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| Between Simon's Town and Cape Point
on the Cape Peninsula of South Africa we discovered a colony
of African Penguins (also known as the Jackass Penguin) wandering
freely on a picturesque
beach strewn with boulders. |
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In Simon's Town there is a statue of the only dog
ever officially enlisted in the British Royal Navy, a Great
Dane whose name was Nuisance. His official rank and name was
Just
Nuisance AB. The much-loved mascot of British sailors based in
Simon's Town, he was honored with a full military funeral, which
was attended by 200 members of the Royal Navy.
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| Situated at the junction of two of Earth's
most contrasting water masses - the cold Benguela current on
the West Coast and
the warm Agulhas current on the East Coast , the Cape of Good
Hope is popularly
perceived as the meeting point
of the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. Geographically, however,
the Indian Ocean joins the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Agulhas. |
| The Cape of Good Hope is also called
the Cape of Storms. In 1641 a Dutch captain, Hendrick van der
Decken, was battling wild seas off the Cape when his ship succumbed
to the storm and began to sink. Van der Decken swore that he
would round the Cape if it took him until Judgement Day. Since
then many sightings of a phantom ship, its masts smashed and
sails in shreds, have been reported in bad weather. This is known
as the legend of the Flying Dutchman. The remains of at least
23 shipwrecks lie along this coastline. |
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