Immenhof to Terrace Bay, Namibia

30 - 31 Oct 07

The Skeleton Coast

Fredy and Werner had advised us to not leave before 10 am to make sure that the morning fog and stratus at Terrace Bay had lifted. So we had the usual early morning walk followed by a good Immenhof breakfast.
By the time we left, the temperature had risen to more than 25 degrees, and the density altitude at Immenhof (elev. 4300 feet) was above 6000 feet, so we used more than half of the 1500 meters of runway for take-off as we still had more than 9 hours of fuel on board.
As we approached the coast we made a slight detour and descended to fly low along the dunes of Skeleton Coast. We were surprised to see that the temperature actually dropped from +25 at FL65 to less than +20 degrees at the coast due to the cold sea current from Antarctica.
As we parked in front of the much corroded terminal building, we suffered a slight damage to fibreglass inner gear door from catching the steep edge of concrete blast pad while parking, but it could be at least temporarily fixed so we could go on the following day.
Terrace Bay is a strange place which attracts fishing maniacs and the like. The restaurant was closed at lunch time, so we had to go to the local shop and buy some cider and Mars bars. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a walk along the coast amongst elephant and jackal skeletons and spotted a jackal. It was an eerie feeling as they also have hyenas around. Near the lodge, white breasted crows were looming around.
The fish and curry dinner was not exactly gastronomic, but we nevertheless managed to order a bottle (or two? I don’t remember) of decent South African wine.
After breakfast the stratus cloud cover had lifted to about 1500 feet, and we were happy to have seen the eerie Skeleton Coast and equally happy to get the hell out of there. A few miles inland, the stratus cover had dissipated, and we got a great view of the Skeleton Coast dunes again.