2 Oceans EarthCache
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THE MOST SOUTHERN CACHE IN AFRICA.
To find where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.
Close to these co-ordinates you will find a plaque telling you, you are at the Southern most point in Africa. Is this where the 2 Oceans meet?. This is an age old debate. So lets be part of it. A common misunderstanding fuelling the controversy as to where the 2 Oceans really meet is "the erroneous assumption that oceans and currents are synonymous". So let us look into this and we come to our own conclusion.
South Africa's Cape coast attracts thousands of local and international tourists each year to witness the Indian and Atlantic oceans splashing together - or so they believe.
Cape Point, an hour's drive from Cape Town, cashes in on the visitors who flock to witness this supposed natural phenomenon. An estimated 800 000 people a year visit its spectacular cliffs, lighthouses and "Two Oceans" curio shops.
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 ...
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.
According to CapeInfo.com, 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).
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.
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."
(visit link)
Cape Agulhas the southern most tip of Africa is the place where the two Oceans (Indian and Atlantic) officially meet. The facts to support this statement are as follows; Official demarcation between Oceans is frequently influenced by the point where the extremities of large land masses protrude into various Oceans. An intergovernmental institution, the International Hydrographical Organization {(IHO) (visit link) was established in 1921 with the object to bring about inter alia, the co-ordination of activities of the planet’s national hydrographic offices and the greatest possible uniformity in nautical charts and documents. According to the IHO the boundary between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans is a line from Cape Agulhas southwards, along the meridian of 20 degrees east, to the Antarctic Continent. The ruling that the meeting place of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans is at Cape Agulhas is official and binding as South Africa is a member state of the IHO.
In order to qualify to log this cache, you need to answer the following questions and email the cache owner at grumps242@gmail.com. Any logs not accompanied by an email will be deleted.
1) Take a photo of you or your GPS at a spot with the plaque visible and include in your log.
2) Where the 20 degree meridian meets the ocean, examine the coast line. Does there appear to natural dividing line in the rock formation extending out to sea? Describe what you see at this point.
3) Name the 2 dominate currents off the point of Africa.
4) Where do these dominate currents meet.
5) Why do you think the water in False Bay is warmer than the water on the West Coast
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Erzrzore gb fraq lbhe cvpgherf naq r-znvy tehzcf242@tznvy.pbz