South
Africa - Day 12
Monday 2nd February 2026
Participants: Kev & Tam
We're awake at 7.00 am again today. I
guess that's the advantage of an early to bed holiday, you get up
early. We have a breakfast of granola, yoghurt and fresh fruit at
the breakfast bar looking out at the lagoon through the panoramic
window.
I wash up and Tam does some clothes washing in the sink. We have
booked a short boat trip for midday, so we think we might take
out the kayaks that are provided by the accommodation for a spin
on the lagoon first. We need to take advantage of the pleasant
weather as it's forecast to be overcast and showery for the next
3 days. Well, best laid plans and all that .... the lagoon is
very tidal and almost disappears at low tide. There's no way we
can get a couple of very heavy kayaks across the mud and marsh to
reach the water, so we drive to Thessen Island earlier that
intended for Tam to look in a few shops before our boat trip.
We park in a multi storey car park which is free. We haven't actually paid to park anywhere, this is a refreshing break from the UK where everything seems to be monitised these days. On the down side the shops are very expensive and Tam doesn't buy anything, so we sit outside at Flo N Go for a cold soft drink before going to the Magic Lagoon office for our midday boat trip. The boat we are assigned is a nice looking thing and there are 6 other people. It's really pleasant to be out on the lagoon in the sunshine with a gentle breeze, but the tour is not really the best. The young driver puts on music from his phone and when he does talk he's very softly spoken. I have to ask him to turn down the music as we can't hear what he's saying. He does but we still have to strain to hear him.
Some of the houses along the shoreline were interesting.
This is the Knysna Heads. The gap between is the entrance and exit from the lagoon and has been the final resting place for many a ship. It's not surprising as the surf is quite rough even on a calm day like today.
There's not much information given, I would have liked to know more about the history of the town and the geography of the lagoon. Still, it only cost £25 for a 70 minute sail around, so we can't complain too much.
Back to the house where Tam has a quick swim before we shower and leave the house as we're eating early at 3.00 pm today at Freshline Fisheries which is consistantly in the top restauarants in Knysna. It's certainly not a posh place, the fresh fish is the attraction here. They don't even have a drinks licence so you take your own wine which they will happily provide glasses and an ice bucket for. We take a bottle of Chardonnay which we bought at the Tokara wine farm.
The place is pretty basic and in a sort of
industrial area so not the prettiest. The primary function of
this place is to sell fish. They receive the catch from the boats
every day and sell it in the attached shop. The restaurant is on
the side of the building. There are bench tables and sand under
foot with a covering to keep the sun off. This makes it sound
awful, but it isn't.
It's all about the fresh fish here. You choose your fish and the
method of cooking. Tam has the Kingklip cooked on the Weskus
braai (a sort of BBQ) and I go for the grilled Kob. We also have
a portion of chips and a salad between us. Oh my lord the fish is
good, beautifully cooked and tender. The chips are amongst the
best I've ever had, crisp on the outside, light and fluffy in the
middle with a light dusting of some spicy concoction that tastes
lovely.
Apart from one other group we're the only people in the place as it's still early. We both really enjoy our meal here - not everything has to be upscale dining. I think the total bill is less than £40. It helps that you take your own booze.
We walk into the Waterfront and have drinks at the Tiki Bar.
This is the walk along the lagoon into the Waterfront area.
Here's the road and bridge across to Thessen Island.
Although it's only 5.30 pm we decide to go back home as we're both feeling jaded and tired. Back at Nicola's we lie out on the sunbeds for a few hours watching the sun go down.
Very relaxing. We have a couple of beers and finish off the open bottle of red wine before bed at 10.00 pm.