Road Trip Day 11. Gariep

We can see the harbour from our site

There is nobody between us and the water

This morning we woke up in holiday mode. We got up late, had a late breakfast and later went for a swim and ice cream.

The swimming pool was not very busy

This afternoon we got back into tourist mode. I had phoned to find out about a cruise on the dam. The lady told me that we had to be at the restaurant outside the Forever Resort to pay by 10 to 4 and then the boat would leave at 4pm. We thought if we left at 3.30 we'd be able to get to the restaurant by 3.50. We miscalculated the distance ( and the map we were given is obviously not to scale.) At 3.45 a different lady phoned to find out if we were still coming and it seemed that we were not going to make it. When we got to the security control of the resort we decided to split up. Brian would go the the restaurant and  pay and I would go down to the yacht club and tell the captain my husband was still coming and please not to leave before he got there.  The yacht club was back in the direction we had come from and again further than I thought. I saw I wasn't going to make it so I started doing scouts pace (20 running steps and 20 walking steps that we used to do at Guides) until I caught up with a group of people heading in the same direction and then I could finally slow down (and breathe)
At about 4.15 a car came down the slope and Brian got out and the boat could depart. We apologised to the other passengers.

The trip was very interesting.
The dam is currently 57% full. Cnstruction began in 1966 and was completed in 1971. The purpose is for irrigation, domestic and industrial use and power generation. It is the second largest man-made dam in the southern hemisphere after Kariba. The dam wall is 88m high and almost a kilometer long.
The electricity generated is fed into the grid and is annually 889 GWh.

After all the talk of drought it was lovely to see so much fresh water in one place. The perimeter is surrounded by nature reserves in an effort to help keep the dam unpolluted.

We turned around where 3 provinces intersect - Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.
Once again we drove through the harbour and admired the boats.

Brian and I could see Cubby from the jetty so we decided to cut across the low-water-area instead of going the long way around. 

We had a lovely braai and watched night fall over Gariep Dam. Tomorrow we hit the road again.