Tag Archives: sea

Solitude

Solitary Walk

Haiku 242

Social distancing

Gathering for some fresh air

While oceans apart

I took a stroll along Muizenberg beach, Cape Town. It was very windy, which was great as it blew the cobwebs away!

Yes, there are people in the ocean in the photo above. That’s about as close as I got to anyone; except when I treated myself to a latte from the little coffee shop.

I sat on the sea wall, wind in my face, as I sipped my hot coffee; just enjoying the sea view, and the illusion of freedom.

Then I slipped my face mask back on, returned to the safety and isolation of my car, and drove home.

Lockdown Rules for South Africa

Wear a face mask at all times
Keep two metres away from anyone
Sanitise your hands at every shop entrance

It was easy to maintain the legal two metres apart here at the beach, as most people were way off in the distance. Even so, we all wore our face masks; it is the law outside of your own home, even when driving alone in your car. You are allowed to remove your face mask temporarily to eat or drink, as long as social distancing from strangers is maintained.

Lockdown!

Muizenberg Beach 1

Haiku 185

Countrywide Lockdown

Enforced social distancing

Corona power

Lockdown

So, from midnight tonight, South Africa is in total Lockdown. You are not allowed to leave your house for three weeks.

Knowing this was coming I went for one last walk along the beach at Muizenberg.

Muizenberg Beach 2

However, the beach was also in Lockdown! I couldn’t understand the reasoning behind this. Surely walking along the sands with fresh Corona-free sea breezes, able to keep a good 20 metres distance from other people, poses no hazard, but rather promotes health and well-being.

Apparently not.

Muizenberg Beach 3

As I walked along the paving near the beach I came upon the police, who were wrapping tape around the whole area. The guy in charge politely informed me that I wasn’t allowed to walk there. The beach and train station were closed, as well as the whole path I was walking on. He then said he’d have to wrap me in tape!

As I turned to leave he called, “Keep safe.”

Seagull – Muizenberg Beach 4

Only the Seagull was still free to walk along the sands.

post script: The observant among you will have noticed the clues in the second photo. The wine is WolfTrap, the dvd is Escape Plan and the book ‘The Martian’ is about one guy stuck alone on a whole planet for 564 days (549 Sols) with only a few potatoes to eat. Lockdown indeed.

At the time of my publishing this post, SA has 709 confirmed cases of Corona, of which 12 have recovered and 0 died, in a population of about 59 million.

As my policeman friend said, Keep Safe!

Blue Horizons

Muizenberg beach 1

Haiku 152

Distant mountain peaks

Ocean and sky reflecting

Those blue horizons

Muizenberg beach 2

Take a walk with me along the coast at Muizenberg, Cape Town.

On a windy day white horses were playing in the ocean, along with surfers enjoying the waves.

Muizenberg beach 3

What at first I thought were normal kites, on closer inspection turned out to be some sort of wind device used by the surfers. They were kitesurfing!

Muizenberg beach 4

And the sea and the sky were Oh So Blue.

Sea Mountains

Sea Mountains, Kommetjie Beach

Haiku 107

Nature’s own artwork

Strata of sand, sea, rock, sky

Calm after the storm

It had just rained that morning, clearing the air.

Once the clouds started to dissipate, the sun peeped out and the day brightened up. There wasn’t much wind either.

A perfect day for a walk on the beach with a mountain view.

This is Kommetjie Beach, Cape Town.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Seaside 1

Haiku 97

Sitting on the beach

Strong breeze blows your cares away

Just sea, sand and sky

Seaside 2

Distant mountains.

Seaside 3

I’ll be very impressed if anyone spotted the cormorant in the photo above, taking off from the sea where it had been fishing.

Seaside 4 – Cormorant

Where was it?

Seaside 5 – Cormorant

I have left a lot of sky in the photos, so you can enjoy the deep blue; and sand, so you can imagine walking along the beach.

Sea Mist

Sea 1 Muizenberg

Haiku 86

See through the sea mist

Distant mountains all around

Vast open ocean

This is a coastal view of Muizenburg from part way up the mountain on Boyes Drive.

Sea 2

The sky looks cloudy in the distance, but this is not fog. It was a hot windy day and what you see is a heat haze.

Sea 3

The wind whipped up the sea, producing white horses.

Sea 4

This is the view from the parking lot at Kalk Bay. The train runs right along the coast towards Simonstown. Today the sea looked green, but usually it is as blue as the sky.

Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside

Beside the Sea 1

And you can’t get much closer than this!

Beside the Sea 2

This is the view from a parking lot in Kalk Bay, Cape Town. The railway runs right along the coast from Muizenberg to Simonstown. A scenic commute.

post script: I found an ancient recording of Basil Rathbone singing I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside, from Sherlock Holmes, 1939. Enjoy!

Boats

Boats 1

We’re in Aldeburgh again, a lovely seaside resort in Suffolk, taking a long stroll North along the coast towards Thorpeness. You may remember my ‘Snooks the Dog’ post and the boating pond here in Aldeburgh?

There were many little boats pulled up onto the beach and of course I had my trusty Canon with me, so snapped away as we walked.

Boats 2

Though the shot above shows the boat in more detail, I prefer the first photo, with the reedy grass blowing in the breeze in the foreground and the blue sky horizon.

Boats 3

I presume these were all fishing boats at one time or another;

Boats 4

though now some of them looked more as though they were lived in, or used for storage, than sailed!

Boats 5

This cute little red one looked like a toy boat! At first I thought it was the Life Guard boat; it certainly looked ready to launch at a moment’s notice. But on googling the boat number (Hooray for Google!) I discovered it is a fishing boat called Spring Tide and is in active use.

Boats 6

And where would all these boats be without an anchor, to keep them in their place?

Erm, perhaps not this one! I think it would sink these tiny boats if they tried to take it on board!

post script: These photos were taken last August, when I was in the UK. Since I only post on my trip about once a week, it is taking a while to get through all the photos!