Krista poses the question this week: “If given the choice, what would you rather be doing, right now?” Imagine a place – a “Stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off” kind of a place where you can escape the hurley-burley and be amazed and awed by a completely different world. False Bay here in the southern peninsula of Cape Town is a wondrous place, where the influence of two ocean currents – the warm Agulhas and the cold Benguela mingle and create a flourishing ecosystem.
It’s been a while since i dipped below the waters, but recently my interest is inspired through the marvellous Blue Planet II series where the episode the ” Green Seas” features the extraordinary creatures living in the kelp forest including the cunning behaviour of a smart octopus.
I’m a fan of octopi.
I watched a captive octopus being fed once. It was scary!
Eight-armed dexterity has an advantage 🙂
Fascinating creatures but I can’t say I’m a fan!
🙂 all those horror movies Gilly! The scientists will have us know that they’re smart and sentient creatures 🙂
Warm Agulhas current at Cape Agulhas
Hi Diana, there’s often a mistaken issue over the oceans and the currents and where they meet! The Indian and Atlantic oceans I believe are declared to meet at Cape Agulhas. The currents have a more complex dispersal and overlap and I carefully chose the description of the currents ‘mingling’ as I understand from the excellent information from Prof George Branch and Margo Branch’s ‘The Living Shores’ that the Agulhas current is a complex water system sweeping southwards and then returning eastwards as the Return Agulhas but three other circuits also exist and also there is a description have ‘filaments’ which detach and swirl around Cape Point. An excellent detailed satellite image using infrared shows up the warm/cold water and the complex mixing of the two water masses. Fascinating stuff.
I need to do some more reading then
Lovely photos and writing. I’m very curious to figure out what kind of ecosystem thrives in an environment like that. I imagine it’s pretty diverse, considering there are so many varied conditions.