st croix island

Firefly the Travel Guy / Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

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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18/09/2020
Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

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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29/06/2020
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Dolphin watching in Algoa Bay

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plhAc7DcLhQ&w=500&h=400]Port Elizabeth and Algoa Bay was recently branded as the Bottlenose Dolphin Capital of the World because of the fact that the area is home to probably the biggest population of Bottlenose Dolphins in the world.  Join Lloyd Edwards and the team of Raggy Charters on a virtual cruise of Algoa Bay out to St Croix Island and along the beachfront to view the dolphins on this video and perhaps you may just decided to do it in real life…

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24/06/2016
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Cruising with Raggy Charters

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXCbY-KcHyY&w=500&h=400]Raggy Charters made Port Elizabeth proud during 2014 by being announced the national winner in the Marine Adventure Category of the Lilizela Tourism Awards.  I found this video posted on YouTube two years or so ago by a visitor who went on one of their cruises to St Croix Island just to give you a bit of a taste on what to expect if you go out with Lloyd and his team.

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08/05/2015
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Penguin Island Cruise with Raggy Charters video

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/qXCbY-KcHyY&source=udsAt the recent 2nd annual South African Tourism Lilizela Awards Raggy Charters of Port Elizabeth won the Marine Experience category in the customer experience section.  It is a huge accomplishment not just for Lloyd Edwards and his team but also a feather in the cap of Port Elizabeth and Algoa Bay.  It proves that this area can compete with the best the rest of South Africa has to offer as far as marine experiences   I came across this video by Ellie Bottomley on YouTube that…

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31/10/2014
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African Penguin

St Croix Island in Algoa Bay is home to the biggest African Penguin colony in the world. Unfortunately the number of penguins on the island has drastically reduced over the last couple of years and the reason for this basically comes down to pollution and over fishing. SAMREC (SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre) at Cape Recife takes in marine animals and birds that is injured or effected by pollution and does a great job nursing and caring for them…

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03/09/2010
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On a clear day…

This is the spectacular view from our daughter's bedroom door in Richmond Hill, on one of those lovely crisp days when it has rained, and cleared and everything is crystal clear. In the foreground you can see the fish farm near the harbour, beyond that a ship approaches port, and beyond that St Croix Island floats on a shimmering horizon. We are actively involved in neighbourhood patrols, spending several hours in the middle of the night each week, trying to…

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19/12/2008
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St Croix Island #3 – Guano

These lonely looking houses on the leeward side of the island were built for guano collectors. This was apparently not a very succesful venture, as the collection of guano was made difficult by the terrain. The smell of the place would have put any normal person off, before they started.

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05/08/2008
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St Croix Island #2 – Penguins

St Croix Island rises out of the sea like a large rock and looks like a very inhospitable place, but it boasts the largest colony of African penguins in Southern Africa.Wherever you look on the island there are groups of penguins. They are increasingly coming under pressure, as the fishing trawlers have depleted the area of fish. Recent sudies have shown that they travel up to 155 kms to find food. That is a long swim by any standard.

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04/08/2008