Passing shots and passing ships

What an exhausting afternoon's tennis! Just kidding - only about 3 hours, with bits of work and kitty hunting in between. Biggles has now discovered that he can jump from the tree onto the balcony and seems to be doing a round trip - balcony, out the front door, up the tree, balcony, out the front door, up the tree...
Then it was time for a loooong sleep.

 

I chanced to see a passing ship at sunset, as it slid silently past on a pond-like ocean. Whipping out the camera, I took some arty shots - pity I don't have a telephoto lens, but it was an interesting phenomenon nonetheless. I manage to see so many fascinating things through this little gap between the trees, but it means I have to be constantly on the lookout. Whales, oil rigs, a US aircraft carrier, fishing boats, ski boats and passenger liners and a constant flotilla of cargo vessels pass the Cape of Good Hope in good weather and bad. There are times when the bulge of the bow that is below the waterline is visible as the vessel ploughs through the massive swells coming in from the South Atlantic, and plumes of white water explode over the deck as it plunges into the next swell. It's little wonder that our coastline is literally a ship's graveyard, particularly for the early wooden vessels which had only sails to rely on to keep them away from the treacherous reefs that guard our coast.