only extant terrestrial afrotherian in the Middle East. Hyraxes typically live in groups of 10–80 animals, and forage as a group. They have been reported to use sentries: one or more animals take up position on a vantage point and issue alarm calls on the approach of predators.

The rock hyrax has incomplete thermoregulation and is most active in the morning and evening, although their activity pattern varies substantially with season and climate.

Over most of its range, the rock hyrax is not endangered, and in some areas is considered a minor pest. In Ethiopia, Israel and Jordan, they have been shown to be a reservoir of the leishmaniasis parasite

They are known as dassies in South Africa, and sometimes rock rabbits. The Swahili names for them are pimbi, pelele and wibari, though the latter two names are nowadays reserved for the tree hyraxes.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

when you walked on the platform you could get all the way out to the old whaling station.

I pointed at a house and I asked my Guide what that was. There were something looking like a rat on the terrace. First the Guide told me it was a cat, then he said it was a Dussie.

We walked out and we reached the old whaling station, well, only rocks remaining of the whaling station now a day. As soon as you stopped and took a real look out on the rock you discovered many Dussies sitting on the rocks. And the penguins were all over the place. They had built nests under all the bushes and there were also man made special houses for the Penguins to help them out as the Penguins are endangered.

Man made Penguin house

A Dussie

Swimming Penguin

Feeding a baby? I don't know.

I had a lovely time at the Stony Point Penguin Colony. I was more than sceptic to go there after having been at the Two Oceans Aquarium. But it was really fun to see them in their right element.

And on top of that we had the beautiful landscape and weather. By now it was almost 16 thirty and we will have an hour to one and a half to get back to my hotel in Cape Town. I have had my luggage in the van all day long as I will change hotel.

Cape Royale Luxury Hotel is full. Luxury Hotel, how can you put Luxury Hotel in the hotel name? And on top of that put 5 stars in the logo? It was a very nice hotel but it was not a Luxury Hotel. Our Agent have booked me at Protea Hotel Breakwater Lodge and it will be nice to see how this hotel is. I have walked by it the first day in Cape Town and it is just a few minutes’ walk from the V & A Waterfront and all the restaurants and the supermarket with the diet drinks.

So I'm looking forward to get back to Cape Town, and I'm also looking forward to the drive back. Route 44 is so beautiful so you can easily enjoy the views from the car more than once.

I'm looking forward to go north on the scenic Route 44

Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope is just on the other side

Back in Cape Town

I checked in at my new hotel, Protea Hotel Breakwater lodge. It was a school as I understood it. 3 blocks and I was in the A block and the restaurant was in the C block. My previous hotel was much nicer, this reminded me about, yes, a school. So I had not much of expectations when I opened the door to my room.

Much much smaller than Cape Royale Luxury Hotel, but I found this room to be much better. No kitchen and living room, standard hotel room and I really liked it better. And the bed wasmuch better. Both hotels had more than enough pillows on the bed so no need to call for any extra pillows. Calling for extra pillows is pretty much standard for me, but not in South Africa.

There was an e-mail that Romø Mærsk had arrived to the anchorage in Cape Town. Well, I had seen her from the highway coming back to Cape Town from the whale watching and Penguin adventure. Anyway, my holiday is over as I'm now officially stand by to join the ship.

I was very tired but I needed to walk down to V & A Waterfront for my dinner. I decided to go check out the hotel restaurant and it was a cheap buffet. I checked the pots and there was pasta. I decided to eat here. The pasta turned out to be cabbage, much much better and I had 2 plates of cabbage and some very nice beef rolls.

Two plates of their delicious dessert. Way way better than expected and I was satisfied when I was back in my room for some well needed sleep. Tomorrow will be my rest day and my alarm is set to 9 o'clock. I have planned for a museum during the day, otherwise nothing but looking for shark safari to see the breaching Great White sharks.

We just need to click HERE to find out how tomorrow in Cape Town turns out.

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OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

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