This post is for the #wednesdaywalk challenge and the #makemesmile challenge collaboration. This collaboration initially took place once a month, but due to its popularity, 
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Last weekend I was looking for new beaches to explore on the east coast of South Africa. I looked on Google maps to see if I could find a beach or even a viewpoint that we haven't been to before.
I found three venues:
- Garvies Beach.
- Lookout Point, Bluff, and
- View from Bluff Lighthouse
We are currently experiencing a heatwave here in South Africa. So, seeing that we didn't go out early in the morning, I wanted to be out rather later in the afternoon.
My idea was to spend some time at Garvies Beach first and explore the area. From there I wanted to go to the other two venues to see if I could get some late-afternoon shots.
That was the plan, but it did not work out that way.
Garvies Beach.
As planned, we went to Garvies Beach first. However, you have to drive down a narrow lane to get to the beach. At the bottom, between some houses, there is a small parking area. All the parking spaces were taken and there was no space to park the car. We had a peek at the beach from here, and it didn't look too bad, but we would have to return at another time.
Lookout Point, Bluff.
Being somewhat disappointed by not being able to spend some time at Garvies Beach, we continued to the second planned destination, Lookout Point, Bluff.
I had high expectations about this stop. Looking at Google maps, it looked like the potential was good for some nice views and getting some nice shots.
As we arrived at the location, it ended up in a bit of a "treasure hunt" though...lol.
We had to take a right turn into the last road of the suburb, leaving the main road.
On the right-hand side, there were some beautiful houses that I think must have the most beautiful views of the ocean as they are on top of the hill. To our left, on the opposite side of the road, was a bushy area, with the ocean far down below us.
It was all beautiful...but where is the "Lookout Point"? We saw one car that was parked on the left-hand side of the road and as we passed it, we saw an information board next to the road, and also what looked like a small deck.
There was no proper parking space. Even the car that was parked there, was parked on the road, just as close as possible to the edge of the road.
I wasn't comfortable with this.
So, I decided to make a U-turn, going back to the main road, where I parked the car on the pavement.
We took a walk back to the lookout point. On arrival, we had a closer look at the information board and learned that this seems to be a nice place to do some whale watching.
We have been fortunate to see some whales and watch them playing once in the past. But that was further down south. We have also seen some dolphins before, but this is the perfect spot to sit down and watch. With a beautiful view of the ocean, it would be nothing less than spectacular if you could spot some whales from here, as it is not something you see every day.
Even though we didn't see any activity in the water below us (and we didn't have the binoculars with us too), we still enjoyed the amazing view from up here.
We had a great view of the beach below us, and what seemed like some big houses on the beach.
I hope the next two photos will give you an idea of the beautiful views of the ocean, looking out over the bushes in the foreground.
In my next photo, you can see stairs going down to the beach.
It was very tempting, but not being familiar with this area and the crime statistics here, I didn't feel comfortable leaving our car unattended for that long where it was parked. Also, if someone spotted us going down, it would be obvious that we would be gone for quite some time...ample time to get up to some mischief. You might think I'm being neurotic, but believe me, I have enough personal experience to justify this way of thinking.
As it is, the car was out of sight from where we were and I didn't want to to have it that way for too long, so we returned to our car.
I would love to get more familiar with this area though. If I can leave the car where I can feel relatively sure about the safety aspect, I would love to go down to the beach as well. And whale watching will definitely also be on the agenda... Who knows, maybe we'll see something...
View From Bluff Lighthouse.
Looking at what was shown on Google maps as "View from Bluff Lighthouse", I must say that I had my doubts about this one.
We followed the navigation system in the car and as I expected, we ended up at a gate where we needed to enter the harbor area. Without a permit, this was not going to happen.
So this was a "failure" if you want to call it that...lol.
We didn't feel like going home already, yet it was too late in the afternoon to travel too far now...
So...where would we go? Both my wife and I felt like didn't really get a proper walk yet and I wanted more photos too.
Brighton Beach (On the Spur of the Moment).
I know we were at Brighton Beach with our previous outing, but it was not too far from where we were now. As a matter of fact, we thought about going to Ansteys Beach, the beach just before you get to Brighton Beach and I didn't take any photos there last week.
But as we arrived at Ansteys Beach, it was so crowded you can't believe it. It was chaos (in my opinion). We gave each other one look and..."Brighton Beach, here we come...or at least, let's just go and see what it's like out there" was the response from us both.
Brighton Beach also had a lot of activity, but it was more fishing activities with a few people having fun on the beach.
These beaches were still closed last week, but it seemed like Ansteys Beach was open, and here on Brighton Beach it seemed like some people also tested the waters, although I don't think it was officially open.
In my next photo, you can see some people on the beach.
But then the excitement started to set in for me...!
We were here last week during low tide... Now it was high tide!
I realized this when I saw with what force the surf was hitting the tidal pool.
In my next photo, it seemed like two currents met before they got to the tidal pool.
The surf hitting the tidal pool in its entire width...
Another huge wave that broke over one corner of the pool.
If you read my post last week for #wednesdaywalk, you might recognise this sandstone rock formation as the Cave Rock Monument. It was the theme for my post last week. What I would like to point out today though, is the following...
My next photo was taken from "road level", standing next to the rock, looking down at the beach.
In this photo you can see the water washing up against the rocks.
Yet, all the way back where you can see the white foam on the water...that is where I stood last week when I took last week's photos of this formation, looking at it from the beach.
The rock formation at road level.
Walking around to the other side of the rock (still on road level), I took the next photo.
About halfway down between the road and the beach, a neat walkway has been built. This area is popular among fishermen (especially during high tide) to cast their lines from. There are even holders where they can place their fishing rods while they are waiting for a bite...
Looking up north, toward Ansteys Beach, with some fishermen in action on the beach where the beach starts widening. In this photo you can also see the walkway above the beach.
I went down to the walkway and standing among the fishermen, I took the next two photos. I took these photos from the shadows behind the rock, trying to capture the sunlight still shining on the other side of the rock over the ocean.
This time I was "high-and-dry", about 2 meters above the water when I took the two photos above. Yet, last week I was down there on the rocks and even below, walking on dry sand while I was taking photos of the rocks from the beach...lol.
Well, that's it for this week, folks.
Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!