After leaving Cape Town, Mom and I drove up The Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. It's a beautiful drive and our first stop was Mossel Bay. "Mossel" actually refers to the "muscles" and oysters found in the bay by the first explorers who came to this area. 

Bartolomeu Dias arrived in Mossel Bay first in 1488. He was on his way to India and didn't realize he had already rounded the Cape of Good Hope.  After landing at Mossel, he was chased off by rock- throwing natives. The next explorer to show up was Vasco da Gama in 1497.

Look close at this picture and you'll see the breaching whale and a surfer about to catch a wave.

There are some wonderful old buildings in Mossel Bay.

Along with some very old churches.

Mom found another swing set and was in heaven.

We did some exploring around the Cape of St. Blaize.

The surf was pretty high right outside our hotel room.

The view from the Point Hotel in Mossel Bay where we stayed.

Mom is always making new friends. With this young lady she was singing "Jingle Bells"

She had to talk to this young boy because he had on a T-shirt from our favorite city.

The view from our room.

December 16th is the Day of Reconciliation, a South African national holiday, formerly called the Day of the Covenant. The city of Mossel Bay held a "colour" run.

Everyone was getting hit with powdered colors.

This is looking north from Cape St. Blaize. Look closely on the beach and you'll see Mom swinging on the swing set.

We left Mossel Bay and headed north to Knysna, a little city on the Indian Ocean. It had a small shopping village next to its harbor.

We had to take a picture of this sign. How far away are we from our youngest daughter in Chicago? Remember they use kilometers out here.

Knysna Quays, South Africa