Lightleys Holiday Houseboats: Summer 2007

Lightleys opens in port alfred!

That’s it – all the pleasures of Lightleys Holiday Houseboats in the Eastern Cape, half way between Port Elizabeth and East London.

It’s a great place, the river’s long and winding and you can sometimes see game on the banks as you glide by – what’s not to like?

There’s more below…

Good sailors everywhere agree: you aren’t scared of sailing through The Heads at Knysna – you’re terrified of sailing through The Heads at Knysna (but don’t worry – you won’t be going there on a Lightleys Holiday Houseboat). Getting ‘across the bar’ was a nightmare from the beginning: the ship Emu was the first to try and was wrecked in the attempt. So it was logical that, once people had learned how to enter The Heads, the colonial government would station a harbourmaster here to guide visitors into the lagoon.

     Fourteen of these harbourmasters – or pilots, as they were known – reigned over The Heads between the time the first, (John Gough) was appointed in 1818 until the time the last (Reuben Benn) departed his post on Halloween, 1954. Interestingly, the third pilot, Edward Wallace, who served at Knysna from 1821, went on to become the pilot at Port Alfred in 1825.

Coastal Traveller Package

* Knysna – PE – Port Alfred *

Accommodation & boat hire for 2 people for just R4,435.00

Explore the coast with Lightleys Holiday Houseboats and Madiba Bay’s The Willows Resort:

• 2 nights aboard a Lightleys Holiday Houseboat in Knysna;
• 1 night self-catering accommodation at The Willows – Port Elizabeth’s fantastic, secure, beach-front resort;
• 2 nights aboard a Lightleys Holiday Houseboat in Port Alfred

Price includes boat hire and overnight accommodation for 2 people per unit; excludes travelling between centres and fuel and refundable security deposits; Valid from 1 November to 7 December 2007 and 14 January to 29 February 2008. This package* is available during long weekends. Catering is available on board in Knysna and Port Alfred as an optional extra. Please Mail us for prices and further information – or visit http://www.houseboats.co.za/

Tide is the rise and fall of the water level in the oceans – and lagoons – as a result of the attraction of the sun and the moon. Of course every Lightleys Holiday Houseboat knows how to ride the tide with comfort and ease…

The name Edward Wallace isn’t as well known in Knysna today as those of some of the other pilots, which is a pity because he seems to have been quite and interesting adventurer. He was born in Galway in the late 1700s and moved to London before coming out to South Africa at the age of twenty six. According to Margaret Parkes and VM Williams, authors of Knysna The Forgotten Port, “soon after he arrived he took the schooner Cornelia Arnoldina … as master… under license by the colonial secretary, to St Helena on certain conditions affecting the security of Napoleon.”

     “On certain conditions affecting the security of Napoleon” – how’s that for the ring of delicious intrigue? You wish you knew more.

     What we do know, however, is that Edward returned to Cape Town to marry Christina Oosterhagen and that in the following year he sailed to Portsmouth as master of the Susannah. He arrived in Knysna in Knysna in July of 1821 and left again – for Port Alfred (which was called Port Francis in those days) – in 1825.

Enjoy 2 nights aboard a Lightleys Holiday Houseboat in Knysna AND 3 nights at Phantom View River Resort, AND get a day’s canoe hire – romantic picnic lunch basket included.

• 2 People pay just R3,367.00 in low season and R4,159.00 in high season;
• 4 People pay just R4,199.00 in low season and R5,284.00 in high season; and
• 6 People pay just R5,158.00 in low season and R6,670.00 in high season

This offer* excludes Peak Season (15 December to 10 January) and is valid for visits to Knysna only until 29 February 2008; also valid during long weekends and school holidays. Additional catering is available as an optional extra.

TOPSIDES – refers to the sides of a vessel between the waterline and the deck or to the area above the deck. So try this next time you’re sunning yourself on the roof of a Lightleys Holiday Houseboat – yell down to your wife in the galley below “hey! Isn’t it time you brought us some beers topside?”… Go on. We dare you!

Edward Wallace was succeeded as pilot by John Mackenzie Johnson who lasted only until 1826 – and probably left as a result of his role in the wreck of the Harmony. The wreck prompted the colonial government to close the harbour establishment at Knysna and to decree that “Masters of Vessels frequenting that river must make their own arrangements for procuring what assistance they may think necessary for passing the bar” – although it did add that “the Flag will, however, be hoisted at the Signal Post as usual when the Bar is passable” (but it failed to decree who would be responsible for hoisting said flag).

     For the next 33 years, the Rex family (whom many consider to have been the founders of Knysna) voluntarily looked after the signals and helped to guide visiting ships in and out of The Heads.

7 Magical Nights

Experience life on a houseboat

Stay with us for a full week – Monday to Monday – in Knysna or Port Alfred – and live the houseboat life they way it’s meant to be: slow, unhurried and relaxing

2 People - R5,858.00 (Knysna or Port Alfred)

4 People - R7,095.00 (Knysna or PA)

6 People - R9,709.00 (Knysna only)

You wanna learn how to relax? REALLY relax?

By the time we’re finished with you you’ll be a professional!

Valid* for Knysna and Port Alfred from 1 to 7 December 2007 and from 14 January to 29 February 2008; price excludes transport to and from Knysna or Port Alfred, fuel and refundable security deposit. Catering is available as an optional extra.

TRIM – is the fore and aft balance of the boat and also means to adjust the sails as well as the position of the sails. What it does NOT mean, however, is how you’ll feel after a breakfast feast on one of our Lightleys Holiday Houseboats picnic baskets…

Knysna was growing in the middle of the 1800s, and eventually the people of the district prevailed on the government to appoint a pilot once more – which it did in November of 1859 following the wreck of the Magnolia in July of that year.

     William Christie Jackson served until 1865 when he was replaced by George Bruce (in the post from 1865 to 1868) and James William Miller (1865 – 1867).

     Miller’s departure (he retired) left room for the arrival of one of Knysna’s best-known personalities – and the founder of one of its best-known dynasties: John Benn.

     John Benn was a shipwright in Mossel Bay who came to Knysna in 1868 to direct the salvage of the Musquash, which had been wrecked in The Heads. Although the ship broke up before he could rescue her, Benn decided to stay in Knysna when he was offered a commission to build a new ship – the Rover – for a local merchant.

     Although there were others in the intervening years, John Benn and his descendants – John II, Conning and Reuben – ruled the mouth until the harbour was closed, finally, in 1954: and, most importantly, no one lost their lives in The Heads under their watch.

Tuning: The adjustment of the standing rigging, the sails and the hull to balance a yacht for optimum performance. But you don’t need to know that on a Lightleys Holiday Houseboat – you just need to know how to ‘tune’ us how-zit!

We love Port Alfred. It’s quaint and quiet and it’s got the Kowie – a brilliant river for house boating. And it’s right there in the centre of the Eastern Cape’s malaria-free game country.

     The Kowie’s quite different to the Knysna Lagoon, so if you’ve stayed with us in Knysna, you’ll want to stay with us in Port Alfred.

     At present we have two 4-berth Leisure Liners there, moored on walk-ons outside The Halyards Hotel. Step on board and you’ll find all the comforts you’re used to in Knysna – and 23 km of navigable waterways to explore and enjoy.

     We’ve made arrangements with some of the land-owners on the river banks for places to braai – and there’s even one game farm where you can tie up and head out to walk amongst the buck and the birds.

     The people are warm and friendly and there’s mountain biking, beaches, birds, horse rides and wonderful day drives (you have to visit the oldest pub in the country – but you’ll have to get to Port Alfred to find out where that is).

     We think Lightleys Holiday Houseboats Port Alfred is going to be a big hit!

     For reservations and further information, please call our Knysna office on 044 386 0007.

welcome aboard, port alfred!

AHOY, CAPTAIN

… We’re off to PA for a bit of doing nothing aboard one of our Lightleys Leisure Liners

With best WISH YOU WERE HERE Regards!

Owen Groenenstein and the Lightleys Crew

http://www.knysna.co.za/lightleys

Telephone +27 44 386 0007

• Fax +27 44 386 0018

PO Box 863, Knysna, Western Cape, 6570
e-mail info@houseboats.co.za
Lightleys Holiday Houseboats, Phantom Pass Road, Knysna

On-board catering is available. Click here or contact us for details

COPY: BAREFOOTCLIENTS.CO.ZA