Tag Archives: Robben Island ferry

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 8 December

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Etihad Airways has been named as World’s Leading Airline for the sixth consecutive year.   Ecuador was named as the World’s Leading Green Destination.

*   The Robben Island ferry Sikhululekile has experienced regular damage in the Island’s harbour at low tide from an ‘underwater rocky outcrop’, a survey conducted by the Council for Geoscience has found.  Purchased at a cost of R26 million, the ferry was not tested for suitability inside the harbour prior to purchase!  Now the Robben Island Museum is looking to sell the ferry.

*   The Stellenbosch American Express Wine Routes has launched a Wine Tourism Visitor Centre at 47 Church Street, offering Continue reading →

New owners of V&A Waterfront clock in with R500 million upgrade

The R 9,7 billion V&A Waterfront sale, the largest property transaction in South Africa, by Dubai World to its new local owners Growthpoint and the Public Investment Corportration, has been signed and sealed, and work has already commenced on a R500 million construction project at the Clock Tower, reports the Cape Times.

The Clocktower area of the Waterfront does not attract as many visitors as other sections, as it is further away from the shopping malls, and is not immediately visible to tourists.  Users of the Robben Island ferry and workers in office developments close by are the main users of the shops in this section.  In a four-year project, the new owners of the Waterfront are converting some of the retail space into office space, to create a ‘professional business district’, paying attention to the heritage value of the Clocktower.

A new head office for Allan Gray is also being developed in the Clocktower precinct.  Further developments include the silo building adjacent to the Clocktower precinct, and the collier jetty alongside the Clock Tower retail centre, reports the Cape Argus.  A further R4 billion is to be spent in the next ten years to develop a further 220000 square meters of Waterfront land. No announcement has been made about any further hotel developments for the immediate future, which is good news, given the current over-supply of accommodation in Cape Town.

The V&A Waterfront has become a benchmark waterfront development for many similar projects around the world.  However, one hopes that the new owners will spare a few Rand for the improvement of visible security, and fixing its parking pay machines, which are constantly out of order!

POSTSCRIPT 27/6: The V&A Waterfront will also focus on how it can better be integrated with the city of Cape Town.  “One of the concerns of many Capetonians is that the Waterfront has disjointed itself from the rest of Cape Town.  Many locals see it as an island, where only the foreign tourists go” said Wayne van der Vent, PIC’s property MD.  The company has not revealed its plans in this regard, but it does want to make the link between the Waterfront and the city more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly, reports The Times. 

POSTSCRIPT 7/7: Southern African Tourism Update reports that yet another hotel is to be built in the Waterfront, in the section undergoing renovation, in the Shosholoza Basin, which links the Cape Grace Hotel and the Clock Tower precinct.   Construction for the whole Clock Tower precinct is estimated to be completed by 2013.

POSTSCRIPT 20/7: The Weekend Argus has reported that 5000 Nedbank/BOE and Allan Gray employees will be accommodated in the Clocktower precinct once the construction work has been completed.  The retail outlets in that area of the Waterfront will be adapetd to suit the needs of the staff working there.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Allee Bleue Sweet and Robben Island Sour Service Award

The Sweet Service Award goes to Allee Bleue in Franschhoek, for laying on the most wonderful lunch on a perfect summer’s day 2 weeks ago.   Invited guests were hotel/guest house owners/managers as well as media representatives.  The lunch was held in the new wine tasting courtyard, which looks very chic, the many staff were immaculately dressed in the Allee Bleue branded aprons and bow ties, and live music was performed.  The lunch was prepared by lovely and ever-smiling Chef Dane Newton, and the starter was a Taste of the Sea Assiette, a seafood collection of salmon, crayfish, calamari and prawns, beautifully plated; the main course was an “Inside out sirloin burger”, with a potato galette served between a layer of sirloin steak and beef mince; and a “Strawberry Delight” pannacotta dessert was served.   The appointment of GM Wolfgang Leyrer, who joined Allee Bleue less than a year ago, has resulted in a most amazing transformation of the wine estate, has added picnics and the wine tasting lunch menu, and is expanding the wedding capacity of the estate, it being one of the most popular wedding destinations in the area.   This is the third Sweet Service Award Allee Bleue has won since the inception of the Sweet & Sour Service Awards over a year ago. 

The Sour Service Award goes to the management of Robben Island, who have not operated their ferry Sikhululekile to the iconic island for 2 weeks now, because a part has to be flown in from Germany.   This is the third time in four months that the R 26 million ferry has not operated, in periods during which Cape Town has numerous tourists visiting the city.  The Sea Princess, with a capacity half of that of the Robben Island ferry, has been chartered for the time being.

 

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com.   Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.