Rent a Houseboat

By Erns Grundling

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This is the view from the deck of the Larus at sundown, with a fancier houseboat in the foreground.

From the jetty at Kraalbaai the Langebaan Lagoon looks like a brochure advertising an expensive, glamorous destination: A handful of houseboats float about 100 m away in the deep blue water; to the right the green and grey knuckles of Postberg tower above the landscape; a flock of great white pelicans lands in formation in the shallow water near the well-known Preekstoel rock.

Wiseman Khonto comes chugging along in a small boat to take us to the Larus, a neat, no-frills self-catering houseboat with just about everything you have at home, including a hot shower, freezer, oven, cutlery, crockery and even a braai.

When you lie down on the queen-size bed in the main bedroom (one of three rooms), it feels as if you can roll off the bed into the water. Only a few huge windows separate you from the blue water. And there’s no need to worry about sea-sickness; the water is shallow and you barely feel the movement as the boat rides around the anchor in the breeze.

On our first morning on the lagoon we go paddling with Phil Solomon of Gravity Adventures.
He fetches us right there at the houseboat, bringing the kayaks. Fortunately it’s a windless day.
We paddle along the Postberg peninsula. After an hour we stop at a secluded beach and tuck into sandwiches Phil brought with him. In the distance, beyond Schaapeneiland, you can see the houses of Langebaan and Saldanha. But here it’s peaceful, untouched.
With our souls restored, we paddle around Preekstoel, where “Eve’s footprints”, two human footprints dating back about 117 000 years, were found in 1995. Then we head back to the Larus – ready to relax and laze around with a clear conscience.

In the late afternoon we braai chops and wors as the sun sets.
Later on we see the stars reflected in the water.
In his book A Giant in Hiding, Lawrence Green writes that the recluse Frank Wightman, who lived in this area, once said: “May I live to be a hundred. May I always come back to this place.”

Go! says: Enjoy a meal at the Geelbek Restau­rant. It’s in a stately Cape Du­tch hou­se. They serve traditional dishes su­ch as a Malay chicken cu­rry (R68) and bobotie (R70).

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Published 1 October 2009

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