There’s also a great deal more to explore within the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Wasn’t Cape Point the place where the two oceans ‘meet’? Here, at the top of the country, you can witness a rare and powerful thing – the meeting of two bodies of water, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. A common misunderstanding fuelling the controversy, argues the web site, is “the erroneous assumption that oceans and currents are synonymous”. Well, not at all -- it depends! IMPORTANT: All information provided in this website is for research purposes only. For nearly 120 years, the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse has stood majestically as a sentinel to help protect shipping off WA’s treacherous South West coast. "Sheer cliffs at the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean ... with the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean." | Highlights of the Cape Peninsula| Boyes Drive | Cape Town and Peninsula Beaches | Cape Agulhas residents want what they see as their rightful piece of the tourism pie – the town attracts about 250 000 tourists a year – arguing that visitors are tricked into believing the seas meet at Cape Point, and that the shops there trade under false pretences. | To be updated on Brand South Africa news and events join our media list. While the junction is technically at Cape Agulcas, at the southern tip of the country, the symbolic meeting point is at the tip of the Cape of Good Hope. Frequent south-easterly gales and even rogue waves increased the measure of risk immensely. Cape Agulhas is the southernmost tip of Africa. This contradiction and the resulting jibes at Capetonians for bending the truth has a simple enough explanation. Still a working lighthouse today, it’s the perfect day trip destination for all the family. https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/.../where-south-africas-two-oceans-meet When she visits Cape Agulhas a few days later, she will be assured by locals and brochures that this is where the two oceans meet. An estimated 800 000 people a year visit its spectacular cliffs, lighthouses and “Two Oceans” curio shops. The interplay of ocean, land and wind off this tip of Africa is complex, with huge swirls of warm Indian Ocean waters breaking away from the powerful surge of the Agulhas current, to be carried away by the cold northward flow of the Atlantic's Benguela current. What about the warmer temperature of the waters in False Bay, just to the East of Cape Point? 4:12. This website contains links to other websites solely as a convenience to you. Read reviews in English Go back. Worth the visit to take a photo at the stone monument to … This is a wave-swept pristine beach for hikers to explore. Above: Flow of the Indian Ocean Agulhas Current When the wind blows the surface waters offshore, deep water, which is rich in nutrients, swells up to replace it. Short trails lead to stunning views over the cliffs - with seabirds whirling and diving between their rocky nests and the sea.  The old light was also often obscured by foggy conditions at the higher elevation. Behauptung: This video and several related photos show the places where oceans meet and the waters do not mix. The text is also printed in Afrikaans: Steil hange waar die Atlantiese Oseaan die warmer waters van die Indiese Oseaan ontmoet. In a thunderous clash of water against rock, where mountain and ocean meet, Cape Point juts out like an outstretched arm, attracting an incredible diversity of life (furry, feathered and two-legged) to its pristine beaches and rugged cliffs. A Travel Guide to the countries of Africa, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE NATURE RESERVE, Cape Town'S PENINSULA, MORE ACTIVITIES AND THINGS TO DO IN CAPE TOWN, where really do the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet, South African Data Center for Oceanogrpahy, African Travel Marketing Network (LinkedIn Group), NATURE RESERVES AND WILDLIFE NEAR CAPE TOWN. Cape point or merely Cape of good hope is the southernmost point (South West) in the Table Mountain national park of SA. Cape Point Nature Reserve: Where the two oceans meet - See 8,979 traveler reviews, 7,247 candid photos, and great deals for Cape Town Central, South Africa, at Tripadvisor. Find the perfect two oceans cape point stock photo. This popular view site overlooks the working Cape Point Lighthouse perched near the end of the point below and provides superb vistas over the cliffs of Cape Point and the ocean. The ship rounds the Cape and if weather permits, disembarks visitors on the headland. Surely it must be as the waters from Cape Point to Saldanha are so very cold, while from about Simon’s Town all the way to Gordon’s Bay and beyond we enjoy warmer waves? The oceans’ meeting also causes climatic events, which shows the meeting of the seas is not calm and straightforward. Bicycle at Cape Agulhas: Southernmost Tip of Africa At this point there are two oceans meeting, that could not have been more different. Two Oceans Restaurant is situated in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Cape Point. Even today, ships navigating the seas off the southern shores may face tempestuous winter storms and sustained spring gales, with winds of 100 miles an hour and monstrous waves. 1,995 views. The Lusitania foundered on Bellows Rock, just south of the Point. Cape Agulhas: the place where two oceans meet. But is Cape Point's claim to fame that it is "where two oceans meet" just tourism hype? Gift shops in the area sell souvenirs like coffee mugs, T-shirts, collector spoons and bottles of ocean water - all emblazoned with the slogan, "Cape Point, South Africa: Where Two Oceans Meet." Two Oceans Restaurant, Cape Point : consultez 2 104 avis sur Two Oceans Restaurant, noté 4,5 sur 5 sur Tripadvisor et classé #1 sur 6 restaurants à Cape Point. A part of the reason why Cape Agulhas fails to draw many tourists than they should is because it isn’t quite as spectacular or … Not every mariner that rounded the southern tip of Africa experienced the worst that this Cape has to offer. Would you like to use this article in your publication or on your website? Above: The Flying Dutchman Funicular Railway Getting to Cape Agulhas, you will see the place where the two oceans meet. No need to register, buy now! Cape Agulhas is the southern most point of Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, Agulhas National Park, Cape Agulhas, South Africa Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, at the south-western tip of Australia, where two oceans meet. Cape Point marks the south western tip of the African continent, with some of the most breathtaking ocean and coastal scenery in the world. However, the residents of Cape Agulhas – over 100km east of Cape Point – insist that visitors wanting to see the confluence of the two oceans will have to travel a little further south …. But in reality it’s little far from the point where 2 oceans meet. Map of the Southern Tip of Africa showing Cape Point and Cape Agulhas. Below: Steps ascend to the Old Lighthouse Lookout Point Whales too can often be seen between May and November on their annual migration around the Point. Sea cliffs rise more than 800 feet above the waves crashing against the rocks far below. The most obvious locations to watch the waters of two oceans meet is at the boundaries. | Chapman's Peak Drive |False Bay Attractions and Activities | The Indian Ocean, on the east, is warmed by the Mozambique or Agulhas Current which flows down from the tropics, while the Atlantic, on the west coast, is cooled by the icy Benguela Current which comes up from the Antarctic. Cape Town's Cape Point is not the southern-most point on the African continent. Huge collection, amazing choice, 100+ million high quality, affordable RF and RM images. The working Cape Point Lighthouse can be seen, perched near the end of the Point, from the old lighthouse lookout point. Cape Agulhas is the real point but it does not get its rightful credit, thanks to the 150 odd Kilometers or around 3 hours’ drive from Cape of good hope. Camps Bay | Cape Point and Cape Of Good Hope Nature Reserve | Who is right, asks The Economist in a January 2002 article sub-titled “South Africa’s oceanic squabble”, noting that oceans are divided by man, not nature, and quoting University of Cape Town oceanographer Howard Waldron: “Oceans exchange water all the time, and there is never a neat dividing line.”. The old lighthouse was set back from the rocky point and could be seen too soon by ships approaching the Point from the west, causing them to approach too closely. It was built following the loss of the Portuguese liner Lusitania  on April 18, 1911. https://www.atlasandboots.com/travel-blog/cape-point-where-two-oceans-meet Copyright © 2010 - 2014 FindTripInfo.com and content providers. [Attribution: South African Data Center for Oceanogrpahy (SADCO)]. See Using Brand South Africa material. On his famous round the world voyage, Sir Francis Drake sailed into Cape Town's Table Bay in 1580 and is on record for his description of the Cape Peninsula as "the fairest Cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth". [Attribution: S. Lukas]. That tribute goes to Cape Agulhas, 105 miles (170 km) to the south east. According to CapeInfo.com, this finding is accepted and applied by both the Hydrographic Office of the South African Navy and the Department of Oceanography at the University of Cape Town. (Incidentally, the two oceans’ meeting point is Cape Agulhas). The waters around this rugged headland is notoriously difficult to navigate, wi… So those who travel to Cape Point, or the Cape of Good Hope, in the hope of seeing the confluence of two oceans... you need to travel a little further south. The Flying Dutchman funicular was rebuilt and launched in 2010. Imagine the dangers of running aground on uncharted reefs. Groot Constantia Wine Estate | Cape Point Nature Reserve: Where two oceans meet... - See 8,978 traveler reviews, 7,237 candid photos, and great deals for Cape Town Central, South Africa, at Tripadvisor. Two hundred kilometers away from Cape Town there is the famous cape – the southernmost point of the African continent. If you’ve always asked yourself “where do the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet?”, then your search is over – they meet at Not surprisingly, the Western Cape of South Africa has become a world-renowned tourist destination. | Llandudno | Penguin Colony at Boulders | Silvermine Nature Reserve |. Cape Agulhas also defines the official geographic divide between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Cape Town owes its existence to being on a decent natural harbor at a critical point on the African coast, near where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean. And the Two Oceans Marathon is run down here, nowhere near Agulhas. From the region of East London, because of the widening of the continental shelf, the current flows further offshore and the coastal waters become cooler. All Rights Reserved. Where two oceans meet. This is where two oceans meet – the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the warmer Indian Ocean waters on the east. A Day at Exotic Cape Point - South Africa | Where two oceans meet | Places to see in Cape Town. Designed to hold 40 people, its working capacity is 30 passengers, conveying visitors every 3 minutes in each direction. Sculptured sandstone pillars, sea caves and white sands are sculptured and swept clean by wind and storms. Officially Cape Agulhas is the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, and not the "two oceans" as believed at the Cape Point, near Cape Town (for publicity reasons). No warranty, explicit or implied, is given in respect to the accuracy or completeness of this information by FindTripInfo.com or content contributors. This, Cape Agulhas argues, is merely due to False Bay’s being shallow and sheltered and hence not affected by the currents to the same extent as the waters of the open sea. The treacherous rocky reefs surrounding the Point are home to 26 recorded shipwrecks - and probably many more. Worth the visit to take a photo at the stone monument to … According to CapeInfo.com’s Cape Agulhas web page, somebody did draw a line to demarcate where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet: the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO), which describes the western boundary of the Indian Ocean as follows: From the coast of the Antarctic continent northwards, along the meridian of 20º E to Cape Agulhas (34º 50’S – 20º 00’E), the southern extremity of the Republic of South Africa, in Africa (the common limit with the South Atlantic Ocean). Although Cape Agulhas marks the geographic divide between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the boundary between the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and the cold Atlantic migrates seasonally between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point. Curio and merchandise shopping and the Two Oceans restaurant offer rest and refreshment before the return trip along the False Bay shore. When Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias rounded the rocky headland of South Africa’s Cape … To see the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean meet at Cape Horn in southern Chile, you have to take a cruise ship that leaves from Ushuaia, in Argentina, and from Punta Arenas, in Chile. On the west coast, the water is chilled by the north-drifting, cold Benguela Current. 1:56. Nature can be harsh to mariners but kind to the authors of tourism brochures! “The changes in temperature along the coast bring about changes in marine life. The tourist brochures will have proclaimed this to be so. This huge flow of warm water is known as the Agulhas current, flowing southwards along the Indian Ocean shoreline of Southern Africa. | Review tags are currently only available for English language reviews. And for those who still try to pursue the debate for commercial reasons, the Hydrographic Office of the South African Navy accepts the findings of the IHO regarding the common boundary of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and that they apply these findings … In fact, the meeting point fluctuates along the southern and southwestern Cape coast, usually occurring between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point. Cape Point, an hour’s drive from Cape Town, cashes in on the visitors who flock to witness this supposed natural phenomenon. This might be confusing but is a true remark. Cape Agulhas is the southernmost tip of Africa. Officially Cape Agulhas is the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, and not the "two oceans" as believed at the Cape Point, near Cape Town (for publicity reasons). Says CapeInfo.com: “The Agulhas Current brings warm water from the subtropics down the east coast of South Africa. By subscribing you will receive continuous newsworthy information. Read More: Cape Peninsula | Cape Town| Top of Page. The popular “Flying Dutchman” funicular railway ferries visitors from the car park up the steep slope to the foot of steps leading to the Old Lighthouse Lookout Point. Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. Imagine a river 1000 miles long, 60 miles wide and more than a mile deep flowing at up to 6.5 miles an hour. Officially Cape Agulhas is the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, and not the "two oceans" as believed at the Cape Point, near Cape Town (for publicity reasons). A wide variety of stunning dive sites, picnic sites and walks to tidal pools for the kids to explore, hiking trails, 1100 indigenous plant species, as well as baboons, antelope, ostriches and Cape zebra to spot. The two intermingling currents help to create the micro-climate of Cape Town and its environs.