The beach at Bluewater Bay

Bluewater Bay Beach stretching away towards the Coega Harbour hidden somewhere in the haze on the horizon.  I made a quick stop to snap a picture or two while on my way elsewhere but have to make a plan to return some time soon for a walk along the beach.  The beach is great for land based whale watching as the whales are often spotted not very far behind the surf line.

Bluewater Bay beach aerial

I was looking for a video for this week's Video Friday post and found this aerial drone footage of Bluewater Bay beach by Christopher Moodley of Epic Moovies on YouTube.  Bluewater Bay is probably Port Elizabeth's most underrated beach and this video shows how beautiful a stretch of white beach it is.

UPDATE: My sincerest apologies.  He seemed to have removed all the videos from his YouTube channel.

Coega in the distance

Coega Harbour seen from Bluewater Bay Beach. Notice the two oil rigs currently being worked on in the harbour.

Lifesavers in action

I made a quick stop in Bluewater Bay a week or so ago on my way out to Addo.  While taking a couple of photos at the Swartkops River Mouth a team from the Bluewater Bay Surf Lifesaving Club was called out to assist with an incident on the river.  They quickly towed the waveski out to the water and two lifeguards set off upstream. I don't think guys like these get enough credit for what they do.

Aloe view of Swartkops River mouth

My three favorite flowers in the wild are aloes, proteas and arum lilies.  The aloes are in full bloom at the moment and gives colour to the winter landscape.  A hike along the Aloe Trail at Bluewater Bay took as to this spot from where we could see Amsterdamhoek and the Swartkops River mouth with flowering aloes in the foreground.

Drama Princess leading the way

Its amazing how different from each other one's own children can be.  Drama Princess is the sporty outdoorsy type while Chaos Boy is happy to sit and watch tv or play in his room.  The other day when I announced that I was meeting Shefetswe and Sanhain at the Aloe Trail for a quick 6km hike and a couple of Geocaches, Drama Princess quickly got ready to go with while Chaos Boy just blew us off and went back to do whatever he was doing.  Daddy's little girl.

Swartkops River and Amsterdamhoek

A view of the Swartkops River and Amsterdamhoek from the Aloe Trail

Aloe Trail viewpoint

Last weekend a couple of us went for a late afternoon walk along the Aloe Trail at Bluewater Bay to find the Geocaches placed on the trail.  I make sure I always have my camera at hand and I snapped Drama Princess enjoying the view towards the Swartkops River without her knowing.

Aloes silhouette

The aloes are in full bloom at the moment and an late afternoon walk along the Aloe Trail in Bluewater Bay gave me the opportunity to grab this picture along the way

Tracks on the sand

The Swartkops Estuary is well known for its waders and other water birds making it an awesome bird watching spot.  But its not always about the birds themselves like the scene in the picture of the spoor of a bird that went for a walk along the river bank.

River mouth

The Swartkops River is the biggest river in Port Elizabeth (and here I'm not counting the Sundays River because technically its not in PE).  Its so sad that the river has major pollution problems upstream from Uitenhage down towards the estauray.  The kids got to see the river mouth for the first time the other day during our geocaching trip to Bluewater Bay.  Chaos Boy just kept asking how deep it was and if he could walk through it.  Drama Princess was a little bit more cautious as you can see in the picture and kept slightly back.

Aloe Reserve view

One of my favourite natural things about winter is the fact that it's when the aloes bloom.  And if you can add to it a beautiful view, like this one of the Swartkops River and the ocean from the Aloe Reserve in Bluewater Bay, then even better.

 

Today is also Tata Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday.  Happy birthday Madiba!

Bluewater Bay Forward Observation Post

In 1942 during the Second World War a set of harbour defences was put up around Port Elizabeth to keep a constant lookout for approaching ships, submarines and planes.  The defences consisted of Algoa Battery in Humewood, the Battery Observation Post on Brookes Hill and three Fortress Observation Posts at Amsterdam Hoek (Bluewater Bay), Seahill (Cape Recife) and Schoenmakerskop. 

 

I've been to the FOP's at Cape Recife and Schoemakerskop before and have decided that I want to check them all out even if its only to say that I've been there.  The next one on my list was the FOP at Bluewater Bay which is still in good condition.  Pity I couldn't get on top of the FOP to see the view out to sea.  

  

Bluewater Bay Beach

Bluewater Bay Beach stretching away towards the Coega Harbour hidden somewhere in the haze on the horizon.  I made a quick stop to snap a picture or two while on my way elsewhere but have to make a plan to return some time soon for a walk along the beach.  The beach is great for land based whale watching as the whales are often spotted not very far behind the surf line.

Tippers Creek

I haven't really posted a lot of photos from the Bluewater Bay area and the reason is simply that I live on the other side of town and don't get to Bluewater Bay that often.  I took the week off to spend some time with the KidZ during the school holiday and decided to head out there for some Geocaching.  Tippers Creek Road links Bluewater Bay at the top with Amsterdamhoek next to the Swartkops River.  There's also a set of steps, just over 100 steps to be exact *huff* *puff*, linking the two areas.  Looking down from the top you can see Tippers Creek Road and the Swartkops Estuary stretching out in the background.

 

I've looked around a little bit but unfortunately haven't been able to find any information on Tippers Creek and where it got its name

Kite flags

If I ever had to encounter a flag pole like this one somewhere on a deserted beach my first reaction would be to try and find the shipwreck survivors that put it up.  This particular one doesn't belong to any stranded souls but played some kind of role in this weekend's kite surfing at Bluewater Bay.  Probably ready, steady, GO!

Kite surfers

Over the weekend there was a national kite surfing competition that took place in blistering conditions at Bluewater Bay on the eastern side of Port Elizabeth.  It was a stunning site seeing all the kits bulging in the wind with the city in the background.