Nearly there?

This really isn’t a lighthouse blog, but…
The renovations to the Cape Agulhas lighthouse – as mentioned before on here – are still happening, although it does appear that they’ve really made some progress with things since we were last down here.

image

We went for a very quick walk (my ankle is also still under renovation, remember) up and around the building.
It’s actually rather sad to see it in such a state of disrepair, although I’m sure that a beautiful red and white hooped swan is soon to emerge from the current ugly ducking in a few weeks time.

Photos

Above us, only sky…

…well, that and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who continues to provide us with amazing photos of the earth, taken from the International Space Station and shared via twitter.

westcape

Yesterday, he gave us this gem of a a rather barren looking Western Cape, with a bit of Northern Cape at the top right and a bit of Eastern Cape at the bottom. (Because this image is “sideways”, South is left here.)

Looks like a lovely day in the Mother City (as it was), but Cape Agulhas is hidden under that little blanket of white cloud. Still, hardly get the red wine in and light the fire kind of weather, although you’re always more than welcome to do that if you want to.

Under Repair

Cape Agulhas lighthouse is undergoing some much needed repairs at the moment, as this photo clearly demonstrates:

20130301_184643

Taken by Mrs 6000 yesterday, you can see that the work is fairly extensive. And it needs to be: the winter storms on the Southern Tip show no mercy.

The lighthouse will have seen a few of them, having been built in local sandstone in 1848. And the damage that those storms can do was shown clearly in the late 1960s when the light was moved to an aluminium tower nearby (note to self: find picture of this), as the sandstone had eroded and the building itself was in danger of collapsing due to excessive weathering.
Thankfully (and rightfully), it was declared a national monument and it was restored and recommissioned in 1988.

The focal plane of the light is 31 metres (102 ft) above high water; the range of the 7,500,000 candlepower lantern is 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi). It rotates, giving off one white flash every five seconds. When they’re not repairing and restoring it,visitors are able to exercise their right to suffer terrifying vertigo by climbing the tower and examining the seemingly flimsy railings around the top.

Right now, I’m back in Cape Town, copying the lighthouse by having an external support structure around my right leg, which is being repaired and painted in bold red and white hoops before winter [don’t push the analogy – Ed.]. 

I miss Agulhas and I’m desperate to get back down there as soon as possible. But the 3 hour drive isn’t conducive to getting this ankle sorted and I know that sacrificing a visit this weekend is going to get that process over more quickly.

SS Wafra

It’s 42 years to the day – and almost to the minute as this publishes at 1730 CAT – since the oil tanker SS Wafra grounded on a reef off Cape Agulhas after her engine floundered due to a leak in her cooling system.

Almost half of her 472,513 barrel cargo escaped, with some 26,000 tons of oil leaked at the grounding site, of which 6,000 tonnes washed up at Cape Agulhas. A 20-mile (32 km) by 3-mile (4.8 km) oil spill resulted that affected a colony of 1200 African Penguins on Dyer Island near Gansbaai.

wafra

The vessel is on fire in this photo because the SA Air Force bombed it in an effort to scuttle it and er… failed:

The ship was refloated and pulled off the reef on 8 March by the German tug Oceanic, but started to break apart. To prevent further oil contamination of the coastline, the larger section was towed 200 miles (320 km) out to sea to the edge of the continental shelf (36°57’S 20°42’E), leaving a 160-kilometre (99 mi) oil slick in her wake. On 10 March 1971 Buccaneer aircraft of the South African Air Force attempted to sink her with AS-30 missiles, but succeeded only in starting a fire. The ship flounded ablaze for two days before a Shackleton aircraft was eventually able to sink it with depth charges in 1,830 metres (6,000 ft) of water.

HISTORY!

Other People’s Photos

As I sit here cursing my bad luck and impatient to hear my fate (I only see the ankle expert tomorrow), I have been enjoying other people’s photos.

image

image

Up top is a gorgeous stormy sea at Laxey in the Isle of Man from Gary Harrison.
Downstairs, a more local scene, with the continuing renovation work at the Cape Agulhas lighthouse.
I’m not quite sure what that huge scaffolding structure in the car park is for, but given their history with scaffolding down at the Southern Tip, it’s probably better to have a bit extra rather than not quite enough.