Gone fishin'

You know how your life sort of rolls along in neutral sometimes, one day follows the last, all pretty average, and then suddenly one comes along that is an unexpected gem?

Yesterday was like that. J finished work early, and we had arranged for K, J ,Ethan and I to go out to Seaview to visit I, C and little Amelia. The weather report had warned of pretty foul weather, and for a while the wind was a bit hectic, so we bundled our jackets into the boot (or trunk if you are American. To us here in S.A. a trunk is either a large box-like suicase, something that holds a tree up, or something that hangs usefully on the front of an elephant's face... but I digress...)

When we got there, it was surprisingly pleasant, so the girls and littlies went off to the beach to collect rounded pebbles, and Ian, J and I went off further down the coast to do some fishing.

When I was telling you about some of the Coastal Villages the other day, I stopped at Seaview. The next one along is a place called Beachview, which is similar, houses hugging the first dune overlooking the sea, facing south towards Antarctica. It is a wild rocky section of coastline, with little rock pools, and tiny stoney beaches. But if you carry on a little way past beachview, you arrive at the Maitland River Mouth, one of the most pristine beaches you will find, it is magic! It is not built up, so no village here, thank goodness, just miles of unspoiled beaches.

The Maitlands river flows into the sea here, so in one breathtaking spot, you can wade through the river, swim in the freshwater lagoon formed when the mouth is blocked by a sandbar, walk across miles of wide clean beaches, swim in the sea (not a great idea here, the riptides are fierce)fish or collect mussels from the rocks that start on the Beachview side and continue past Schoenmakerskop to the East, or slide down the huge dunes on one side of the river mouth. (if you follow the link, it takes you to a post done in May, when we stopped by on a day when the wind was HOWLING and I showed a few views of the sand sweeping off the dunes, with the river and lagoon in the foreground.) However, yesterday, we were on a mission to catch fish, so it was all business as we waded into the sea (surprisingly warm) and cast out.

yours truly

Jason

Ian

There were all kinds of fishermen on the beach, it seems the little ones with wings were way more successful than the big ones..

Some of us were more serious than others...

Max joined us there when he finished work, and wandered around taking pictures, including this one showing that I was only half concentrating on the fishing, because I was taking a big chance with my precious camera round my neck in the waves, snapping away at the beautiful scenery!

As we were packing up, Ian went to cast a final line, and a few minutes later called us to look. A cape clawless otter (usually very shy and nocturnal so seldom seen) was sneaking up the beach near him, on the lookout to score an easy meal from his supply of bait on the rocks! What a magic way to end the day!

In my previous "gotta love africa" post, I showed some of the wonderful inventive ways that people make the best of their circumstances here. Sheila commented "Imagine what they could accomplish with the proper resources..?".

She is so right, there is a level of creativity here that makes Heath Robinson look boring! You must admit this is really clever ...how to get hot water! Given the right conditions, I believe there is enormous potential here.