spring break part II: house boat (knysna)

The second part of our spring break road trip was pretty darn relaxing. We splurged on a house boat in the estuary at a town called Knysna.

 Jim spent a lot of time fishing, and I made the drinks :) We cooked dinner on the boat, watched the stars come out from the roof, and slept on the boat. It was a really unique couple of days, made very fun by the amazing weather!

Captain Jim enjoying a sunset with some comped bubbly and cheese! (Cheese tastes great after a few days of camping food with no fridge).

The estuary's entrance is marked by these two large stone cliffs, called The Heads. We weren't able to go close to them on an outgoing tide as the boat could get swept out to sea.

It felt good to be in the sun (Jim writing here)

Next morning, Jim is already fishing!  To no avail! (Jim)

The water was an amazing green-blue color in the mornings.

 

Out for a morning snorkel. He thought the water was deeper.  I did not think the water was deeper, I just knew the water was cold, ha ha.

Out on the river - we had to time our passage under this bridge - we could only fit during low tide! We slept above the bridge on our second night on the water.

Jim had been itching to try his luck at digging for bait. Fisherman in the area use small shrimp that live in u-shaped holes in the sand and mud flats in the estuary. He didn't have the right equipment, but found that a kitchen glass and some muscle to dig a foot or so into the mud worked out. He caught four shrimp!

I used the same method Dad used with the snow crabs down in Hilton Head.  As long as you can keep your finger in the hole you'll know you found the crab/shrimp when it pinches you.  These didn't have much in the way of pinchers though :). 

The bait.

Still fishing....

Jim's first African fish! We identified it as a red steenbras (we think). It eats those shrimp Jim was digging earlier by sticking its mouth on one side of the hole and blowing water through it, popping the shrimp out the other side. It then quickly eats the shrimp!

A beaut. We threw it back.

Jim also saw a lot of nibble action from these guys - cuttlefish! Actually a type of squid, they would come up and eat his bait right off the hook.

Cruising back on our last morning, gearing up for the next leg of the road trip.