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| The sea is there........somewhere! |
Every now and then the sun tries to burn through and the day lightens. I am sure that in another hour it will all be gone and the sun will have won the battle, but for now it is beautifully cool and we have the doors open wide and the fans switched off!
The sea is still there, I can hear it, and the seals are also loud this morning. And the fog horn is bellowing its warning from Cape Columbine Lighthouse near Paternoster.
'The name, Cape Columbine, is the name of the last manually controlled lighthouse to be built in South Africa. This lighthouse, in turn, got its name from the British wooden ship ‘Columbine’, which was wrecked 1,5km north of the site of the lighthouse in 1829. Built in 1936 on Castle Rock, it is usually the first South African lighthouse to be seen by ships sailing from Europe. Its light stands 80m above sea level and casts a beam, which is visible for about 50km. The reserve offers hiking, angling, bird-watching, diving, kayaking and a beach campsite., (Thanks to capewestcoast.org)
We have been to the Nature Reserve several times (Cape Town Adventure Radio Club run a station every year during the weekend of Lighthouses on the Air, an international Radio event), and Rob has bravely climbed to the top of the lighthouse, while I waited on terra firma! Before the lighthouse was built in 1936, our rocky coast was littered with wrecks. One of them, the 'Lisboa', carrying several barrels of port wine among other things, sank in 1910, and the story goes that the sea turned bright red from the spilt port! Apparently the locals 'rescued' the remaining barrels and hid them from the prying eyes of the customs officials! I can imagine the parties that took place for a while afterwards!
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| Cape Columbine, stilled manned today. |
Columbine was the last significant project of Harry Claude Cooper, who was involved in the building of over thirty South African lighthouses. I was amazed at that number. I really didn't think that we had that many around our coast! And Columbine is the last lighthouse in South Africa that still has a Keeper!
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| Columbine's Keepers. (With thanks to Keri Harvey) |
It is one of four lighthouses in South Africa that have accommodation to hire for an overnight or a weekend stay. At Columbine, the guest houses with gorgeous names like 'Blue Bells' and 'Forget-me-Not' were the original homes of the keepers and are extremely comfortable with beautiful views of the sea. Anything nearer the sea would have fallen over the edge of the rocks! (The other three lighthouses are Danger Point at Gansbaai, Cape St Blaize at Mossel Bay and Great Fish Point in Port Alfred.)
We can see the 5.4 million candle-power beam of light against the night sky as it swings by every 15 seconds. We are about 16.3 km from the lighthouse as the crow flies (why a crow and not a sparrow? Note to self, I must Google that) but on a clear night out to sea, the light can be seen from up to 60 km away. Imagine lying in bed and being lulled to sleep by the light, I am sure that I would lie there counting the seconds in-between the flashes, just to make sure that it was on time!
And on a day like today when the fog rolls in and the coastline disappears?
The foghorn blares!
And we can hear that too.
7 comments:
Ah Pauline, that pic just takes me back to me walking my 3 kids past your house, just before turning left to pass Philip and Peta's house. Alfie hopping over the gate, to guard his stretch of road, all brave and wearing his I-am-a-fierce-(wannabe)-GSD hat, maybe seeing Basil doing his ginger-question-mark-tail-thing - good memories but sadly tainted by that M you-know-who thing
Alfie is still doing his Boss act, Basil walks with us every evening down to the bay, and the new cats Kindle and Morris are becoming much loved members of the family. Oh yes, and M is still tainting things...... Miss you all!!!
I find anything to do with lighthouses fascinating. Interesting that Columbine has keepers houses, meaning that families could accompany the men on their spells of duty, in many lighthouses, the men lived in the 'tower', rather a lonely life I should imagine.
I think our dad would have enjoyed that!!
The Lisboa, that sank in 1910, has another interesting fact to mention. It was the first ship in distress that called for help via wireless radio telegraphy. At that time Rob was not there to receive the message (he is not that old). The wireless operator stayed on the sinking ship until his message was sent, and then swam to the shore.
I did not find anything about the port wine, so the locals kept it very secret. Officially the cargo was olive oil and bulls. If there was also port wine on board, the bulls were at least nicely marinated. Is this the origin of the braai?
Thanks Michael for adding that. I always find your comments educational as well as amusing! Maybe the olive oil was swapped for the port......
Thanks Michael for adding that. I always find your comments educational as well as amusing! Maybe the olive oil was swapped for the port......
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