Our African journey continues from this previous post: Mossel Bay, SHARKS and blue flag beaches

March 1

Someone was up by 6 am banging around like they were rearranging furniture. Not sure how that’s possible as it’s a train and everything is attached. Oh well. We dawdled over breakfast and set out for a walk, enjoyed some ice cream and returned for a beer before the bus picked us up He was early so we ended up guzzling it before paying, grabbing our bags and getting on. I thought to ask before we left the parking lot “this bus is going to Knysna, right?” Haha. A fellow passenger assured me it was and noted it WAS a valid question and good time to ask.

After checking in at Jembjo’s along with 2 German girls we’ve met a few times and chatting with Candice, we set out to walk. We’d had McDonald’s on a stop along the way in the bus so had to walk it off. I had a big mac. I don’t remember the last I had one. YEARS.

Dinner was crackers and cream cheese. We thoroughly enjoyed a comfortable bed with TWO pillows and slept like babies. We walked over 23,000 steps today.

March 2

I fried us some eggs and it was nice to have some good protein for breakfast. After trying to make arrangements for the next couple of days we went to the water front and booked a ferry trip.

After walking around a bit we tried to have oysters but apparently they haven’t caught many lately so nobody had them. So, calamari it was. We’ve eaten calamari pretty much every day for the last week. It’s one of the cheapest things to eat around here and REALLY good.

The ferry started out really lame. We motored slowly around the lagoon (Knysna estuary) then landed at Feather bed nature reserve. There we boarded a wagon train thing pulled by a big wheeled tractor like thing. It would it’s way slowly up the hill. We stopped for a view and were told not to get off but I couldn’t get a decent photo from where I sat, so I got off. I”m such a rebel. 😛

The walk down was awesome and worth the whole trip. It was a couple of km down with a couple of optionals, which of course we did.

There was a group of Grade 7 students with us from Oudsshorn on a week trip up the coast. They were busy but really nice kids who sang on the way back in the boat. They started with the National Anthem in both Africans and English and then resorted to Rudolph the Red nosed reindeer and Hello (Adelle). They even harmonized!

We walked around some more and went for dinner on the Quay at a fish restaurant. It was just fish and vegetables but so many that we could barely finish it. Nice!

I enjoyed a shower and dried off with a REAL towel provided by the hostel. LUXURY!

March 3;

I made us some eggs again and we tried to sort out the next couple of weeks over breakfast. Planning is hard work. I have a whole new respect for Travel agents 🙂

Some young men from Buffels Baai (Buffalo Bay) picked us up for our snorkeling trip at 9 am. We had no idea what we were in for. We arrived and saw beach. Nice. That looks good. Nope. We walked around to the other side and entered the sea from the rocks. Our soft Canadian feet weren’t as tough as Callum’s so we wore our shoes and left them on the rocks. Finally IN the ocean we swam around and saw a bit but the visibility steadily declined and the sea got rougher and rougher. Some of the swells were well over a metre high. Coming back in was even harder. I felt bad for Sue, as she’s not that comfortable in the water to begin with. Callum nicely helped her but we sure got battered by waves. By the time we climbed out, she was exhausted. THAT was an ADVENTURE! We didn’t see much, besides a few fish, a couple of puffer fish, urchins, star fish and pretty rocks but we got a work out!

The afternoon was spent walking through the Pledge Nature Reserve. You walk through town and it’s right off a main street. There are paths all through it, a stream, a pond and a nice big hill from which to view the lagoon. We could see Featherbed Reserve on the other side.

After picking up some groceries for the next hostel as it’s out in the boonies somewhere, we headed back to the water front and the Ocean Basket. Last night’s dinner was so good we went back for calamari, fish and LOTS of fresh veggies for less than $15 each including tip.