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Kayak Rooiels-Pringle Bay, Kogelberg Coast

Ralph — Sun, 30 May 2010 18:19:47 +0000

Rooiels coast

On this crisp morning, Deon and I launched at Rooiels and paddled out to look for the first Southern Right whales of the season, but it seems it’s still too early. So we settled for a paddle down the coast to Pringle Bay and brunch.

A fairly heavy swell was running and we gave the point break at Rooiels, the scene of an earlier mishap, a wide berth and settled into an easy rhythm. Although glassy, the waves that reflected off the rocky coast made the water confused. We were none too keen to risk the beach break at Pringle Bay, but we found a sheltered, rocky channel behind the kelp beds and landed easily. A short walk followed by a healthy brunch in the sun meant that we were well into a perfect day. Helped by a following sea and a light southerly we powered back to Rooiels, beached without mishap and so exorcised the ghosts. A round-trip of 15 km. It was silent on the water save for the rumble of surf on rock – and thankfully the motorbike fraternity doesn’t seem to do Saturdays…

The Google Earth map follows below…

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Sea kayaking in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve

Ralph — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:29:30 +0000

On most weekends, Deon and I paddle and sail this coast, spending countless enjoyable hours.

Spring is whale season off the South Africa’s Cape coast.

A Southern Right whale surfaces close to Deon off Steenbras mouth

The Southern Rights cruise the sanctuaries in their hundreds. On this day Deon and I paddled around to Steenbras River Mouth from Gordons Bay half hoping to see some. In the mouth in about 20m of inky water we almost paddled over a pair of adults.

They tolerated us for a while as we snapped some photos, and then slipped away as silently as they had appeared.

Below is a Google Earth track of some of our trips along the Kogelberg coastline.

For a while we used a triangular sail on the double kayak, but lost it off Rooiels when a line came undone in a nasty south-easter and it proved too difficult to derig from the cockpit. We have plans to rig our own sail of a different design. The kayak is a lot of fun under sail and we have reached speeds of 13 km/h in an 11 knot breeze – but the sail must be manageable when things get rough…

Here’s a slideshow of photos from these weekend trips:

Sea kayaking and hiking around Robberg

Ralph — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 18:32:00 +0000

Plettenberg Bay: 17 & 19 December 2006: The Robberg peninsula is a nature reserve and marine protected area at the southern extremity of Plettenberg Bay,

South Africa (the Eden to Addo Mega-hike jump-off point is close by). Humans have occupied the rocky promontory for the past 120000 years, probably because of a wealth of caves and the rich marine resources. A large Cape fur seal colony noisily occupies the sheer, sheltered northern shore. “Rob” is Dutch/Afrikaans for “seal” and “berg” is a “mountain”. The high vantage points are ideal for spotting whales and dolphins. We spotted many hammerhead sharks while kayaking. Their dorsal fins criss-crossed the bay and patrolled behind the surf line off crowded beaches.

Or view the Robberg kayaking and hiking tracks in Google Maps.

I am impressed with the new kayak sail. Not only can we run before the wind but we reached across Plett at a good clip (5-6 km/h) in a light breeze. It survived a good roll in the surf too – not recommended.

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Sea kayaking from Hangklip to Gordons Bay

Ralph — Sun, 14 Nov 2004 09:43:50 +0000

A 40km paddle along some of the most beautiful coastline in the Cape – Cape Hangklip to Gordons Bay. (“Hangklip” = “Hanging Rock”)

The fire-scarred mountains between Pringle Bay and Rooiels beckon. Deon gives his best piratanical scowl.

Rooiels from the sea. The mountains of the Kogelberg Nature Reserve rise green in the distance. The reserve is now a World Heritage Site.

Rooiels beach - about halfway. We estimate that we paddled 40+ kms in total. It took us about 5 hours.

Rooiels beach - time for a beer. We would need all that energy despite the apparent tranquillity in the background.

This is some of the most beautiful coastline in South Africa. Unfortunately, bikers roar along the coast road most weekends. Out on the water it's silent except for the reflected scream of the bikes. It's not as if they're enjoying the scenery; how can they at 140km/h? The mentality defeats me...

Kogel Bay mountains. The sea is calm and cormorants, seals, Cape gannets and penguins share it with us. But an hour later the water became confused as the onshore swell and chop reflected off the sea cliffs. We had to paddle solidly for 2 hours to stay upright. A diver tells me later that a dive site north of Steenbras is known as the "washing machine".

Google Map of kayaking tracks on the Kogelberg coast - click on the image

Kayaking at Kraalbaai and Langebaan

Ralph — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 18:09:37 +0000

Well, it’s not quite hardcore kayaking. Sometime in 2002 I had tired of waiting for wind that sometimes never comes during twenty-nine or more years of windsurfing. Now there was an alternative.

Kraalbaai is also one of my favourite places. It is located in the West Coast National Park and is the site where 117 thousand-year-old human footprints were recently discovered. We have stayed on the Park’s houseboat many times before it was privatised. It’s a great base for kayak trips. The lagoon, a Ramsar wetland site, is a big expanse of water where one can paddle plenty of km’s.

The 3D map shows the track of a paddle further out in the bay:

If the track doesn’t appear in the window above or you don’t want to install the plugin in your browser, then download the Google Earth Langebaan file and view it in Google Earth (download Google Earth)

Calm days are unusual for the west coast in late spring and summer – usually the southerly kicks in at midday like clockwork, making Kraalbaai a favourite dragstrip for mellow, older windsurfers and their families. I can remember pioneering windsurfing here when I lived nearby during the early eighties. Then there would be two of us sailing in solitude…