Shelly Beach

As always, we were late leaving the camp at Oribi Gorge, and reluctantly at that. But there is a lot of South Africa still to cover and the weeks are just flying by! We found a campsite at Shelly Beach, slightly inland and very affordable. It was a short distance to travel so we were setup by lunch time.

After lunch we went exploring, trying amongst others, to find a place called Kumnandi Organic Market. This was indicated on the map-based route guide called the Southern Explorer but it turned out to be quite a quest! Anyway, we eventually found out from the local health shop that they harvest weekly on a Thursday and then come to town on Friday and Saturday to sell their produce. It is a community enablement project where people are taught to plant veggies to feed themselves firstly, and then to sell what they cannot use. In fact they set up their table right outside the health shop and we returned on Friday to buy a few veggies.

Next we found a local dive operator, Aqua Planet (www.aquaplanet.co.za) and booked a Protea Banks dive for Friday morning. This was the reason for coming to Shelly Beach.

Thursday we did a bit of pottering around, nothing strenuous at all. We need a break from this busy activity-based schedule you know…

We were at Aqua Planet at 07h00 on Friday, got kitted up and then headed for the launch site. There we had our dive brief, followed by an 8 Km boat ride to the dive site.

The weather was overcast and the tide was coming in. The launch was tricky!! With swells in excess of 3 metres the breaking waves were rather intimidating but after careful assessment and timing the skipper eventually found a break and we were through, much to everyone’s relief. Once past the breakers the boat idles and everyone gets to take their life jackets off. As local divers we are used to this but there was an Austrian couple on board and only Richard was a diver while Rosie just came along for the boat ride. During the launch she was as white as a sheet and her eyes were as big as saucers and knuckles white, determined to not let go of the rope. When told that she could now take her life jacket off she said simply ‘NO’. Ultimately she handled the whole experience very well without even getting seasick.

The dive was hectic but certainly interesting, or shall we say memorable? I battled initially to equalise so Kyle indicated to Roger to join the group while he stays with me until I get to depth. During this process we got to see 2 Oceanic Black-tipped sharks that circled us, as well as a Zambezi and a Ribbon-tailed Ray. It was awesome. Conditions were hectic with a current of about 10 Km per hour it just took the buoy and dragged the trainee DM along while the rest of us had to keep up. It was not easy. Roger and I got separated and I found it very difficult to catch up to Roger, while he had to keep his eye on the group and at the same time not lose sight of me! I didn’t realise that the current was stronger in mid water and I was a bit deeper than the rest of the group. Our total dive time was 29 minutes with a maximum depth of 37,5 metres. We did see a number of Zambezi sharks and Richard, the Austrian, saw a Sun Fish. How lucky can you get?!

We were ready to leave the campsite at 10h00 on Saturday, following the coast down towards Port Edward. We found a stunning campsite at Trafalgar, situated between Margate and Port Edward. En route we stopped at Ramsgate for lunch at The Waffle House. At the restaurant we ran into Rosie and Richard and spent a few minutes chatting. Small world…

Again, this was a place which Roger had very fond memories of, and of course after lunch he had to go for a swim in the sea. Still the best beach on the South Coast according to him! Just a little biased perhaps? Maybe not, it has got Blue Flag status after all…

We got to Port’O Call campsite at about 15h00 and after some tricky manoeuvring and unplanned tree pruning, we are now settled in. Unfortunately we could not take the site with a sea view that we would have liked due to more low branches, but the sound of the waves is still almost deafening, and we do have little glimpses of the sea. Blissfull…