South Africa has declared the area around Marion and Prince Edward Islands in the south Atlantic a marine protected zone. These two global 'biodiversity hotspots', over 2000 km south-east of Simon's Town, are home to many of the planet's remaining albatrosses as well as seals and penguins. It is quite likely that the mythical albatross shot with a cross-bow by the story-teller in Coleridge's wonderful "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" had a home on the island. Probably the best-known stanza is: "Water, water everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink". This is somewhat strange as the area around the islands averages 94 inches of rain a year, about 3 times London! The poem in turn was probably inspired by one of Cook's voyages into the Antarctic circle looking for what was then still a fabled southern continent, only to be discovered 22 years after it was written. The total area covered is 180000 sq km, about the size of Uruguay and slightly bigger than SA's Eastern Cape province. The islands themselves are a teeny 335 sq km. The protection zone is supposed to be enforced by the fisheries patrol vessel Sarah Baartman. Aside from the question of how this little ship could realistically patrol such a gigantic area, it is currently holed up here in Simon's Town harbour with paint flaking off its bright red hull waiting to be repaired, along with a number of other SA Fisheries boats. Marion Island is named for the French explorer Marion du Fresne. The QSL is a telex from the South African base on Marion, using just 1 kW and heard in Johannesburg in 1985.
South Africa has declared the area around Marion and Prince Edward Islands in the south Atlantic a marine protected zone. These two global 'biodiversity hotspots', over 2000 km south-east of Simon's Town, are home to many of the planet's remaining albatrosses as well as seals and penguins. It is quite likely that the mythical albatross shot with a cross-bow by the story-teller in Coleridge's wonderful "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" had a home on the island. Probably the best-known stanza is: "Water, water everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink". This is somewhat strange as the area around the islands averages 94 inches of rain a year, about 3 times London! The poem in turn was probably inspired by one of Cook's voyages into the Antarctic circle looking for what was then still a fabled southern continent, only to be discovered 22 years after it was written. The total area covered is 180000 sq km, about the size of Uruguay and slightly bigger than SA's Eastern Cape province. The islands themselves are a teeny 335 sq km. The protection zone is supposed to be enforced by the fisheries patrol vessel Sarah Baartman. Aside from the question of how this little ship could realistically patrol such a gigantic area, it is currently holed up here in Simon's Town harbour with paint flaking off its bright red hull waiting to be repaired, along with a number of other SA Fisheries boats. Marion Island is named for the French explorer Marion du Fresne. The QSL is a telex from the South African base on Marion, using just 1 kW and heard in Johannesburg in 1985.
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