11/4/17 Walvis Bay Cruise and Coastal Exploration
3-hour catamaran marine cruise. Walvis Bay is the only natural deep-water harbor on the Skeleton Coast and home to cormorants, low-flying pelicans, 2 types of dolphins and a very large seal colony.
The seals apparently have been known to swim up to and sometimes into the catamaran - something that this one did in the first 15 minutes of our cruise! And the pelicans were not far behind!
Jackson feeds the male and female pelicans that joined our seal on board.
These ships tie up to one another for needed repairs.
The people working on the ships above are fed and housed nearby with these ships.
This was a mystery ship until we got close enough to read that it was carrying cranes from Savannah, Georgia.
And then there were the seals playing and lounging in the sun
on a small spit of land in the middle of the Bay...
Check out this video that gives you an idea of the size of just one of the seal groups.
Jackson beautifully prepared our extremely fresh oysters and...
...some delicious finger food...
...and set up some champagne buckets...
...and worked very diligently to keep our glasses full.
Back to our lovely surroundings at the Swakopmund Hotel for a quick rest
before exploring the Skeleton Coast.
Loved this weather station sign!
They didn't name the place Skeleton Coast for nothing...
The Zelia India shipwreck, south of Henties Bay, stranded on August 25, 2008.
Shortly after leaving Walvis Bay on its way back to Bombay, India,
it became loose from its towing line and crashed on the rocks in the fog.
Our final adventure for the day was a drive along the Skeleton Coast. Our first stop was the Salt Company (PTY) Ltd. Over the last 50 years this Atlantic Ocean seawater has been pumped, evaporated, concentrated, crystallized, harvested and processed into Namibia's "white gold" - sea salt.
Every year between 700,000 and 750,000 tons of sea salt are produced, with 80% exported and 20% designated for local use.
Interestingly, this company also uses seabird guano (poop) in its lipstick products. Talk about gross!
The Skeleton Coast got its name from Henry Marsh's 1944 book title, chronicling the Dunedin Star shipwreck, and the preponderance of whale and seal bones from the whaling industry that littered the coast. In modern times, it refers to the multitude of shipwrecks caught by fog and the rocky outcrops. It runs along the northern Atlantic coast from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River. The Namibian interior Bushmen called it "The Land God Made in Anger," and the Portuguese sailors referred to it as "The Gates of Hell." (I've never seen such a desolate land so I can say both interpretations are pretty accurate).
Shortly after leaving Walvis Bay on its way back to Bombay, India,
it became loose from its towing line and crashed on the rocks in the fog.
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