South Africa - Western Cape. November 2022
4. Garden Route A. Reebok and Mossel Bay.
Reebok
We based ourselves at our house in Reebok for the remainder of Di and David's stay and enjoyed showing them the local area. The following photo is a sunset from our veranda looking out towards Mossel Bay - the very bright light in the center of the photo is the Cape St Blaize lighthouse.
We enjoyed several walks along some of the local beaches.
We often spent time watching the birds in the nature reserve at the back of our house where we have put up feeders and bird baths. Our cat and the guinea fowl and spur fowl ignore each other!
Seeplaas is one of our closest cafe/restaurants and also has a shop and craft centre. It's high up on the dunes above the beach so there are great views.
Cape St Blaize Lighthouse, Mossel Bay
We visited the lighthouse one morning when it wasn't too windy. David, Kevin and I went to the top, managing to negotiate the narrow staircases while Di stayed and had a hot chocolate in the lighthouse cafe down below. We then joined Di and had a coffee while looking out for whales and were lucky enough to spot a couple in the diatance. We also watched a few brave souls tackle the zip line over the sea from the top of the cliffs to the Point.
A view of the lighthouse from The Point.
Kevin on his way up one of the stairscases.
The Point, Mossel Bay. Our house is somewhere along the distant shore line - I was able to spot it with binoculars.
The Point with a natural swimming pool amongst the rocks and the end of the zip line structure next to the pool.
Di enjoying a hot chocolate down below.
She then took a photo of the three of us at the top.
David got a good shot of a whale out at sea.
We returned for a drink on Di and David's last day - we saw a pod of dolphins passing by.
The Bartolomeu Dias Museum Complex, Mossel Bay
In 1488 The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias discovered that he had sailed past the southern-most point of Africa. A strong wind had driven him so far south of Cape Point that he did not see it and had to sail northwards to reach the coast. His first landing place was the bay of St. Blaize which is now called Mossel Bay. The main museum building houses a life-sized replica of the vessel that brought them to Mossel Bay. There is plenty of additional information all around the museum.
The replica of Bartolomeu Diaz's ship.
You are allowed onto the ship.
Looking towards the front of the ship. Amazing to think that this tiny vessel was able to travel so far through such dangerous waters.
From the grounds you get a great view of Santos Beach, which is one of the Blue Flag beaches in Mossel Bay.
The Point and the Cape St Blaize trail, Mossel Bay.
We parked at The Point and followed the first part of the St Blaize walking trail which passes by a large cave and then goes up to the cliff top. The cave is a natural grotto overlooking the sea, 10m high and 72m wide and is an important archaelogical site which has shown that people lived here thousands of years ago.
From The Point we could see the lighthouse with the cave below it.
There is a large natural rock pool at The Point. The line at the top of the photo is part of a long zip line from the cliff top to The Point.
The large cave which has a walkway inside with information boards.
Looking back down to the rocks and pools at The Point.
The view from the top of the cliff looking West.
On the way back down the well maintained steep path back to the cave.
Last updated: May 2023