Date: 5 July 2012
False Bay always has something amazing to offer up. Often it’s one of the huge array of marine animals that frequent the bay, but sometimes you just don’t know what to expect. I spent a beautiful winter’s morning out on the bay, marking way points for dive sites near Roman Rock lighthouse and enjoying the weather, and encountered two unusual things.
The first was this oversized Halloween pumpkin near the yacht basin in front of False Bay Yacht Club, which turned out to be an experimental desalination plant. It’s encouraging that work is being done in the field of desalination, especially in South Africa, which is a water-scarce country (or will be in the not too distant future).
The second notable event was seeing this large South African Police Service boat patrolling in False Bay. I turned a little to get out of its way, and from next to it shot out a small rubber duck with three servicemen and women on board. They called me on the loud hailer, pulled me over, checked all my papers (seaworthy certificate, skipper’s licence, the works) and were delighted when I asked if I could take their photo. All the time they were checking my paperwork, they were in communication with the big boat on a little hand held radio.
They were stopping all the boats they saw, just for routine checks. I was very happy to see that our waters were being policed, and was only too glad to submit to an inspection of the boat papers and my skipper’s licence. We need more of this kind of thing in South Africa. (Can they chase the poachers, too?)
