St Croix Island

 In 1488 the Portuguese explorer Batholomeu Dias sailed into Algoa Bay and landed on St Croix island

where his crew celebrated Mass and planted a padrão or stone cross.  The island, which is visible from the Port Elizabeth beachfront, is 3.9 km from the nearest land at Hougham Park and rises up to 59m at it’s highest point.  It is 12 ha in size and is 700 meters long at its longest point and 360m wide at its broadest.  There is very little vegetation on this rocky island which is also home to the biggest breeding colony of African Penguins in the world. 

This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. Kate

    Had to smile when I saw this because it is similar to a scene right out my window, except this ship is a grande ferry going to La Paz.

  2. Sonia

    Very poetic photo!I am glad you liked to see Josh, Fergs and Deedee on my blog! They look really adorable!

  3. Andrea

    How beautiful. I want to go there.

  4. sam

    Kate, you must be in heaven, after the all the snow at home!

  5. Firefly

    The bay is still called Algoa Bay. The metropolitan area of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch is just collectively know as Nelson Mandela Bay even though they still keep their seperate names.

  6. sam

    ooops, thanks for setting that straight Firefly!

  7. Firefly

    Thanks for the interesting information. A lot of PE locals know absolutely nothing about the history of their own area.

  8. Kris

    It would have been a hard task on one of those expeditions…

  9. mike

    I see there are some buildings on the island.

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