Home Page: Willmore Adventures in South Africa
Drama at sea has shaped our summer holidays here in South Africa. From Port Elizabeth to Coffee Bay, we’ve tested the waves and tested our knowledge. Here is a peak into this summer’s Willmore Adventure.
Online
school in French, preparing for Christmas, recovering from Covid, and
questioning my sanity…the lead up to Christmas was somewhat hectic to say the
least. So, when they arrived, we celebrated the holidays with
great relief. We enjoyed a Christmas day in Jo’burg with Laurence’s mom’s family,
complete with a summer’s Christmas day swim. Usually everyone politely refuses
my mulled wine in high summer, but this year the weather was mild enough for it
to be a hit! And then shortly after Christmas, as with the rest of Johannesburg,
we set off for the coast, our destination being Port Elizabeth to visit
Laurence’s stepmom, Bev.
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| Christmas Day swim! |
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| Christmas celebrations at our house, complete with mulled wine. |
I spoke in
my last post about all the regional African languages that South Africa has,
and as a result it’s rich cultural history. Whilst the colonialists were quite
good at replacing it with their own, native African history is now making its
rightful return. Port Elizabeth, named as such in 1820 after a Governor’s wife,
in 2021 became Gqeberha, which is the name of a river in the Eastern Cape Province
where PE is located and home to the Xhosa people. It’s a mouthful for even the
most experienced Xhosa speaker, with the G followed by a click, but it’s a
great opportunity for people to learn something of the history of the area. So,
we were in fact headed to Gqeberha for our holiday.
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| A map of South Africa where you can see Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape. |
On one
sunny and slightly windy day, whilst standing at the sea’s edge and wondering
if I was going to get in after counting to three or simply just going to return
to my towel, the lifeguards rather dramatically sprinted past me complete with
yellow surfboard and red 'David Hasselhoff' float. Everyone naturally went very
quiet and watched as they paddled out to what we later realised was a non-swimmer
who had been swept out of her depth. I naturally went to count my family
members, seeing that the girls were together jumping shallow waves and Joel was
throwing a ball to a dog. It was only when I started to look for Laurence that
I realised he was in the thick of the action and had been the first to respond to
the lady in distress. He kept her afloat until the lifeguards reached them, after
which, like a superhero, he emerged from the water back to the shore. I felt so
proud of him that I wanted to tell everyone on the beach that he was my
husband! Well done Laurence for being so perceptive and quick to react! It is
rather ironic however, that, 24 hours earlier, the opposite could be said of
Laurence about his wife. Said wife, aka me, was frolicking in the waves
and enjoying a good body surf, when a particularly strong wave caught her off
guard. The strength of said wave caused a rather unfortunate underwater
wardrobe malfunction otherwise known as, ‘bikini bottoms lost at sea’! And
whilst Laurence came to her rescue and the bikini bottoms were restored to
their rightful place, I’m not sure that when she emerged from the water that day,
he saw a superhero in her, nor do I think he wanted to tell everyone that she
was his wife! But we were able to laugh about it all the same. Well done Jessica for maintaining a sense of humour!
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| A visual of David Hasselhoff complete with 'Baywatch' red float and yellow surf board, ha! |
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| The girls surfing the waves at Sardinia Bay, where all the drama unfolded... |
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| Races on the Sardinia Bay sand dunes. |
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| New Year's Eve celebrations sitting outside in the summer heat. |
After a wonderful week in Gqeberha, we travelled up the east coast to a remote area called Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast. Named after washed up cargo of coffee that promptly grew along the coastline, it is the last village in the Xhosa territory before the Mthatha River and Pondoland beyond. We spent 2 days kayaking and exploring with a guide, Mzo, who told us about Coffee Bay and the folklore and fairytales of the local culture. One particular tale was that of the sea people who live underwater, ready to snatch an unsuspecting child who would dare to show them their knees under the water. It was a story to instill fear of the sea in a young child growing up on the shores of Coffee Bay so that they wouldn’t go in too far without an adult. He also explained that the ‘wild’ in Wild Coast was a reference to the sea and not the land, which I had previously assumed, and that the ship carrying coffee wrecked at sea was no one off accident but, in fact, a common occurrence.
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| Laurence, Amelie and Elowen looking down over Coffee Bay. |
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| An evening view from Coffee Bay. |
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| Joel and I kayaking in the mangroves on the Mthatha River. |
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| Laurence and Amelie at the mouth of the Mthatha River. |
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| Another site at Coffee Bay of 'The Hole in the Wall', another place filled with fairytales and folklore. |
So, with the help of Mzo and the local folklore
at Coffee Bay, coupled with our experiences at sea the week before in the wild
waters of Gqeberha, we certainly learnt our lesson to be extra careful in the sea
off the Wild Coast. And, if in the future anyone dares visit those shores and dares to dip a
toe in those waters, I can say with absolute certainty that the
sea people will be lurking, ready to take their next victim. I can also say
with absolute certainty that it would be prudent to take a one-piece swimming
costume!
The heroics
of Laurence and my unfortunate ‘Bikinigate’ drama will certainly go down in
Willmore Folklore as we continue our adventures in South Africa in 2022. I hope
you all had a wonderful Christmas and a peaceful New Year. We can’t wait for our
visit home this July! The countdown is on!
Lots of
love,
Jess x
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