Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Cape Agulhas

We drove to the southernmost tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas. As far as either of us could remember, we had never been to the furthest extremity of any contintent before. I particularly liked the little signs on the bottom of the marker. They helpfully pointed east to the Indian Ocean and west to the Atlantic.


We couldn't help but notice that there were at least twenty or thirty feet of land south of the marker, so we climbed out onto the rocks and stuck our hands in the Indian-Atlantic water.


After that, we climbed to the top of the Agulhas Lighthouse. Evidently "agulhas" means "needles," and Cape Agulhas got its name because the compass needles don't work well in the area. It's the site of many shipwrecks.


This is the lens of the lighthouse. Andy says it's called a Fresnel Lens.

And this is the lighthouse's shadow.


Melissa

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