Knysna

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May 17th 2008

Published: May 23rd 2008

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pwincess

Us on the ferry in the harbour

I wish I could name all the farm stalls/tea gardens/craft shops we stopped at along the way and on this trip, but I can't remember their names,I should write them down, I know, but there are so many,try and stop at each if you can,some serve great food and have wicked things on sale ,we went slightly off the beaten track into Buffalo bay outskirts,and found a jumble of buildings next to the road that used to be the station, it now houses a homely coffee shop,leather shop and a very nice craft shop,where Dave bought me a beautiful dress,one of those hand weaved patterned long dresses,can't explain it, find the store and buy one for yourself,they come in mini too!!!
We arrived in Knysna to find the right hand side of the road teeming with little stalls full of African curios and trinkets.The entire entire of town was also full of little undercover stalls in the open mall area.
We drove to Monk's Caravan park,which is right on the lagoon and also within walking distance of Spar and the Quays and got a spot right in front of the jetty,looking right out across the lagoon. We took a walk along

View from the Ferry on the lagoon

the paved lagoon front to the Quays at Thesen Island.
This is where it all happens. The charter boats all launch from here,it is the harbor, the ferries leave from here, it is full of restaurants, shops and lights up at night.
We ate an ice cream while wandering around the harbor,and decided to book a sunset lagoon cruise.
The cruise took place on the John Benn Ferry,it started at 17h30.It is a medium sized beautiful,wooden paneled ferry,with two decks. The lower deck is a dining room and the upper deck is a bar with tables outside. We were lucky enough to dodge the Thompson's Tours people and get the best seat in the house. The Upper right table .Perfect. As the ferry left,we got a brief from the “host” Eric about where were going etc,while drinks and food are ordered. Then you sit back, relax and float towards the heads as the sun goes down behind you.
The food is sumptuous,expensive and worth it!!!!
The ferry stops just inside the heads and our host gives us some history of Knysna and The Heads.
Knysna Heads-site of most shipwrecks, so they brought in a harbor master ,who would sometimes make

dave

Dave on ferry

ships wait up to 2 weeks before entering the bay .The sandbars shift all the time and currents are strong, after they brought in the harbour master, shipwrecks and accidents lessened. Knysna was de-commissioned as a harbor in 1954.

The view from the ferry is spectacular and if I lived in Knysna, I'd go out there daily.
Armed with a few double rums and cokes, and a delicious sm0oked salmon taco wasabi mayonnaise snack thingy, we went to a local pub,Olde's,which is a generic Irish type pub with friendly service. After leaving Olde's a couple more rums later, we stumbled upon Zanibar Cocktail Lounge,they had a tequila special..oh yeah!!!! Nice generic dance club with pool tales and an outside balcony which is a godsend!!!
That ended Friday night at 04h00,after getting thrown out of Zanzibar at closing time,with some Amarula by the lagoon.AAAh,our second friday night on our trip, on week into it,ends as fabulously as the first night did..and the second...and the third...

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