Friday, July 11, 2014

The beauty of Knysna in winter

Warmly wrapped up, waiting for the Navy strike craft to come through the Knysna heads
Waiting in a very choppy sea for high tide, only 90 minutes behind schedule
A tiny wagtail, close to where John was standing - a pair of them helped to keep him amused while he watched the boat circle round outside The Heads, waiting for high tide, when there would be deep enough draught
So close that you can see each feather in detail
and not at all frightened
Why is no food forthcoming?
In she heads, escorted by the NSRI and other local boats
All hands on deck
A cormorant resting on the sighting light
Over the waves...
..and through The Heads at last
A blast on her siren and cheers from the watchers
Lots of boats escorting her in
The crew lined up on the deck and someone perched right on top centre
Everyone turned out to meet her, including the pontoons and the Featherbed ferry
Sailing to port
We needed warmth, liquid refreshment and food after the long wait, so we went up to The East Head Café for lunch and luckily found a good table inside
We had a curious and cute neighbour
And John enjoyed a new artisan  No.17 Golden Ale from a local micro brewer, Red Bridge. Full of peaches and mangos, it was very good.
We feasted on fresh fish and calamari with chips and a good garlic tartare sauce. What, Banting? Us? Food like this added a couple of kilos onto us over the week, now it is back to good eating sans carbs. But that hake was fresh enough to have jumped right out of the sea onto the plate.
A good double espresso with a biscotti for John. Le Creuset owns the Under Milkwood resort nearby and, we were told, came in and equipped the café as a publicity exercise
The meal cost us a fairly reasonable R310 with service
Back to Belvidere in the late afternoon sunshine, to do some work on Menu.
Before we left Knysna we drove up to the top of the hill above Belvidere for a super view of the town and the lagoon
And on the other side, Brenton on Sea.  Hmm, another great place on our “To Visit” list.
Looking towards the Featherbed nature reserve and the Knysna Heads, on the sea side
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

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