The beaches and the wind - le vent virevoltant sur les plages.

We went north of Cape Town first to  Bloubergstrand which is a perfect place for kitesurfing thanks to the Cape's south-easter winds, then to Melkbosstrand. The other kitesurfers' paradise is Muizenberg, just a stone throw away from home.
You'll  also see pictures of the west coast of the peninsula.
One word sums it all : WINDY !!  No wonder there are so many ship wrecks around the peninsula.

Il y a tellement de vent autour de toute la peninsule qu'on ne trouve pas un, mais deux paradis pour kitsurfers, un au nord de Cape Town et l'autre au sud de la peninsule. Le mot cle est "VENTEUX". Une seule plage echappe au vent, celle de Clifton a l'ouest, mais seulement elle car la plage 1 km plus au sud en a de nouveau.  Pas etonnant que les maisons y soient plus cheres.
Avec ce vent partout, on comprend mieux qu'il y ait de nombreuses epaves de bateaux autour de la peninsule !

South. False Bay and Muizenberg. 

A l'avant-plan, les memes dunes et plages qu'a la Mer du Nord.

Muizenberg . So windy the dunes invade the street.

Posthuys of Muizenberg, 1673, oldest building in Cape town with exception of the Castle in downtown

From the Old Posthuys in Muizenberg.

Clifton Bay, the lucky one, no wind. West coast.

La seule plage sans vent, la seule plage ou les parasols ne s'envolent pas.

Glen Beach, on the west coast

Camps Beach, west coast

Llandudno Beach, still on the west coast, with beautiful sand.

Hout Bay. So much wind you see the sand fly on the right hand side.

Le sable, vole, virevolte ... voyez a droite de la photo.

Tellement de vent ....

... que les mouettes preferent ne pas voler.

Too much wind for the seagulls; they prefer to stay on their feet, it's safer.

Bloubergstrand, windsurfers and .....

....kitesurfers.

On the picture you see the sand fly on the beach.

Les amateurs de char a voile seraient aux anges !!!

Les grains de sable font une course folle sur la plage, pire qu'a la Mer du Nord et ce n'est pas peu dire.

Baywatch ...  in Melkbos Beach.So much wind they prefer to sit UNDER their seat instead of on top.

Alerte a Malibu ... ou presque.

There is wind, and then there are the SHARKS .... well, not since3pm on 3rd October, but still, there is a Shark spotter on top of the hill, checking the Muizenberg bay with his binoculars. If he spots one, he warns his friends on the beach who then rise the appropriate flag.

Attention REQUINS.... un garde est a l'affut au sommet de la colline avec ses jumelles. Quand il en voit un , il avertit son collegue a la plage qui hisse le drapeau ad hoc. La derniere bebete a ete vue debut octobre

Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015

This race used to be called the Whitbread race around the world but lately Volvo sponsors it.
This race has started in Alicante on 11 October and will end in Goteborg (Volvo's town) around june 21-24 2015. Leg 1 ended in Cape Town  a big week ago , where the teams are still around; they will depart for leg 2 to Abu Dhabi on November 19 .
We saw the arrival of the only female team, Team SCA, 6th out of 7 teams, 3 days after the first one. We are not into sailing but witnessing a live arrival was enjoyable. The 6 other teams are all male.
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/home.html

For  the connaisseurs : The Volvo Open 70 has been replaced by the Volvo Ocean 65,^[8] a new class of high performance one-design racing yacht created by Farr Yacht Design and built by a consortium of four European boatyards (wikipedia)


Il s'agit d'une course autour du monde pour yachts organisee tous les 3 ans. Il y a 7 equipes qui passent parfois plus de 3 semaines sans mettre pied a terre. Les yachts sont superbes. 
Nous avons pu voir l'arrivee de la seule equipe feminine ici a Cape Town, Team SCA. (SCA hygiene products holdings France) arrivee 6eme sur 7, 3 jours apres les premiers.
Le 19 novembre les 7 yachts quittent Cape Town pour entreprendre la 2e etape qui les emmenent a Abu Dhabi. La boucle sera bouclee a Goeteborg en juin 2015.

Pour les interesses, voici le site web : http://www.volvooceanrace.com/fr/home.html




red/rouge : the race, la course
blanc et bleu / white and blue: double Maersk Route, tout le village fait le trajet en container;  vu que les bateaux cargo vont plus lentement, il y a 2 villages, pendant que l'un arrive a bon port, l'autre se dirige vers l'escale suivante.

La voile dans le hangar de reparation

In the "village" you can learn everything about this race, and visit a yacht. 

this is how you sleep

Une couchette typique

 

 Elles arrivent ......There are the ladies

6e place sur 7

Klein Constantia et jardins en fleurs - Constantia Gardens

Welcome to the South Africans who read this blog !

Some days ago, we drove to Groot Constantia and visited the old house. We did not take the time to taste some wine and I read about the Vin de Constance that evening when we were home, when writing the blog. Typical example where you better read before the visit .... because since then  I have been wanting to actually taste that wine.  So off we went to the winery that restated that wine after a hiatus of 100 years, caused by the death of all the plants due to phylloxera.
Wine tasting is way cheaper than in California: 30 rand = +/- 2,5 USdollars for 7 wines. After 3 whites and 3 reds, it was finally time to taste ze vin de constance ... drum roles .... excellent,  if you like muscat wines, which I do. Really, really good.

On our way we saw a flyer for a Garden Tour so we decided to take part as it is the only way to visit some private gardens.

Message a ceux/celles qui aiment le vin de muscat : il faut absolument gouter le Vin de Constance, c'est un delice. Aussi bon que le meilleur Baume de Venise.   Le vignoble  Klein Constantia, voisin du Groot Constantia ou nous avions ete il y a quelques jours, l'a recree a partir de pieds de Muscat de Frontignan apres que tous les pieds de vignes aient ete annihiles par la phylloxera en 1886.
Ensuite nous avons decouvert 3 jardins prives  visitables  grace a une journee "portes ouvertes" au profit d'une oeuvre de charite.

 

Still, serious protection

C'est du serieux, voleurs s'abstenir  !!