Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Cape of Storms

While Cape Point is the southern tip of the African continent, Cape Agulhas lies furthest south. Between these two capes the tranquil warm waters of the Indian Ocean and the cold Benguela current of the Atlantic meet.
Cape Point rises high above the Atlantic Ocean. Certainly one of the most spectacular geographical  features of the Southern Atlantic Ocean and not to be missed. Stephanie and I decided to drive out to Cape Point one sunny morning while on our mother-daughter-seven-day-breakaway in December 2010.  

From Cape Town our route took us to the fisherman’s village of Houtbay and from there on the spectacular Chapman’s Peak drive. At one point the winding scenic route cuts into the 650m high cliffs of Chapman‘s Peak and took us via Noordhoek across the Cape Peninsula along the Ou Kaapse Weg to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.
Driving on the well-maintained tarred roads through the reserve gave us an excellent opportunity to study the Fynbos, the vegetation of the Cape Floristic Floral Kingdom – smallest but with the most diversity of the seven Floral Kingdoms of the world.
As we arrived at the cape, so did the infamous South-Easter. The first European to reach the cape was the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeo Dias in 1488, who named it the "Cape of Storms" (Cabo das Tormentas).

No doubt Dias also experienced the mighty South-Easter, or “Cape Doctor” as it is vernacularly known. We certainly did - and discovered that it could blow your mind …… or your frock right over your head!
For some reason Vladimir Putin looks much more dignified posing at the sign than I do!

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