WhaleTale News
Dear Friends, the Whales are in town! Last Saturday, Gansbaai harbour hosted the Walker Bay Welcome-back Whale Day celebration to kick off our Whale Watching season. Many locals and tourists went aboard a boat for a sea safari, and they were not disappointed. Spectators enjoy entertainment by Humpback Whales displaying their breaching skills. Leaping out of the water, twisting onto their backs as they plunge back down into the water, leaving a spray of sea mist floating in the air. It is a spectacular sight to behold up close.
After watching our SA Oscar-winning documentary film “My Octopus Teacher”, it wasn’t easy to observe a Cape Fur Seal slapping its Octopus catch of the day on the surface of the water (presumably to tenderise it, I think) before devouring it. When the Marina Big 5 are all spotted on the same day; Great White Sharks, Humpback and Southern Right Whales, Dolphins, Cape Fur Seals and African Penguins, which often happens in our bay, you know you’ve hit the jackpot, or is it dolphin pod?!
Do you remember my ex-colleague model friend Marika now living in a village called Magyarkanizsa, somewhere in Hungary? I wrote about her, Patti and our Lonstein fashion days in a previous whale tale. Well, Marika sent me a photo of a magnificent red and purple Poppy field she walks by on her daily visits to family & friends. I asked her if they were wild Poppies growing on vacant land like we find the wild Cosmos flowers stretching for miles on end next to our national roads. I love the white, pink and purple display of Cosmos flowers. She said, “no, these Poppy fields are planted by farmers. As the muffin baking ‘tannies’ will know, Poppy seeds are widely used in the confection industry. Poppies are also grown in Afghanistan for the manufacturing of Heroin”. The next day she corrected herself by saying:- “Sorry Girls, I wrote to you that they make Herion out of purple Poppies in Afghanistan. Wrong, they make OPIUM. You can see I am not a frequent user of these drugs; hence I mix up the names”.
Indeed, as the petals fall away, they expose an oval-shaped seed capsule. Slitting it open with a sharp blade, they extract an opaque milky sap inside the pod that turns into brown gum. This sap is Opium in its natural form. My response to our ignorance regarding drugs was:- “No problem, Marika. I am on Opium, two sprays behind each ear lobe and my wrists, and the Kaal-ou gets intoxicated big time”. On the Cape flats, the gangsters are sadly on Tik, in beautiful Hermanus, it’s Opium my dear – Yves Saint Laurent style!
As I’m wrapping up this whale tale, the big old moon is hanging like a big shiny ball outside my studio window. Tonight it leaves a silver trail on a noisy restless black sea. With the Covid 19 infections gaining alarming momentum in our country, let’s buckle up our safety precautions and remain calm. We already passed the winter solstice a few days ago, and summer is on its way, baby.
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