30th January 2016 Port Elizabeth - South Africa
WHAT A FANTASTIC DAY!
Penguins and Dolphins! WOW. Text and details following.....
After a good night's sleep we
set off back into Port Elizabeth. I sat next to Lloyd who is also a passionate and very good photographer and Peter drove behind. We had to take our car back to the airport. Everything went
perfect. The Algoa Harbour is where or boat's tour left from and Lloyd was our captain. The harbour is only five minutes away from the airport.
There were about 12 people on the boat and it was a very individual tour, not like a normal everyday tourist boat trip but one done by individual people who are truly aware of our natural
surroundings and want to protect what we have.
We set off for Bird Island where Lloyd assured us we would see penguins. He obviousl could not guarantee anything else but yes, he knew we would see penguins and we DID!
After about one hour we were able to see the island and the first penguins out at sea. They float on top of the water and drive down to catch their feed. WOW and WOW again. We approached the
island and the waves were quite high and dangerous beating against the rocks. It was a wonderful experience to see the penguins standing on the rocks and then letting themselves fall into the
ocean and then waddle back up the rocks.
We had just set off back towards Algoa harbour when we sighted dolphins. I say DOLPHINS!
There were about 250-300 dolphins swimming around our boat. It took me all my time not to fall over board, I was of course so excited that it took me a moment to get my head around how to get the
best shots. You never know when the nose of the dolphin is going to appear. Both Peter and I had cameras and Peter was also filming which was very difficult on the rocking boat. The waves were
big. What a wonderful experience seeing all thos dolphins around the boat and some penguins inbetween them. This was one of the reasons for visiting South Africa to marvel at the wonders of our
beautiful world.
MANY thanks to Lloyd, his wife Loraine and employee Ellie for making our stay in Port Elizabeth so perfect.
On our return to the harbour we had a seafood lunch at the Yacht club before Lloyd drove us round the harbour where our cruise ship the Queen Elizabeth was waiting for us.
We had a marvelous 6 day tour of South Africa and enjoyed every minute of it but it was also good to be back on board our floating hotel.
TIPP OF THE DAY!
For those interested in my photography workshops...... Lloyd and I talked about me organsing a South Africa photography workshop in April/May 2017 including a safari and to come to Port Elizabeth
for the "Sardine Race". That is when hundeds and hundeds of dolphins and whales are in the area chasing sardines! Might be food for thought ,,,,,......