Gecko goes to Addo – Day 3

6 Replies

Once again we woke to a beautiful day with just a bit of cloud cover and a slight nip in the air. We left camp at 7:30 and made our way to Carol’s Rest stopping along the way to look at various creatures.

Simon spotted the ellies marching to the pond first then called – hey – there’s also a rhino! We must have just missed it taking a drink as it was heading back to the thickets.

There were red hartebeest about too (The Earl’s photo)

When the elephants left we moved on and found many more decorating the landscape.

There were a few birds about but most refused to pose.

This ant-eating chat always obliges and makes an excellent model

There were plenty of speckled mousebirds

Bokmakieries were constantly dueting and finally one posed for a portrait

When we returned to camp at around 10 am it had warmed up quite a bit. We went to the Cattle Baron for breakfast. The Earl had an omelette, Simon had the Classic Breakfast – 2 eggs, bacon, mushrooms, pork sausage, rosti and toast and I had the Sunrise – 2 eggs, bacon, tomato and rosti. We also enjoyed their excellent Americanos and Cappuccinos. We then relaxed in camp till around 1 pm before going out again. There were lots of elephants dotted about the landscape but we were too late for the waterhole activities. We did not see anything new and decided not to drive around too much as tomorrow we will do the south of the park before exiting.

When we got back I took a walk and went to the camp waterhole and the bird hide. The waterhole was quiet except for a few birds. The blacksmith lapwing was still sitting on her nest.

There was a great deal of activity at the bird hide. It was alive with weavers and bishops building nests and chatting to each other. A bushbuck also made an appearance and spent quite a while drinking and nibbling the water plants.

A sweet little bushbuck enjoying a snack and a drink

In the evening we braaied and had Magnum ice creams for dessert then we took down the canopy and packed up as much as possible in readiness for tomorrow’s departure.

Gecko Goes to Addo – Day 2

9 Replies

Friday 19 November 2021

Temperatures rose to around 24 degrees C today and we enjoyed the sunny conditions. We were up and ready to explore by quarter to eight.

These sweet yellow mongooses were catching the early morning rays

We came across quite a few elephants feeding in the bush – they love the spekboom

We have never seen so many Scrub Hares before – we had at least four today

We saw a few warthogs but not as many as we usually see

The Sombre Bulbul calls all the time – Willie – Come out and fight – but he is not usually so conspicuous

Usually, we see the Spekboom with just their little green leaves but at this time of year, they burst into blossom. The leaves of the tree are highly nutritious. Elephants, rhino and kudu love them. They are good for human consumption too. I have some growing in my garden and use the leaves in my salads. They have a delicious lemony flavour.

We stopped at Jack’s Picnic Site for a loo break and to stretch our legs. It’s a good place to look for birds too.

We returned at 10:30 and made breakfast and then went out again at 12. But first, we checked out the camp waterhole. All we saw were Egyptian Geese, Lesser Striped Swallows, Hadedas and Blacksmith Lapwings.

Our afternoon trip produced elephants at most of the waterholes we visited and we also had good sightings of zebra, kudu and red hartebeest. Simon has excellent spotting skills and got us a black rhino. It was far off and kept disappearing into the bush so we did not get a photograph but it was lovely to see.

Lovely to see a couple of these guys – Red-necked Spurfowl

Supper this evening was braaied chicken, chops and boerewors with potatoes and salad.

Gecko goes to Addo – Day 1

17 Replies

In spite of LockDown restrictions, Gecko 81 has managed to break away and do a bit of exploring this year. After our long Kruger trip, we really did try to stay home for a while. We had a few things that needed our attention in Struisbaai but once they were over we felt drawn to hitch up the caravan again. But first, we had to pop over to Cape Town so I could attend a College Old Girls’ gathering. We were there for four days, did some chores that needed doing, visited a few friends and relatives, and then came back to Struisbaai to fetch the caravan. Our daughters, Lisa and Laurie drove up too and then travelled with us to Plettenberg Bay where we stayed with our middle daughter for a few days. We celebrated her 50th birthday on the 16th. We had not planned to take any of the grandchildren to Addo with us but discovered that our youngest, Simon (almost 17) has completed his school year and was on holiday. His sister (almost 20) is studying and working so could not take time off much to her and our disappointment!

So after spending three nights in Plett with the family we set off to Addo this morning. It poured during the night and was raining still when we awoke. We worried that it would be raining in Addo too but by the time we left Plett at 8:30 it had stopped and we had no rain on the trip. We found out though, that it had also rained here the day before and this morning. Simon is sleeping in a tent so hopefully, the rain will hold off for the rest of the time that we are here.

It is not easy to get caravan sites in Addo Elephant Park at short notice and when I booked ten days ago there were very few sites available. We entered Colchester Gate at 1 pm and arrived at Addo Rest camp an hour later.

One of the first creatures to greet us – A Male Ostrich – He might be sitting on eggs?

Although the Eastern Cape has had a terrible drought for the past few years, the park was lovely and green. Clearly, the recent rains have brought on new growth. Much more is still needed.

The campsite was pretty full but we managed to get a really nice, shady spot near the ablution block. Two staff members appeared and helped us set up. It really wasn’t necessary especially as we had Simon but it did speed the process up considerably.

A lovely corner site – more pics to follow tomorrow

After this morning’s rain, lots of dung beetles emerged from the bush and this one decided to visit our campsite.

After setting up, doing a bit of shopping and having a cup of coffee and a snack we set off for our afternoon drive.

We saw quite a few suricates (meerkats) but they were far off and quick to scurry away

Most of the elephants we saw were hiding in the bushes

And gave us a fright when they suddenly emerged

They really look magnificent against the skyline

And of course warthogs – this baby was with his mom – more of these creatures to follow

We returned just after 6 pm and decided to go to The Cattle Baron for dinner. Skukuza has a Cattle Baron that does excellent Chateaubriand and we hoped Addo’s would be as good. And it was! It is served with a choice of chips, rice or baked potato plus spinach and butternut for the table. Simon had calamari and thoroughly enjoyed that too. It was a real treat to get such lovely food and excellent service.

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals 2021 Closing Function

8 Replies

For the Closing Function and Prize Giving of the SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals held at Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club, Marinda, and her team catered a delicious brunch.

All the results were ready and kept a strict secret and there was certainly an air of expectation as the teams dressed in their formal uniforms arrived for the big reveal.

Before the proceedings began I took photographs of some of the teams in their smart provincial uniforms.

Skipper of Piromero with SADSAA U19 Team
Jan du Plessis (Jnr) (Captain) – Robin Vermaak (skipper) – Chais Gaul, Werner van Zyl

Skipper of Piromero with the Western Province Team
Colin Joubert (Captain) – Robin Vermaak (Skipper) – Iaan Viljoen, DP Burger

Border finally posed for a group photo
Gary Lunt, Everitt van Loggerenberg, Andrew Harris

Border Ladies in their smart uniforms
Sue Botha, Belinda Fischl, Jacky Luef

DP Burger, Vice Chairman of Western Province Deep Sea Angling Association welcomed the teams, skippers and dignatories and then handed the proceedings over to Chris Schorn, Vice President of SADSAA.

After the results were announced and the prizes were presented by Chris Schorn, Vice Chairman of SADSAA.

Two competitors were presented with certificates for competing in a SADSAA team for the first time.

Nick Nel (SADSAA Tournament Officer) – Werner van Zyl (Under 19) – Chris Schorn (Vice Chairman of SADSAA)

Nick Nel -Louis Becker (SADSAA) – Chris Schorn

Emotions ran high when some competitors received their Protea colours. They will be representing their country in Iceland and Denmark.

Nick Nel and Chris Schorn with the Iceland Team
Allen Ford, Daniel Hughes, John Luef, Francois Beukes

Nick Nel and Chris Schorn with the Denmark Team
Daniel Hughes, (Captain) Louis Becker, Kobus Koekemoer, John Luef, Francois Beukes

Appreciation was expressed for the hard work put in by those working in the background.

Colin Joubert (Western Province Chairman) presents Sonja Marais with a gift for her hard work and excellent organisation on the tournament committee. Without her, this tournament would not have been as successful as it was.

Colin presents Philip van der Walt with a gift for his role as weighmaster and scorer.

Colin thanks Riaan van Staden for the part he played in both organising the launching of the fleet each morning and managing the SADSAA U19 team. He also gave a lot of assistance to the tournament committee.

Marinda de Kock manageress of Suidpunt Deepsea Angling Club receives a lovely protea bouquet for her excellent catering for this tournament

Earl Fenwick who did radio communication duty and ensured the fleet’s safety at sea receives a gift pack from Colin. Thanks also to Andrew Perrins who ran Nationals Control from England on 82 D.

Yes – that’s me with Colin. What a beautiful bouquet of proteas – our national flower.
It was a huge pleasure doing the photographs and writing the daily reports.

It was then time to present the medals. The skippers were awarded one point if the team on their boat earned the most points. Each day their points were added up and thus the skipper with the fewest points became the winner.

Brian Haywood was third but was not there to receive his medal.

Piet Wessels of Bayswater received a Silver Medal

Gold went to Daniel Hughes skipper of Relentless

The competition was divided into a Men’s and Ladies’ division and medals were awarded accordingly. There were just four ladies teams and they did very well indeed.

Bronze went to the beautiful Border Girls.
Jacky Luef (captain) Chris Schorn, Belinda Fischl, Sue Botha

Silver went to the wonderful Western Province Lasses
Karla Rautmann, Chris Schorn, Amanda van Staden, Adele Palmer

And the awesome Eastern Province Ladies took Gold!
Vanessa Gerber, Chris Schorn, Jen Nelson, Sheena Gerber

The Eastern Cape Ladies had the third highest points out of all fourteen teams.

Medals were then presented to the winning men’s teams.

By the skin of their teeth, SADSAA Masters Green took Bronze
John Luef (Captain) – Chris Schorn – Wayne Gerber, Gary Truluck

Eastern Province took Silver Chris Schorn – Kevin Clark (Captain), Ben de Bruyn, Ian Peinke

Western Province took Gold
Iaan Viljoen – Chris Schorn – Colin Joubert (Captain), DP Burger

The teams fished four out of the five possible days. The fourth day was called off due to inclement weather and poor conditions at sea. The final results are tabled below.

Position	Team	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 5	Total
1	Western Province	263,00	371,16	308.32	73.23	1015.71
2	Eastern Province	429.14	149.58	217.77	19.65	816.13
3	SADSAA Masters Green	237.40	197.21	150.09	40.45	625.14
4	SADSAA	106.44	111.28	317.38	20.14	555.24
5	Southern Cape	342.56	122.09	10.06	61.97	536.68
6	SADSAA U19	17.91	193.53	262.71	41.12	515.27
7	Natal	97.02	162.88	204.21	37.66	501.78
8	Border	104.24	152.15	12.88	16.03	285.29
9	Free State	62.61	20.57	89.47	72.84	245.49
10	SADSAA Masters Gold	43.96	52.36	33.59	22.66	153.57

Men’s Team Results

Position	Team	Day1	Day2	Day3	Day5	Total
1	Eastern Province Ladies	20.13	379.69	70.45	311.55	781.83
2	Western Province Ladies	59.55	168.25	140.54	44.60	412.94
3	Border Ladies	115.78	111.83	87.75	91.63	406.99
4	Barbarian Ladies	104.15	11.44	`8.63	3.92	138.14

Ladies’ Team Results

	BoatT	Skipper	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 5	Total
1	Relentless	Daniel Hughes	4	5	1	4	14
2	Bayswater	Piet Wessels	1	12	2	1	16
3	Rapidcat	Brian Haywood	5	3	7	7	22
4	Double D	Erik Dahl	2	6	9	6	23
5	Zeeman	De Wet Zeeman	6	4	8	10	28
6	Booby Trap	Owen Pretorius	3	7	10	5	25
7	Tails Up	Harry Botha	7	1	12	9	29
8	Wee Nenya	Bryan Fitchat	8	9	5	8	30
9	Sea Dodger	Roger Marais	9	10	6	11	36
10	@Work	Rick Kuisis	11	11	3	12	37
11	Stompie 2	Riaan Swart	12	2	13	14	41
12	Moelas	Chris Moelman	10	8	11	13	42
13	Piromero	Robin Vermaak	14	13	4	3	34
14	Capetonian	Hubert Meyer	13	14	14	2	43

Boat Positions

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals Day 5 Afternoon Report

3 Replies

The weather and sea conditions were not the greatest today and the anglers went to sea with the understanding that they might be called to safer areas if the wind got up and that early lines up would be called if conditions worsened even further. By 11:00 the call went out for everyone to move from the deeper waters to an area closer to the harbour and lines had to be up by 12 noon. In spite of the shortened day, some good fish were caught by some of the teams. There are likely to be some surprises at tomorrow’s prize-giving!

Jen Nelson from Eastern Province Ladies has a possible record gurnard

Jaqueline Luef (Border Ladies) with potential record hake.

Eastern Province Ladies Vanessa Gerber, Jennifer Nelson, Sheena Gerber

Barbarian Ladies Michelle Richards, Mable Liebenburg, Bronwen Singleton

Border Ladies – Jacqueline Luef, Belinda Fischl, Sue Botha

Western Province Ladies Karla Rautmann, Adelle Palmer, Amanda van Staden

Eastern Province Men Ian Peinke, Kevin Clark, Ben de Bruyn

Western Province Iaan Viljoen, DP Burger, Colin Joubert

Free State Andrea Papachristoforou, Martin du Plessis, Ruan Coetzer

Natal Sayed Cassim, Riaz Hussain, Jan Harm du Plessis (Snr)

Southern Cape Chris Schorn, Johann Crouse, Johan Slabbert

SADSAA Louis Becker, Abed Khan, Kobus Koekemoer

SADSAA Masters Green John Luef, Wayne Gerber, Gary Truluck

SADSAA Master Gold Allen Ford, John Watkins, Francois Beukes

SADSAA Under 19 Werner van Zyl, Chais Gaul, Jan Harm du Plessis (Jnr)

The Border Boys escaped my camera today – so here is one from a few days ago!
These are their names but I don’t know whether I have the order right or not.
Andrew Harris, Gary Lunt, Everitt van Loggerenberg

After the weigh-in and recording of the catches, there was a lively spirit at the clubhouse as the teams mingled and discussed the wonderful week of fishing they had enjoyed together. Having four out of five potential days was just awesome and so nobody minded the gusting winds, darkening skies, and later a downpour of rain. They were back safely onshore and the competition was over!

Marinda, manageress of Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club, and her amazing staff have catered excellent boat packs and dinners during this week and tonight we are all looking forward to her famous lasagne! Then tomorrow the prize-giving and closing function will take the form of a brunch. All results will be posted thereafter.

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals – Day 5 Morning Report

6 Replies

Here are Day 3’s results which were held back in case of poor weather and sea conditions putting an end to any further fishing days. The final results are always only revealed at the closing function and prize-giving.

Team	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Total
Western Province	263	371.16	308.32	947.48
Eastern Province	429.14	149.58	217.77	796.48
SADSAA Masters Green	237.40	197.21	150.09	584.69
SADSAA	105.44	111.28	317.38	535.10
Southern Cape	342.56	122.09	10.06	474.71
SADSAA Under 19	17.01	193.53	262.71	474.15
Eastern Province Ladies	20.13	379.69	70.45	470.28
Natal	97.02	162.88	204.21	564.11
Western Province Ladies	59.55	168.25	140.54	368.34
Border Ladies	115.78	111.83	87.75	315.36
Border	104.24	152.15	12.88	269.26
Free State	62.61	20.57	89.47	122.65
Barbarian Ladies	104.15	11.44	18.63	134.22
SADSAA Masters Gold	43.96	53.36	33.59	130.01

Day 3 Results

The boat positions (remember the lowest score wins) stand as follows:-

Boat	Skipper	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Total
Relentless	Daniel Huges	4	5	1	10
Bayswater	Piet Wessels	1	12	2	15
Rapidcat	Brian Haywood	5	3	7	15
Double D	Erik Dahl	2	6	9	17
Zeeman	De Wet Zeeman	6	4	8	18
Booby Trap	Owen Pretorius	3	7	10	20
Tails Up	Harry Botha	7	1	12	20
Wee Nenza	Bryan Fitchat	8	9	5	22
Sea Dodger	Roger Marais	9	10	6	25
@Work	Rick Kuisis	11	11	3	25
Stompie 2	Riaan Swart	12	2	13	27
Moelas	Chris Moelman	10	8	11	29
Piromero	Robin Vermaak	14	13	4	31
Capetonian	Hubert Meyer	13	14	14	41

Boat Positions

Hereunder is the boat allocation for today, Day 5.

Team	Boat	Skipper
SADSAA Masters Green	Wee Nenya	Bryan Fitchat
Western Province Ladies	Double D	Erik Dahl
SADSAA	Sea Dodger	Roger Marais
SADSAA Under 19	Rapidcat	Brian Hayward
Free State	Relentless	Daniel Hughes
Eastern Province	@Work	Rick Kuisis
SADSAA Masters Gold	Zeeman	de Wet Zeeman
Western Province	Piromero	Robin Vermaak
Border	Moelas	Chris Moelman
Eastern Province Ladies	Bayswater	Piet Wessels
Barbarian Ladies	Stompie 2	Riaan Swart
South Coast	Booby Trap	Owen Pretorius
Natal	Tails Up	Harry Botha
Border Ladies	Capetonian	Hubert Meyer

Boat Draw – Day 5

After a rest day yesterday, the anglers were raring to go this morning. This is their last chance to forge ahead and improve their scores. It was really chilly during the launch and the light was not good but here are a few impressions of the morning’s send-off.

May all the teams have an awesome last day.

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals Day 3 Evening Report

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals Day 3 Morning Report

2 Replies

What a great day our anglers had yesterday. The scores have been tallied and hereunder you will see how our teams are doing.

Team	Day 1	Day 2	Total
Western Province	263.0	371.16	634.16
Eastern Province	429.14	149.58	578.71
Southern Cape	342.56	122.09	464.64
SADSAA Master Green	237.40	197.21	434.61
Eastern Province Ladies	20.13	253.13	273.26
Natal	97.02	162.88	259.91
Border	104.24	152.15	256.38
Western Province Ladies	59.55	168.25	227.80
Border Ladies	115.78	111.83	227.61
SADSAA	106.44	111.28	217.72
SADSAA Under19	17.91	193.53	211.44
Barbarian Ladies	104.15	11.44	115.59
SADSAA Masters Gold	43.96	53.36	97.32
Free State	62.61	20.57	83.18

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals Score Sheet Day 2

We did not get the golden dawn of the past two days this morning but our anglers were still in good spirits and ready to greet the rather chilly start to the day. There was a cold wind blowing and the skies were overcast.

Because of the poor light, I was not able to get portraits of all the boats today so I will quickly list which team is on which boat. There are, of course, also a few photos of the launch.

Boat	Team
Sea Dodger	SADSAA Master Green
Rapidcat	Western Province Ladies
Relentless	SADSAA
Zeeman	Free State
Piromero	Eastern Province
Moelas	SADSAA Masters Gold
Bayswater	Western Province
Stompie 2	Border
Booby Trap	Eastern Province Ladies
Tails Up	Barbarian Ladies
@Work	SADSAA Under 19
Capetonian	Southern Cape
Wee Nenya	Natal
Double D	Border Ladies

Current Scores

Boats also get points for how well their teams do. The Skipper with the least number of points will be in the lead.

Boat	Skipper	Day 1	Day 2	Total
Double D	Erik Dahl	2	6	8
Rapidcat	Brian Haywood	5	3	8
Relentless	Daniel Hughes	4	5	9
Tails Up	Harry Botha	7	2	9
Zeeman	De Wet Zeeman	6	4	10
Booby Trap	Owen Pretorius	5	7	10
Bayswater	Piet Wessels	1	12	13
Stompie 2	Riaan Swart	12	1	13
Wee Nenya	Bryan Fitchat	8	9	17
Moelas	Chris Moolman	10	8	18
Sea Dodger	Roger Marais	9	10	19
@Work	Rick Kuisis	11	11	22
Capetonian	Hubert Meyer	13	14	27
Piromero	Robin Vermaak	14	13	27

Boat Scores

At Work looking stunning in the dawn light

Karla Rautmann (WP Ladies) with her mom, Jacqui

Ian Peinke, Ben De Bruyn, Kevin Clark with skipper Robin Vermaak

Free State Team – Martin du Plessis, Andreas Papachristoforou, Ruan Coetzer

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals Day 2 Evening Report

3 Replies

During the day as we listened to the reports coming in on the radios, we could tell that a great day was being had by all the anglers. Both skill and luck go into every competition but the important thing is that a lot of fun is had by all.

By the end of the week, the winners will have caught a variety of species, and the more species they bag the better their chances of winning are. It is difficult to gauge in the beginning how well the boats are doing because it is not dependent on the number and weight of the fish caught. Of course weight counts but the variety of species is more important. Most of the species caught are measured, photographed, and then released. Only a few species, therefore, are brought to the scales to be weighed and those fish are kept for eating. The competition is definitely on right up until the end!

Border Ladies Belinda Fischl, Jaqueline Leuf, Sue Botha

Western Cape Ladies Amanda van Staden. Adele Palmer, Karla Rautmann with Skipper of Relentless, Daniel Hughes

Eastern Cape Ladies Jennifer Tanner Nelson, Sheena Gerber and Vanessa Gerber

Barbarian Ladies Michelle Richards, Mable Liebenberg and Bronwen Singleton

Western Province Men on Stompie 2 Colin Joubert, Iaan Viljoen, DP Burger with skipper Riaan Swart

Border Ladies posing with their catch and skipper

Western Province men with some of their catch – DP , Iaan and Colin

SADSAA Under 19 boys with their catch – Werner van Zyl, Jan Harm du Plessis Junior, Chais Gaul

Eastern Cape Ladies had an excellent day – Sheena Gerber, Jennnifer Tanner Nelson and Vanessa Gerber- Jen’s cob is possibly a lady’s record.

And at the harbour this afternoon the stingrays could not resist a visit to see what was happening.

Day 2’s results will be published in tomorrow’s report.

Here are few more photos of some of the boats returning this afternoon.

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals Day 2

4 Replies

Once again the teams woke to a beautiful morning and were ready to enjoy another exciting fishing day.

So far the results look like this.

Eastern Province	439.14
Southern Cape	342.56
Western Province	263
SADSAA Masters Green	237.4
Border Ladies	115.78
SADSAA	106.44
Border	104.24
Barbarian Ladies	104.15
Natal	97.02
Free State	62.61
Western Province Ladies	59.55
SADSAA Masters Gold	43.96
Eastern Province Ladies	20.13
SADSAA Under 19	17.93

SADSAA Bottom Fish Nationals Results Day 1

There was an expectant air of excitement at the harbour this morning as upbeat music blasted from one of the towing vehicles as the teams waited for their boats to arrive.

Soon the signal was given for the launch to start and by 06:00 the last boat, Stompie 2, was launched and they all set off to the deep.