Chokka Boats and the source of calamari

Chokka boats in Algoa Bay Fishing boats out in Algoa Bay and St Francis Bay are regular sights to residents and visitors of Port Elizabeth, Jeffrey's Bay and St Francis. These boats can often be seen taking shelter in the bays when bad weather is forecasted and at night it looks like a town out on the water with all the bright lights out there. The majority of these boats are chokka boats with the region being home to the…

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Orca in Algoa Bay

Over the last couple of weeks local whale watching outfit Raggy Charters has spotted two different pods of orcas on two occasions while out cruising in Algoa Bay. Owner Lloyd Edwards also saw the one pod cruise by Seaview a little less than a week ago. Yesterday there was excitement in St Francis Bay when a pod was encountered in the bay. We are fortunate to have these visitors to the area every once in a while, but I haven't…

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Penguins on St Croix Island

A little while ago I had the fantastic opportunity to go on a cruise on Algoa Bay with Raggy Charters and it felt like we hit the jackpot that day. Whales, dolphins, bait balls, penguins, and the cherry on top, a killer whale. The cruise was the first opportunity for me to see St Croix Island up close. St Croix Island is home to the largest breeding colony of African penguins in the world. At one stage there were 60…

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Common Dolphins in Algoa Bay

Cruising Algoa Bay with Raggy Charters is like a luxury lucky packet. You kinda know what you could find, but when you do it like wow in overdrive. As a tourism marketer promoting the Eastern Cape I have spoken about Raggy Charters and promoted what Algoa Bay has to offer for years with so many invites to join them on a cruise. Something just always came up until I got to finally join them on a cruise a little while…

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Penguins and dolphins at St Croix

Port Elizabeth and Algoa Bay are promoted as the Bottlenose Dolphin capital of the world while St Croix Island has the biggest population of African Penguins in the world. I was lucky to get both species in one photo at St Croix on an outing with Raggy Charters a little while ago. Bottlenose Capital of the World - It is estimated that a population of over 28 000 individual Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins make use of Algoa Bay and the surrounding…

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Sunrise over Algoa Bay

I'm still here.  I may not have posted anything on my blog for a month but I'm still around.  It's scary though how busy my life has become between work, family, sport (the kids', not my own) and everything else I'm involved in.  The two things that have suffered the most are my blog and exercising.  And to a lesser extend Geocaching.  Plus my laptop at home has packed up again.  You know how it is.  When it rains it…

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The beacon at Cape Recife

The beacon out at Cape Recife is one of two beacons that were used for shipping purposes before the invention of modern navigation technology.  The second beacon is the lollipop beacon on Marine Drive where Admiralty Road and Marine Drive comes together.  Ships sailing along the coast from the west had to line up the two beacons before they could turn into Algoa Bay.  This ensured that they were well clear of Thunderbolt Reef at the point as well as…

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The Algoa Bay Hope Spot mini documentary

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrtC9K_z3UA&w=500&h=400]Algoa Bay is one of six marine Hope Spots proclaimed along the South African coastline.  Although the Algoa Bay Hope Spots covers the whole diverse marine ecology of the bay it focuses on the African Penguin.  The other South African Hope Spots are  False Bay, Cape Whale Coast, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and the Aliwal Shoal.  Check out this awesome mini documentary on the Hope Spot and learn more about the penguins and other inhabitants of Algoa Bay.

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