At spring high tides, Fish Hoek beach is flooded all the way up to the barrier at the top of the beach. I’ve seen the subway flooded with waist deep water at times. One Sunday evening in September on a sunset stroll, Tony and I discovered that watching the waves roll in to the top of the beach when the tide is approaching its maximum is very soothing (if you like the sound of noisy water), and provides a nice object lesson about some aspects of wave behaviour.
Spring high tide at Fish Hoek beach
When wave trains collide, they interfere with each other. This is mostly in evidence (from our point of view) when reading a swell forecast on MagicSeaweed. The direction of the swell that arrives at False Bay can be determined by multiple storms far out in the Southern Ocean. Waves generated by winds blowing in different directions collide – they interfere with each other – and travel to make landfall far away. The direction and height of the resulting swell arriving on the beach is derived from all the distant winds that combined to form it.
At Fish Hoek beach none of this is happening, except for swells making landfall. What does happen is that incoming waves curve in the shallower water against Jager Walk along the side of the beach. They then strike the wall in front of the subway and are deflected down the beach, perpendicular to the rest of the waves that haven’t curved because they’re still in deeper water. Where these sets of waves combine, we get to see interference at work. Here’s a video of the process. It’s like having one’s own personal wave tank to look at.
Tony and I had a lovely walk in Kalk Bay harbour in between some winter storms recently. We checked out the dilapidated boat on the beach (the Pelican Brief) near the Main Road, and visited with a group of well-fed seals frolicking in the water on the outside of the harbour wall, just next to the Harbour House restaurant. It was quite windy, as you can hear, and the sun starting to think about setting.
The second clip, which was taken just a minute or two later, is much darker – the sun was setting at that very moment. At the end you can see Tony in his Batman hoodie. You can also glimpse Craig over the kelp on the wreck, with the buoy line, and Tamsyn in a wetsuit with blue detailing on the arms. We were eight all together for this dive, and the light shed by our torches and cyalumes is quite considerable.
For another glimpse of what night diving is like, you can check out another video here.
We were very upset to hear that Lightley’s Houseboats, operating on the Knysna lagoon, went into liquidation last year. Fortunately the boats and licence to operate have been acquired by a lovely Dutch couple who are now operating under the name Knysna Houseboats. We took a short break in late April and spent four nights on a houseboat on the lagoon. The boats have been refurbished, standards have been raised, and the company has moved from the jetty at Belvidere to one in the Thesen Island harbour.
The Knysna Heads (from inside the lagoon)
The Knysna lagoon from the top of the Heads
Calm view of the Heads
Entrance to the Knysna lagoon from the sea
Houseboating is the most relaxing kind of holiday you can have; no unexpected visitors, no television (well, we don’t have one of those at home either), no computers (Tony forgot his and didn’t miss it at all), and nowhere particular to go. A skipper’s licence isn’t required to pilot the boats, but you have to go through a half hour course and write a short test before being issued with a temporary licence. The boats have a single 40 hp motor, and ours reached a roaring top speed of 10km/h heading downcurrent.
Interior of the houseboat
Attempting to hook a mooring block
Tony on deck
The last two occasions we’ve visited Knysna we dived in search of seahorses, beneath the Sanparks jetty on Thesen Island. The time to do this is half an hour before high tide, for a couple of reasons. One is that the tidal currents in the lagoon are something fierce; unless you want to do a drift dive out through the Heads, you have to dive near slack water. The other is that the rising tide brings clean seawater into the lagoon, increasing visibility. At low tide (we discovered last time we dived there) the visibility is so bad you can’t see a hand in front of your face. We found seahorses both times we dived in Knysna, but the second time (at low tide) more luck than skill was involved.
The railway bridge across the lagoon
Morning mist at the bridge across the top of the lagoon
Cruising around the lagoon
This time, high tide fell very early in the morning and in the evening. Because it’s close to winter, days are short, and we’d have had to have dived just before sunrise or just before sunset to coincide with the tide. This seemed like hard (and cold) work. We were on holiday, and lazy, so we left the dive gear at home this time. Hopefully next time we go to Knysna the tides will be in our favour, because I did miss seeing those little critters!
A prawn in a purple salad bowl
Almost transparent prawn
Photographing prawns and sole before releasing them
Baby sole
Night time fishing for critters
One thing we did do that caused us raucous enjoyment was to sit on the edge of our boat one evening as the tide was going out, with a torch and a plastic salad bowl. The most amazing creatures swam past on the outgoing tide, and with some judicious co-ordination of torch and bowl we were able to catch one or two of them, take their picture, ooh and aah, and then release them back into the lagoon. We saw flatworms, lots of baby sole, shrimps with incredible glowing eyes and almost transparent bodies, and even a small blue fish shaped like a needle that we weren’t quick enough to catch.
Beached ferry
Sandbanks emerge from the lagoon at low tide
During the day we looked at birds, motored around the lagoon a little bit, read, napped (embarrassingly much), and enjoyed the view. On one occasion we beached the boat and Tony wandered up and down a sandbank, where we could hear the sounds of mudprawns and a host of other creatures living just under the mud exposed by the retreating tide.
Heron on a moored boat
Tony making friends with the local Egyptian geese
A heron surveys the view
Cormorant drying its wings
An egret wades for breakfast
Cormorants sunning themselves
Oystercatcher on a sandbank
Curious heron
Resting heron
An egret in the shallows
Geese in formation
There is currently no dive operator or shop in Knysna, but they seem to open and close frequently. There is an angling and diving club in Knysna, and they can probably refer you to a local diver who can guide you if you want to dive the wreck of the Paquita near the Heads, or one of the other reefs in the area outside the Heads.
We were fortunate to see some dolphins in the distance on our way back from the dive.
Watching dolphins
It was late afternoon by the time I took the boat home. On the way past the wreck of the Clan Stuart I had to stop and take a photograph as the sun was setting.
The Clan Stuart at sunset
If you’re wondering why every photo looks as though there’s a cloud of tiny black bats in the background, it’s because the sensor on my camera was BADLY in need of a clean. Thank you Orms for sorting it out!
We are back from a few days of houseboating on the Knysna lagoon. At high tide the water was clean and 17 -18 degrees. The lagoon is a vibrant and healthy ecosystem and the bird life is amazing. During the early evenings we sat on anchor with a torch and a bucket and caught a multitude of small creatures for a look see and a photo and then returned them to the flowing water. The birdlife highlight of the trip was a pair of resident fish eagles.
Fish eagle pair on the Knysna lagoon
Dive reports from last weekend were sketchy at best with rumours of 15 metre visibility yet very very little comment on the usual media sites. I have therefore no idea on what the diving was like. I believe yesterday was somewhat better on the far reefs but shore entries apparently had 3 metre viz.
Sunset on the Knysna lagoon
The wind today has been in the right direction to clean the bay but along with the wind and rain is a 6 metre swell. There is some south easterly wind but the temperature in the Atlantic today was 16 degrees, False Bay is 12 degrees, so I doubt it is going to get much better for the weekend. The swell is mostly gone on Sunday but its unlikely (my opinion only) that False Bay will be good after the swell.
Egyptian geese in formation
So my plan is to spend Saturday training in the pool and Sunday, well let’s see what things look like late Saturday. (The swell may not peak at 6 metres and may end sooner than forecast.)
Travel
Don’t forget about our Durban dive trip from 17-21 June, and our Red Sea trip in October. If you’d like more details on either of these, give me a shout.
Tony and I spent a few weeks in Europe last summer, visiting Malta for some dives, and family in Denmark. On our way between these destinations we spent a night in IJmuiden, a Dutch port city on the North Sea. It is there the North Sea Canal, which connects the port of Amsterdam to the North Sea, meets the ocean.
The ship was held by ropes initially
There are four locks at IJMuiden, which regulate the water level in the canal and assist in managing the groundwater levels in the Netherlands. The maximum vessel draught that the locks can handle is just under 14 metres.
So big!
When we were exploring the port and lock area of the town, we were fortunate to watch the MSC Operacruise ship exit through the Northern Lock. The MSC Opera is a not infrequent visitor to South African shores. She is 250 metres long and 32 metres wide, with a draught of about 7 metres.
Sliding barrier
The barrier slid back to open the lock at the seaward side
Heading for the open sea
The process was breathtaking, with no room for error, and being able to stand so close to a ship of such size while she was in motion was absolutely fabulous. I almost self-actualised right then and there.
The year 2012 has been wonderful for many reasons, but not without its challenges. We’ve loved adding Seahorse to our family, and our move to the south peninsula has had us wondering why we didn’t do this years ago! We’ve enjoyed meeting new divers and spending time with familiar faces, as well as some wonderful travel, most notably diving in Ponta do Ouro, Mozambique in May. Thank you for your support and friendship this year!
