south africa: muizenberg, st james bay, and kalk bay

When Terrence and I had dinner earlier in the week we decided to do a day trip to nearby areas when he didn't have to work on Saturday. I follow him on instagram, and he has posted some beautiful photos, so I told him that's where I wanted to go.

Our first stop was a town called Muizenberg. It's one of many small towns stretched along the cape, south of Capetown. Most people come to town for the same reason we did, to see the beach. It's a popular place for surfing, though I'm not into that. We did see a few people out there, though I know the water wasn't warm.

Along the beach are another iconic part of town: the beach shacks. They're colourful, and impossible to miss. Terrence told me that even though they don't look spick and span anymore, they're actually quite expensive, and very difficult to buy. People/families hold onto them for a long time.

Next we drove to another town on the coast called St James Bay. As you might guess, it's on a bay. There isn't much to the town, just a couple roads. Most of the people who live in town work in tourism, or commute to Capetown for work each day. It seems like a good idea, except that there aren't many roads, which means commute times could be horrendous. Heaps of tourists, (especially in season,) cram the roads all day every day.

While we were driving, Terrence pointed out to me fire damaage on the mountains from a fire several years ago. (Table Mountain National Park stretches down the entire length of the cape.) It was sad to see that the damage is still there, I wonder how long it will be until it is back to normal.

St James Bay also has colourful beach shacks, even more than there are in Muizenberg. Since it was still pretty early in the morning, on a winter Saturday morning, there weren't many people out and about yet. We took advantage of this to have a mini photo shoot with the shacks. Terrence is just as picky as I am about photos, and also has a really good eye for what makes a good photo. We had fun taking advantage of the beautiful colours, and lack of other people.

While we were there we did see a couple taking engagement photos, we took photos of them as well. One of the photos was something I tried to recreate, using the reflection of the water. I really need a better camera.

We drove from St James Bay, to Kalk Bay, the next small town on the cape. We started exploration of town by having a small breakfast in a random cafe. I'm a sucker for any place that has scones and cream on a menu. These scones were amazing, the cream was even better. The cream was so good that both of us considered ordering another scone just to have more cream. YUM.

After the cafe we browsed through a couple vintage/antique shops. Just like St James Bay, Kalk Bay is dependent on tourists. There are plenty of these shops, and souvenir shops as well. Once I found postcards in a shop, I was a happy camper.

After the shops we made our way to the beach area, and the marina/port. It was neat to see the fishing boats, and know they weren't just for tourist photos. (Though the photos were pretty good too.)

In this area we saw several seals, all laying around. While we were watching them, we noticed a woman pouring fish guts/remains over the wall, into the water. That's when I realized seals move really fast when they're motivated. Apparently the fish guts were plenty motivating, because the seals got going, and went over the wall into the water after the food.

I wanted a video, but I was more concerned about staying out of the way of the seals. They're all fat, and lazy in the sun, but big and scary too.

At that point we realized it was mid afternoon, and we hadn't had a proper meal, yet. Fortunately, not too far away was a tourist destination in terms of food. It's called Kalky's, and according to Terrence has been around for years and years. The food isn't high class, most of it is fried. We ordered a platter with fried fish, fried shrimp, french fries, and I've forgotten what else. There was a small amount of a salad that had probably come from a bag.

We thought we would need more food, so we ordered an extra piece of fish. It turned out we didn't need the extra, but that didn't stop us from eating it. Fried food at its best.

From there it was time to go back to Capetown. The drive back was a bit more busy than our morning drive, but it still didn't take long.

We drove through the area where Terrence lives, which has beautiful views of the water. I can see why he loves it. We continued driving, until we got to an area known as Camps Bay The people who live here have money. A lot of money. The houses were big, and had good views of the water.

The beach is nice, and was filled with people running around enjoying the beautiful weather. I walked into the water, to make sure I could say I'd been in the ocean this far south :)

While we were there the sunset started, so we took a few more photos, so pretty.

What a great day/road trip. Great to spend time with a travel/photo friend, and see more of an area I love. I will be back.