Hit the beach early!

You may agree that these are great reasons to get to the beach super early – like before 9am! While the reasons I mention are good ones the best reason of all is that it’s a good idea to get your naked skin out of the sun between 11am and 4pm.

It’s easy to forget that our sun is more harsh these days than it was 10 or 15 years ago. I remember as a kid not having to pay as much attention to the sun’s ravaging rays; I guess the scientists who made such a big thing of the depletion of the atmosphere’s ozone layer had a point.

I’m not partial to leathery skin, I don’t relish the thought of skin cancer, and I kinda like the look of untanned skin – which is why I always use SPF30+ sunscreen when spending time outdoors. If you don’t already, it’s probably a good idea for you to do the same.

Picnic at the beach

We’re definitely not into preparing our own picnic baskets – you could say that we’re a little lazy that way.  So I guess you’d understand why, when Cravings Delicatessen offered us a complimentary pick-’n-choose style picnic, we naturally couldn’t refuse!

We placed our order beforehand, and arrived at Cravings in Sea Point (map) at about nine-thirty; that gave us time to enjoy a cappuccino first before grabbing our breakfast picnic bag and heading down to the warm and windless Camps Bay beach. I hired a beach umbrella from one of the local operators (the best R25 that I’ve spent in a while) and quickly unpacked the coolerbag, while Kerry-Anne munched some yummy biltong, which her taste-savvy nose had ferreted out from among the treats packed in by Cravings.

Included in our bag of goodies was the best home-made ground chicken burger that I’ve ever tasted (seriously), a huge wrap that was absolutely stuffed with fresh salmon, a cheese and jam croissant, one family-sized bowl of yummy frozen yoghurt (made from plain Bulgarian yoghurt), a protein shake, a mixed fruit smoothie, dried mango strips, a packet of hot-air-roasted nuts and the bag of much-appreciated biltong (which you may be interested to know is indeed halaal!).

Cravings focuses on good, healthy food; they have a fairly large variety to choose from, so visit their website for the complete menu and price-list. They supply a light-weight cooler-bag for which they hold a R120 refundable deposit. Disposable cutlery and paper napkins are included in the bag, but do remember to bring your own blanket (or towels if you intend heading to the beach).

Beach chairs and ice-cream sticks

Have you ever hired beach chairs? I never have – but I think I’ll be doing so this summer! I can just imagine lying under an umbrella, on a beach chair, holding a well-laden ice-cream stick and sipping on a cold cooldrink.

Winter at the beach

We do so miss the sun in winter. Even though we have plenty of sunny days, there are still far too many dull and grey days for my liking. Perhaps when I’m rich one day I’ll follow summer around the world. Good plan, don’t you think?

Oystercatcher Way

This particular path is a long, narrow, winding set of stairs that lead down to Cape Town’s trendy Clifton 4th beach… a buzz of a place in summer but on this clear-yet-cool autumn day, practically deserted.

After descending the many steps to the clean white sand, I decided to leave my shoes in a particular spot in order to collect them on my return. Unfortunately, on my return, they had mysteriously grown legs and walked off. I first though that someone had stolen them, but then later realised that since I’d wandered out of sight, it’s completely plausible that someone in need of shoes found them and assumed that the owner had abandoned them… the beach was after all pretty deserted!

I needed new shoes anyway.

How to kill a dune

We’ve probably all heard about dune conservation, but perhaps we haven’t all understood why it’s important to conserve dunes. Dunes are our shore’s first line of defence against the destruction caused by storms and unusually high tides. Acting as a long barrier, they reduce the chance of flooding, and in the case of severe storms, help to delay flooding. Dunes also help contain the beach sand and salty water spray from being blown inland, thereby protecting vegetation from dying due to excessive soil salinity, and preventing beaches from extending too far inland.

I’d never realised how fragile dunes were before reading this article on dune protection! Beach grass, shown in this photo, is the scaffolding used to build dunes. The grass grows, more sand is deposited, the grass grows above the sand, more sand is deposited, and the cycle continues until we have huge dunes to protect our shoreline.

The beach grass shown in this photo is extremely resilient to the elements. Like a true champ it resists drought conditions, tolerates very high levels of salt in the sand, and flourishes in very infertile soil. However, even though the grass in this photo is extremely hardy, its brittle inner core is extremely vulnerable when stepped on. Even a single person taking a shortcut across a dune kills grass on which they stand. A few people taking a shortcut across a dune will kill enough grass to cause the dune to be eroded by the wind.

Visit this site and follow the links to see the illustrations of how easily dunes erode when people trample the grass. I don’t think I’ll ever walk over a dune again, except by using the designated paths or bridges.

Llandudno Beach

Only two things put a slight damper on the Landudno experience, (1) the very limited availability of parking, and (2) the numbingly-cold Atlantic ocean’s water.

Muizenberg's colourful beach houses

I’ve never had the pleasure of swimming at Muizenberg, but it’s said to be one of the top beaches to visit. Do you normally swim at Muizenberg? How do you feel that it compares to Camps Bay, Clifton, and Big Bay?

Big Bay beach

The water on this coastline is generally pretty cold, however (in my experience) not quite as cold as the waters of Clifton, Camps Bay and Llandudno. Big Bay and Blouberg Beach are extremely popular with kite-fliers and kite-surfers, but fortunately these guys tend to keep well clear of the more populated parts of the beach.

When I was youn my parents use to bring my brother, sister and I to this area to swim. Although the riptide can be quite strong, the area has a number of fairly well-protected pools surrounded by annoyingly-jagged rocks (which I remember navigating slowly without shoes).

Fun at the beach

Development on Eden on the Bay (map) started a couple of years ago and today the area looks completely different to how it did before. This grassy area stretches out between the long sandy beach and the shopping area called Eden on the Bay. Today you’ll find several lovely restaurants looking out over this lawn, as well as a few shops and fast-food outlets in the small mall.

However lovely Eden on the Bay is, Big Bay is still a terrible place on windy days. However, on days with only a slight breeze (or no wind at all) it’s an awesome place to visit.

Lying on the beach

I checked my car’s external thermometer and it’s reading was 38°C in Cape Town, with the temperature increasing as one travels more inland towards Stellenbosch and Paarl. If it were possible to package and ship heat, we’d be making a small fortune.

You may be wondering why the beach isn’t as packed with bodies as one would expect on such a warm day. There wasn’t much opportunity for me to get to the beach – so I grabbed this photo from my December archive. I can however pretty much guarantee you that Clifton is *far* more crowded than this on days like today!

A very fast boat

I’m not sure if this boat is quite as maneuverable the one in Sydney, but from the photos on their site, it sure looks like a hell of a lot of fun. I also noticed that they offer a combo trip that consists of a boat ride and helicopter flip! If you’re into adrenaline-releasing experiences then I think this experience could be just for you.

Beach games

Summer is here folks, so be sure to lotion up with heavy-duty African-grade sunblock before you head on down to the beach. Even if you’re not keen on donning a bathing suit, grab a book, get there early, and hire a beach chair and umbrella. It’ll be one of the most relaxing times you’ll ever have!

Clifton 4th Beach

There was no wind to speak of; the air was cool, but the sun was warm. Bobbing around on a boat just of the beach was an amazing feeling. Even though we weren’t on a luxury yacht, I guess that’s the best way to describe the feeling. Imagine yourself in this very spot on the deck of a luxury yacht, enjoying the sun, drinking cocktails and snacking on delightful treats. Grand hey?

This was such great fun – and if you’re okay with being out on a boat, I’d suggest this to be of the things you have to do when visiting Cape Town. It was simply beautiful.

Remember to take motion sickness tablets before jumping on board. As a particular colleague of mine discovered , feeling ill on the water really does ruin the experience.

Port hole

The beach in this photo is a little more tricky than normal to identify because the hole in the hull obscures a lot from view. This said, I’m sure if you’ve spent some time in Cape Town that it would be unmistakable. Can you identify which it is?

Camps Bay Beach

I can’t say that the lack of winter rain hasn’t started to concern us because either we’re going to have torrential downpours (and possibly even some flooding) in the next couple of months or we’re going to have an exceptionally dry summer… neither of which is a particularly great prospect to look forward to!

Horizon Holiday Cottages

It’s not often that we go away for a weekend, so when we have the opportunity to escape for not one, but two consecutive weekends, we grab it with both hands. Some time ago, we were invited to spend a weekend at Horizon Holiday Cottages in Noordhoek, and we were finally able to take up the offer this past weekend.

Noordhoek is just 59km from our house, so it’s close enough for a quick weekend getaway, and yet far enough to feel like a real holiday. The village is not too far from Cape Point, and just over the mountain from Fishhoek. It has a wonderful countryside feel about it, with lots of big farm dogs and plenty of horses about – I think Noordhoek could well be considered the horse-riding capital of the Western Cape.

We spent the weekend pottering about at Noordhoek Farm Village (lots of craft shops and a few really good restaurants) and Imhoff Farm (more craft shops, a cheese shop, a deli, and live music on the lawns), and enjoying the spectacular view from the balcony of our cabana.

The bottom of the wooden house you see in the photo was ours for the weekend. While you can’t expect a luxury apartment for R550/unit per night, the self-catering cabana we stayed in was modern, neat, clean, comfortable and had everything that we needed. I’m seriously considering getting a few friends together and renting one of the larger family cottages (lower down on the property) for a long weekend. Who’s in?

By the way, Horizon Holiday Cottages are running a World Cup special – 50% off for stays of longer than 4 days, until 18 July. So if you need a break from the crazy party that’s going to be happening in the city over the next five weeks, this might be an option.

Sea, sand, and a setting sun

Perhaps being almost surrounded by wide open ocean is what makes Cape Town so attractive to her residents – and to visitors I guess. Were it not for the (often frustrating) wind, our city could be one of the most perfect places on earth. Although, I guess were it not for the wind perhaps we’d be one of the most smoggy and dirty places on earth… :-/

A couple's silhouette

I spent the day at a conference and slept over at the Lagoon Beach Hotel (to the left in this photo). While the room was perfectly good, in fact – pretty nice, I have to advise that if you ever find yourself staying over, make sure that you’re as far away from the entrance to the underground parking as is possible.

Llandudno Beach

I never paid attention to the sign that indicates the restrictions, but I presume that walking dogs is allowed because it seems to me that the beach is the only place where residents of the little suburb would be able to do so. Llandudno is built on the slopes of the mountain that lead down to the water’s edge, so the chance of finding a nice open field on which your dogs could run is pretty much nil.

Camps Bay view

Being surrounded by all this beauty ALL THE TIME is such a burden. I do hope you feel sorry for us.

Diving Fins

While I know that sharks travel all waters, it’s fairly common knowledge that they are more likely to frequent the waters of False Bay, visiting places like Muizenberg and Fish Hoek. Swimming on “the safe side” (i.e. in Table Bay) has its downside though, in that the water is a fair bit colder than the waters of False Bay.

If you do ever swim at False Bay’s popular Fish Hoek beach, be sure to keep an eye out for the Shark Spotters’ flags. The Spotters sit high up on the hills watching the ocean for the presence of sharks. They radio information to their colleagues on the beaches, who in turn raise one of four flags:

• Green – A Shark Spotter is on duty, they have good visibility, and there are no sharks.
• Red – A shark has been spotted in the area in the last two hours.
• Black – A Shark Spotter is on duty but visibility is poor.
• White with black shark – There is a shark in the area, stay out of the water.

When a shark is spotted, a siren is simultaneously sounded, indicating that swimmers should stay out of the water. The only time you should really enter the water is when you see a green flag. If it’s any other colour, it would be best to keep out of the water.

In closing, remember that if it’s a beautifully warm day, and you notice that you’re the only one swimming… there’s probably a good reason.

Camps Bay Beach

Even though I didn’t have a tripod handy, the final colours of the setting sun were too beautiful a photo opportunity to pass up. In the distance a handful of people still walked along the water’s edge, soaking up nature’s tranquillity, while behind me the bars and restaurants teemed with the beautiful people of Cape Town.

You only have a few weeks left before the cold weather sets in, so if you haven’t been out to Camps Bay for dinner and drinks yet, I strongly suggest that you do so soon.

Pepper Club On the Beach restaurant

We hadn’t been for dinner in Camps Bay for ages, so, after a long, long week at work, Friday night was our night to relax with an ocean view and good food.

The Pepper Club restaurant, Pepper Club On The Beach (map), is situated at the spot formerly occupied by Summerville, and is the official beach-side restaurant of the soon-to-be-opened Pepper Club hotel in Cape Town city centre. Apparently hotel guests will have the option of being driven from the city to Pepper Club On The Beach (in a Rolls Royce), where they’ll be able to change into their swimming gear in the restaurant’s super-modern bathrooms.

The restaurant’s setting is spectacular of course, but the thing that impressed us most was the service – it was absolutely impeccable, the kind of service you’d expect at a top 5-star hotel. The shellfish platter we shared was *wow*, but the two highlights of the evening were the Sapphire Silk cocktail and the Avocado Ritz starter. Both were absolutely delicious, and at the risk of being boring, I’m pretty sure that our next visit will once again include both of these items. The cost of a main course averages between R140 and R240 per person; there is a lunch menu as well, which features quite a few cheaper options. You can download the menu from the restaurant’s website.

Click here to see a few of the other photos that I took at the restaurant.

Seaweed on the beach

We recently joined a newly-created impromptu sushi club – actually just a few friends from Twitter who need an excuse to fit in an extra sitting at a sushi restaurant each month. The objective of the club is to find, evaluate, and and then frequent the best sushi spots in Cape Town.

I’ll keep our findings closely under wrap for now, but expect a post in due course (heh) that fills you in on which were voted the best spots by our group.

I’ve mentioned it previously, but to clarify the reason for the photo, let me state it again. The part of sushi that I like absolutely least is the seaweed (nori). It tastes absolutely awful to me, so I avoid maki rolls like crazy. I mean, I just can’t understand how someone ever looked at a piece of seaweed like this and thought, “Awesome, I should try that on my sandwich!”, or “subarashii , watashi wa doryoku shi nakere ba nara nai watashi no sandoitchi!”.

Beach umbrella

It’s been pretty warm in Cape Town, so Kerry-Anne and I decided to escape the heat of the northern suburbs by heading out to Kommetjie (close to Noordhoek) for some fresher, cooler, sea breezes. Although marginally cooler due to the nice sea breeze, it was still pretty warm out on that side of the peninsula.

I took the photo of this umbrella on a small beach in Kommetjie while the owners were sitting in the gentle waves a few metres to the right of us. I did find it a little strange that there weren’t any more people swimming in the area. There were (further down the coast, to the right) a dozen or more surfers catching waves… but very few sunbathers.

Perhaps it was the cool breeze that discouraged people from visiting, or perhaps everyone had suddenly realised just how harsh the African sun is.

Showering at the beach

This little beach just a bit beyond the Sea Point public swimming pool doesn’t look like the greatest place to swim (far too many rocks), but I can imagine that it’s a great place to catch a quick tan – if you’re into that kind of thing. The interesting thing is that it actually has a beach shower, which I imagine means that people do swim here quite a lot.

The wind was absolutely pumping on this day, but despite that, a bridal couple arrived on the beach for a quick photo session (look in the middle, kinda to the back of the photo). Not only was the wind going absolutely crazy, but it was around 1pm, so the African sun was beating down on them with all its vengeance – from behind. So unfortunately I can’t imagine that the photos will turn out too spectacular.

So, here’s a tip if you’re planning on getting married and would like to have great photos taken:

1. If there’s very little wind the beach is awesome, but a gusting Cape Town breeze is a spoiler – have a backup plan.
2. Have your photos taken before 10am or after 5pm – the light is way prettier and less harsh. It would be ideal to start half an hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset, although I guess this isn’t always practical.

Life saving rope

If you saw yesterday’s post and thought the photo was of some kind of life saving apparatus, you would have been right!

Deems left a comment yesterday expressing surprise at the newness of the lettering versus the old peeling paint. I think this version of the photo emphasises that even more. The nice, new, neat lettering contrasts with the peeling paint and the stormy skies.

And if you were to open the box (as I did ), you would notice yet another contrasting element, in the form of the brand new rope that lies coiled inside.