Thursday, December 14, 2017

The gem of a local haunt that is Fish Hoek Beach (Photo-essay)

On the very first morning of my South Africa visit, I went to the local beach in the southern suburb of Cape Town that I stayed in for the first half of the trip.  Located approximately 34 kilometers away from the center of the Mother City, the 1.5-kilometer-long beach at Fish Hoek, the waters going up to it and the area surrounding it are quite the sights to behold.  In fact, so lovely did I find it that I ended up going there twice more before I left the area! 

Although it's already summer in South Africa, it most definitely was not warm enough for me to be willing to do much more than dip a few centimeters of my feet into the water.  Instead, I was content to stroll along Jager's Walk, the path leading around the side of the beach, and also set foot for a bit on Fish Hoek Beach's wonderfully fine sands -- unlike the intrepid (and insane?) women and men (the majority of them past retirement age!) who braved the cold to swim in the waters of False Bay, even during windy conditions that accompanied temperatures low enough for me to consider it flannel shirt weather...

Early morning at Fish Hoek Beach but the sun was 
already high up in the sky and shining very brightly

So strongly did the sun shine that when I aimed my camera
directly at it, it turned color into black, white, silver and gray! 

Rest assured though that I did manage to snap
some colorful shots of the surroundings ;b

So you, too, can marvel at how blue 
and clear the waters were! :)

The second morning I went to the beach, 
Puppet Ponyo made sure to tag along :)

With the tide on the low side, there was lots of beach to 
walk on -- and admire the views from it -- in the morning 

At "golden hour", I loved the look of the silhouettes in the distance

 I also enjoyed the different colors that I can't actually
decide look cool or warm, so I'll say that they were both ;b

2 comments:

Bill said...

Hi YTSL,

From Ipoh and Penang, to Indonesia, to the Seto Inland Sea, and to South Africa - you've documented a whirlwind of a travel year! As for your travel partner, Puppet Ponyo, if anything - she fuels your entries with her memorable poses.

You're right, pointing a camera at the sun often creates interesting silver-black-gray, almost alchemical effects - as shown in your second photo from the top...I may have seen too many travel and surfing tv documentaries on Cape Town because when I look at your beautiful beach photos on this page, I also can't help thinking of Great Whites cruising the nearby waters.

Bill

YTSL said...

Hi Bill --

You're right: Puppet Ponyo and I have indeed done more travelling this year than has been the case in years!

As for your thoughts re Great Whites: you might like to know that Fish Hoek Beach does have a shark spotting program, complete with flag warning system... ;)