2009-09-21 – a bay full of mussels

NB: this entry will eventually be edited to add photos, links, etc.

The next place on our itinerary was Mossel Bay, a very nice little city along the Indian Ocean, with lots of beaches for surfing. Or that's what it looked like to us; we never really did any research on the place. We somehow really screwed up the calculations for driving from Struisbaai to Mossel Bay, and thought we would arrive so late that we wouldn't have time to do anything there...

We ended up arriving in the early afternoon, and got settled into our guesthouse – Aqua Marina. We got a huge room with an even huger bathroom, including a nice big tub that we unfortunately never got to use... bah. The room also had quite a huge view of the huge ocean. (Is Ms Penguin using the word 'huge' too much as she writes this? :)

Anyway, our hosts weren't around so we decided to explore the city a little bit on our own. We went out to an area called The Point (where they have this apparently well-known hotel), and walked along the beach to watch the surfers. As we were walking, we came across a teeeeeeeeeeny tiny shark aquarium/research center. They were feeding the sharks as we arrived; they were also teeeny tiny, at least compared to the great whites that are the main focus of the research going on at the research center.

Afterward, we went back to our guesthouse. Over there, we got information about where we could go for dinner. There is a shuttle service in Mossel Bay that takes people to and from various restaurants, which is quite nice because then Mr. Penguin could have wine with his meal (remember people, drinking and driving kills!). Oh, and the driver is a really lovely older chap who enjoys talking to people. So we had dinner at The King Fisher, at The Point...

The King Fisher was quite busy that night; there was a lively atmosphere and lots of (local) people were coming in and out. We learned afterward that today's special was sushi, and that was the reason so many people were there. Darn... sushi would have been nice... It also explains why it took them so long to bring Ms. Penguin her aperitif – a cosmopolitan – as they were quite busy at the bar (Mr. Penguin had an easy-to-make gin and tonic). It was also the strangest cosmopolitan Ms. Penguin had ever received anywhere. It was served in a huge glass with cranberry sugar on the rim and with a huge pink umbrella. Yes, there are photos but you will have to wait for those...

Ms. Penguin had mussels with creamy garlic sauce as her starter, while Mr. Penguin had big, chewy snails in garlic butter, with bread on the side. The mussels were fresh and tasty, but the sauce was a bit boring. The snails were tasty.

We both had the calamari feast as our main course – three types of calamari served with fries and salad. It included a battered and fried calamari steak, calamari in the house sauce, and calamari naturel. It was very tasty and very filling... oof ;-)

To wash everything all down, we quaffed a Durbanville Heights Sauvignon Blanc 2009
color: too dark to see
nose: gooseberries, grass
palate: young, dry, refreshing; flavor of gooseberries, granny Smith apples, hint of starfruit and peaches. Very nice with seafood.
Grade: :-)+

Since RoF was demanding dessert, we fed it dessert – we each had a piece of delicious cheesecake, served with ice cream, with some coffee on the side...

We really enjoyed The King Fisher, and when you have a lively place as it was, you observe some interesting things. Like people's drinking and eating habits. Like the people sitting a few tables away from us, drinking red wine with their sushi. Or the people at the table right next to us dumping large quantities of ice cubes into their sweet white wine. To each their own, I guess...

When we finally got back to our guesthouse, we had a nice long conversation with one of the owners until we finally decided that we all needed some sleep. That's one of the really fun things with the guest houses and B&Bs in South Africa... you can really get into some very interesting conversations :-)