ARE THE CETACEANS REALLY HAVING A WHALE OF A TIME?

That was the theme of the talk given by the senior research manager at the Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria to a capacity crowd at West Coast Fossil Park (both allied to Iziko Museum) on 3 June.

Based in Cape Town (there are no whales and dolphins in Gauteng, guys!), Meredith Thornton dropped everything to keep that appointment as well as the mass strandings workshop that she led the next day. No need to go into the incident that took place at Kommetjie on Saturday May 30th for you to understand that I do mean dropped, such is her dedication to the task at hand and her love for these mammals of the sea.

The workshop had been six months in the planning and its ultimate timing with Saturday’s mass stranding is an unfortunate coincidence, but one where everyone learned a bit more about how to deal with events of this nature, especially in St Helena Bay where Doctor Reef is a notorious ‘hotspot’ for mass strandings.

Oceana (St Helena Bay) hosted the workshop – thank you to site manager Titania Stefanus Zincke - which was attended by some 40-plus delegates representing MCM, SAPS, NSRI, MCS (marine compliance) and the private sector.

In addition to the theoretical side Meredith led the group down to the beach where she put us through a practical simulated exercise using blow-up dolphins. There were crowd controllers (Sgt. van Rooy from MCS Saldanha Harbour and Wally Cockrell from MCM Lambert's Bay) who unceremoniously (but in good fun) tumbled harasser Darryl Hess onto the other side of the cordon while the inevitable heckler shouted, “You don’t know what you’re doing”; and, aided by the Water Wings unit and MCS, NSRI officials carried out their role in trying to cope with well-meaning but ignorant onlookers.

In talking to Meredith, whose stay I had the privilege of hosting at Dolphin B&B+S/C, what has hit home to me personally is the love that she and her co-workers have for the creatures that they study and the pain they will have felt at having to reach the decision that they did. Does anyone stop to think about that? I have me doots.

So, to all - from Nan Rice of DAPG, who so calmly and efficiently handled the call for assistance, to Mike Meyer et al - a round of applause for a terrible job well handled. And, Meredith, the training you gave us will hold us in good stead in the event of yet another mass stranding at Doctor Reef in St Helena Bay. May it never happen.

THOUGHT I WAS IN HEAVEN

I’ve been quiet. Has anyone missed me? Don’t all shout at once!

For my annual leave this year I travelled Route 62 stopping off in all those delightful towns verging on the Little Karoo: you know, Barrydale, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn and then over the Swartberg Pass into Die Hel (aka Gamkaskloof). Described as one of the five most spectacular passes in the world, I don’t quite know what that means because I was far too busy keeping my eyes on the steering wheel and off the sheer drop to my right. Then three days and nights of stillness, broken only by the haa-haa laugh of dassies, with plentsch birding, book-reading and generally doing bugger all.

Here’s Moi with Pieter Joubert (whose Mom, Annatjie, nee Mostert, was born in the ‘Kloof but who now lives in Mossel Bay leaving him to run things, which involves telling 14 000 visitors a year about his corner of heaven (they misnamed the place) and stirring up great meals for the visitors).

Prince Albert on the hinterland side of the escarpment is a quaint town where I re-connected with Elaine Hurford who had so much to do with putting it on the tourist map 15 years ago. I also birded with locals Dawid and Jean Rossouw and Japie and Ralie Claassen and colleagues from Beaufort West. And, hey, guys, Japie’s The Man when it comes to endemic Karoo species; he runs Karoo Birding Safaris (claassen@cybertrade.co.za) I can’t promise you a sighting (like we had) of a Narina Trogan (I kid you not), but you’ll sure see many other exciting avifauna under his guidance.

I also spent two hours of true quality time in the company of Sue Milton-Dean, doctor of botany who now with her husband, Richard Dean, one of the three editors of the new Robert’s tome (yes, I did get his signature), have stepped out of academia to run Renu-Karoo which is about rehabilitating the veld damaged, mainly by ostriches.

Next Sutherland and SALT and, yes, it was perishing at night, reaching 0°C. The days, however, were delightfully temperate.

But, know what? I might well have been to Hell, but coming home again after three weeks was pure Heaven. Now to plan my next journey around this glorious country of ours. Where to from here?

DOIN' IT DIFFERENTLY

Honeymooners André and Janine Nordier arrived at Dolphin B&B+S/C on Sunday April 5, having been married on Cloof Wine Estate the previous day. Affixed to the back of their vehicle were their offroad bikes, which they used to work off the festivities of the wedding ceremony to good effect.
Now, in my humble experience, most newly-weds either never come out of the main en suite or they laze around on the deck in blissful nuptial harmony. Don’t get me wrong! These two were completely in tandem (no pun intended); they just got their kicks in another way. Each to his own, I say.

567 - YOUR NO. 1 NEWS STATION

Derrick Williams regularly tunes into Cape Talk and in particular likes to listen to John Maytham in his 15:00 to 18:00 slot. Derrick decided to give the general knowledge quiz a shot and in the play-off found himself the winner of “a free night for 2 at a luxurious Guest House, including Breakfast at the Dolphin B&B on the West Coast of Britania (sic) Bay, plus R400,00 cash and 7 bottles of Seven Sisters wine”.
That’s how he and Johanna ended up staying over with me last night during which time he shyly explained the competition and how his question stumped the rest of the team. Having lived at Wingfield Airport during the first quarter of the last century – sounds odd, doesn't it? – he is au fait with aircraft of all kinds and his question was: which four aircraft were used in domestic service prior to the jet engine? De Havilland, I knew was one, and possibly Douglas Skymaster, but the other two names eluded me, which simply stated means that had I entered I would have been knocked out.
Johanna’s a Graafwater girl so this return trip to the West Coast was like coming home and I do hope that their stay with me had that touch of home about it.
Oh yes … he tells me he hasn’t uncorked any bottles yet, so cheers, Derrick!

MUCH IN COMMON

Jules Bos, from Alphen, a village between Antwerp and Rotterdam, has the best of both worlds: he’s retired but still gets to visit developing countries acting as a consultant for a quasi-government organisation with headquarters in Den Haag.
It was on this basis that I was tasked with looking after his needs for the two weeks that he was visiting South Africa’s West Coast. “Tasked?” I say. Nay, it was indeed a pleasure to host his two-week stay and to talk with him about matters general and more specific, like the derivation of words that our nations share, like the Zandvliet Shiraz Rosé which he enjoyed with his curried kreef, Zandvliet of course translating into Sand River (vliet = flow).
They term it Chambre D’Hote in Europe; we call it Bed & Breakfast -

but hopefully our definition provides the requisite levels of service and personal touch.

MUD, MUD, GLORIOUS MUD

Wendy Stone of the Dept of Microbiology in the Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University, is doing her Masters on the occurrence of anammox bacteria (yes, readers, I also raised my eyebrows at that one) in South Africa. Her Associate Professor Alf Botha and Jan Wilsenach (CSIR), an expert on the anammox process, act as her study leaders on a joint project between the two organisations.
The overall aim of this project, which is largely sponsored by the Water Research Commission, is to search for anammox bacteria in South Africa. Writes Alf, “Under unaerobic conditions, these bacteria use nitrite to oxidize ammonium mainly to nitrogen gas.” He explained to me that this process has the potential to be used by the waste water industry in South Africa.
One of the sampling sites that they identified as a possible natural habitat of anammox bacteria was St Helena Bay – and that’s where Andrew Pascall, laboratory manager at CSIR and colleague Alistair Adonis (who, with his family, stayed at Dolphin B&B+S/C) proved invaluable.
So it was that this happy little band spent Valentine’s weekend scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel, that being the bed of the bay. Follow the red lines in the sketch to trace their route.
Alistair, skipper of Waverider, CSIR’s outsize rubberduck that sports 2X90 4-stroke engines, steered them out to sea in what was one of the gustiest days we’ve experienced this season. In situ the multi-corer was dropped and scooped up the requisite samples, which were then retrieved by the Davit system that operates on the vessel.
I know both Alistair and Andrew from the St Helena Bay Water Quality Trust (when I was manager till November 2008 and now a trustee) and who managed the bacteriological sample collection on behalf of the Trust. Alistair has upgraded his licensing to 40 nautical miles and the group was in excellent hands and the few herbies were not of his doing. As Alf puts it, “Without them sampling in the scientific manner would have been impossible. They could tell the properties of the sea bed and, very importantly, they were able to get us there and back in one piece.”

IF I KNEW YOU WERE COMING ...

I’d have baked a cake – so says the song, but in this case good friend George laid on lunch for my guest Lois Kolver and me at his wonderful bed and breakfast establishment, Blue Dolphin, across in Paternoster.
Here they stand with Sarah tucked into George’s arms (”She’s the boss around here,” I am reminded) with the wonderful view of Groot Paternoster bay in the background.
Colleague Courteney missed out on the delicious lunch, as he was manning his equally delightful gift shop in the town’s fish market square. But perhaps I made up for that by spending money on yet another set of earrings for myself (I now own over 200 pairs). “Do you really need more?” he enquired and of course the answer is “No, but I want them!”