Reasons to love Port Elizabeth and Nelson Mandela Bay

A couple of years ago when I was still with Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism, we ran a campaign on 101 Reasons to Love Nelson Mandela Bay.  I had a blast recording 101 things to do around the city and metro and it was great to mention it all and not just try to highlight a few things.  At the time a video was also made where members of the public was asked to put something they love doing on a blackboard and be part of the video.  What do you love doing in the city?

Cape Recife seen from Marine Drive

Cape Recife is the western point of Algoa Bay and the lighthouse on the point was built in 1851.  This is the view from one of the lookout points along Marine Drive on the Wildside.

Lady Slipper hut

Sometimes you discover things at places that make you wonder why its there.  I had one of those moments on top of Lady Slipper recently.  Close to the Telkom tower, standing all on its own, is this little hut.  Just one square room with windows on all sides.  It has stunning views all around but its anything but a holiday home.  Wonder what it was build for? Or who?

Penguins on the diving board

I spent my 67 minutes of service in Nelson Mandela's name on Mandela Day at SAMREC in Cape Recife along with the team from Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism.  In between helping out I got to pop around to the penguin pool and photograph these few guys contemplating hopping of the "diving board". 

The Boardwalk Hotel seen from the pier

I mentioned the other day that I have finally started to Instagram now that I have replaced my Blackberry with a Samsung.  The day the phone was delivered to me I couldn't wait to take my first photo with it to post on Instagram.  I decided to take a walk across the road from the office and snap a picture of Hobie Beach and the Boardwalk Hotel from Shark Rock Pier.

Shark Rock Pier and Hobie Beach on a winters morning

After a nice cold snap a week or two ago, we've had some beautiful weather this week.  Walking across the road from my office to a meeting at Blue Waters Café I couldn't help but to snap Shark Rock Pier at Hobie Beach on my new phone and Instagram it.  By the way, have I mentioned that I'm on Instagram now? No? Well if you are on Instagram, please look me up under FireflyAfrica and follow my photos there as well.

45 seconds of Nelson Mandela Bay activities video

I absolutely love the Discover Freedom destination marketing video used to promote Port Elizabeth and Nelson Mandela Bay.  This is a short 45 sec version covering activities in and around the city.

Arc of the 30th Meridian

I took the KidZ on a Geocaching outing over the weekend to find a cache called Arc of the 30th Meridian.  It's located close to a trig beacon in the Humble Ways private nature reserve on top of Lovemore Heights and is one of the oldest caches in Port Elizabeth.  In the picture Chaos Boy is signing the logbook while Drama Princess strikes a pose.

 The trig beacon is one in a series of 26, which are the first set of historic astronomical stations measured in order to establish the groundwork of the Arc of the 30th Meridian.  The Arc of the 30th Meridian is a set of triangulation measurements effectively creating an arc from Port Elizabeth in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt through the entire African continent.

 

The purpose of the measurement was to determine the size and shape of the Earth.

 

This beacon represents the Southern most point of a chain of triangles measured along the 30th meridian through Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi,  Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and ending near Cairo in Egypt.

 

Prior to 1999 the beacon was also the origin of the geodetic survey of South Africa.

The project was initiated by Sir David Gill, the Astronomer Royal at the Cape in 1879 and the final measurements were completed in the Sudan 1954.

The arc, known as the Arc of the 30th Meridian, can be connected across the Mediterranean Sea through Crete and Belarus to a similar arc measured through Europe terminating at North Cape in Norway.  The European arc is known as the Struve Arc and together these two arcs cover nearly 105º in latitude which is over 11650 Km in length.

Approaching storm

If locals didn't realize that it was winter yet, they were reminded a week or two ago when a big coldfront hit and temperatures plummeted.  Suddenly it was freezing outside for a couple of days before normal winters weather resumed.  I was driving back to the office when the coldfront passed over and snapped this pic from the beach at Bird Rock.   

Beachfront aloes

The aloes are in full bloom along the beachfront walkway past Pollok Beach and Pipe surf spot