Howzit
Planet Earth? (That, by the way, is a common friendly
greeting in South Africa which variously means "Hi,
good traveller, how are you?").
This South African greeting is without doubt one of
the first words you will hear when you step onto South
African soil and is intended for everyone arriving in
South Africa - well, nearly everyone - the Australian
Cricket Team have arrived on a our shores for a Test
and ODI series and for those that don't know Cricket,
the Aussies are the world champs. But we South Africans
are coveting that position BADLY! In other words we
are out to give them a really hard time during their
stay, so no "HOWZIT?" for the Aussie Cricket
Team, more like "HOWZAT!"
Cruise South Africa will be at Newlands Cricket ground,
Cape Town on the 3rd March giving its full support to
the Proteas.
International
sporting highlights notwithstanding, Cruise SA, in conjunction
with Boulders Beach Lodge at the Boulders
Penguin Colony played host at the internationally
renowned premiere of "March of the Penguins".
Our Penguin Bus was again the highlight as it ferried
the Boulder's staff (and some "penguins")
to the launch at Grand West Casino in Cape Town.
However, here in Cape Town one does not necessarily
have to see a great movie to see penguins, we have our
own Penguin colony right on our doorstep at Boulders
Beach near Simonstown. One of the most popular day tours
Cruise South Africa operates - the Tour
d'Esperanza - makes a stop over at the Penguin
Colony where right at this moment hundreds of penguins
have begun making their nests in anticipation of the
March mating season! So you see we have our own March
of the Penguins. Alternatively, one may try an Overnight
Tour where guests are treated to a night at
Boulders Beach Lodge and two days of lazing on
the beautiful secluded beaches around Boulders where
you can soak up the sun alongside the Penguins and even
have a swim with them.
Some
African Penguin Facts:
1. The African Penguin Colony at Boulders are accustomed
to humans and provide unsurpassed opportunities of viewing
and photographing them.
2. Size-50cm; weight-3kg
3. Lifespan - 10-11 yrs, max. 24yrs
4. Swimming Speed - 15-20km/hour (in other words, fast!)
5. Dive Depth - max 130m
6. International Red Data Book status - vulnerable (due
to oil pollution and commercial fishing)
7. World Population size - 179 000 decreasing by 2%
per annum.
8. Breeding Season - March to May.
As
for our other tours, Cruise South Africa had 3 separate
Great Garden Route Expeditions
in one month. It is by far the most popular expedition
leaving Cape Town because the week long trips explore
mountains, spans two mighty oceans and generally show
cases some of the most beautiful seaside towns, forests
and deserts in South Africa. Click on the link to find
our more.
Not
to be outdone, our water-wing division, Cruise Sub Aqua
has also had its fair share of exciting adventures:
we are inundated with requests of divers to come dive
Cape Town. Suddenly Cruise Sub Aqua is the underwater
place to be seen. This sudden surge of overseas bubbleblowers
is attributed to a number of factors:
- Great White
Sharks (guaranteed viewing from cages)
- Some of the best Wreck Sites in the world some older
than the nation itself and some very recent.
- Spectacular undersea environments like the deep forest
dives within the Kelp where tons of rare creatures live.
- Mako Sharks, huge Sevengill Cow Sharks, Pyjama, Sharks,
Cat Sharks and Shy Sharks.
- Seals and Sunfish
- Most experienced PADI Instructors
- Cool Dive gear and even better boats
and finally Great White Sharks (oh yes, mentioned that
already).
No
wonder Cruise Sub Aqua is so popular. There have, furthermore,
been a whole shoal of new divers on our PADI
courses. Check out the link to see these new
nitrogen junkies.
Cape
Town is not the only dive destination in Southern Africa.
Currently we are finalizing plans for the Greatest Shoal
on Earth, the annual sardine migration off the East
Coast where divers are treated to a violent frenzy of
Sardine-battering by sharks, dolphins, seals, gannets
and penguins. Also on the cards are Manta Rays in Mozambique
and, of course, Mafia Island Tanzania which is proving
to be one of the more popular dive holidays among the
Cruise SA faithful.
NEWSFLASH:
Cruise SA is going to launch an Adventure section
in our Tours page. Each month we are going to add a
high-adrenaline Adventure activity to the site.
We already have cage diving with Great Whites, this
month we are launching combat missions to the whup-whup-whup
of a classic Bell Huey Combat Helicopter - what
a rush! Extreme low flying, steep climbing, you get
a real feel of what it must have been like in Vietnam
(except you have the added bonus of seeing Table Mountain
from the air). THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR THE
FAINT-HEARTED
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