Sunset wreck

Sunset at Cannon Rocks with the shipwreck in the forground

If you want to see more magnificent pictures featuring skies from all over the globe, visit Skywatch

.

GPS: 33°44'39.94"S, 26°33'42.35"E

Dias Cross at Kwaaihoek

During our December holiday at Cannon Rocks, one of the things that I really wanted to do was to visit the Dias Cross at Kwaaihoek. Bartholomew Dias was the first (known) European to discover what is today known as South Africa. He left Portugal and travel down the west coast of Africa searching for a seaway to the East. He rounded Cape Point without knowing in a storm and first set foot at Mossel Bay in 1488, where he planted a stone cross. From here he sailed on to present day Port Elizabeth and planted a cross on St Croix Island in Algoa Bay. By this time the sailors wanted to turn back home, but he persuaded them to sail for another three day. The point where they turned around on the 12th March 1488 is today called Kwaaihoek. The remnants of this cross were rediscovered in 1938 by Prof. E. Axelson and transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. This lead to a replica of the cross being erected on the spot.

As there is quite a lot of walking involved, the Damselfly decided that she and the Rugrats would rather spend the morning by the pool than to trek along with me across the dunes and back along the beach. She did drop me off at the closest spot to the point as possible. From here the first part of my journey took me through some coastal bush before the path spewed me out on what is the far eastern section of the Alexandria Dunefields. Hitting the dunes I took a moment to contemplate, but as my lift would have been back at camp already, I pressed on.

After about half and hour of following the footsteps of a couple of people that had already made the journey earlier the morning, I crested the last dune, took another sip of water (by now it was starting to get hot) and headed towards the rocky outcrop on which the cross is situated. The spot really stands out from the surrounding coastline which is mainly sand.

Leaving the cross behind my journey took me west along the beach and into the wind. Looking back at the outcrop you can see why sailors called the spot an false island as it does look like an island in the distance. But the pool was calling and the day was heating up, so I didn't daddle and headed towards home. About an hour or so later my journey ended at the Boknes main beach from where I called the Damselfly to come and pick me up. She couldn't quite believe that I was done already, but when I walk I don't stroll. I walk to get there and only stop to take photographs (and to take in the scenery. Or breath in the fresh air. Or to take photographs. Oh, I've said that already.)

Unfortunately the cross was badly vandalised a year or so ago. It is thought that the vandals were trying to get to the metal skeleton of the cross to sell it as scrap metal. That is so sad. So as you can see in the second photo of the post, the cross doesn't have an actual cross at the top. There are also a couple of other features as well as a bronze plague missing. Above is a photo of the replica of the Dias cross that stands on Market Square in Port Elizabeth to show you what it is supposed to look like. Also follow this link to see a pic of the whole cross in Port Elizabeth.

GPS: 33°43'6.06"S, 26°37'24.09"E

Into the Sunset

I was down on the beach at Cannon Rocks to take some shipwreck pictures (here and here) at sunset when these two guys came by jogging into the setting sun.

.

For more pictures by photographers from around the world involving the sky, visit Skywatch.

.

GPS: 33°44'41.59"S, 26°33'39.99"E

Rusty wreck

Following on yesterday's post on (what's left of) the wreck at Cannon Rocks, I decided to show off some closeup shots of the wreck today.

.

GPS: 33°44'41.59"S, 26°33'39.99"E

Cannon Rocks' wreck

During December we spent a week at Cannon Rocks on the Sunshine Coast in the Eastern Cape (about 120km east of my home town of Port Elizabeth). We stayed there the previous year as well and I just loved photographing the wreck of a fishing boat rusting away on the beach close to the resort where we stayed.

Last year the wreck looked like this (photo above) and some of the photos I took then can be seen here and here. As soon as we set up camp I jumped into the car and headed over to the wreck to go and say hi. I could barely believe my eyes. Below is what's left of it. The ocean and the elements are truly taking its toll.

Just about all of the deck and upper deck area is gone. It also looks like the rough seas had moved the wreck slightly as it's in water all the time now where it was on dry sand during low tide last time round. Because of this its now covered in moss and sea weed.

But although it looked very different from my last visit I still took quite a few pics of the wreck and will show them to you in the time to come.

.

GPS: 33°44'41.59"S, 26°33'39.99"E

Blue moon rising

The blue moon (second full moon of the calender month) rising over the ship wreck at Cannon Rocks in the Eastern Cape on New Years Eve.

For more fabulous pictures featuring the sky, visit Skywatch.

.

GPS: 33°44'41.59"S, 26°33'39.99"E

The lone fisherman

I popped down to the beach to get some sunset pictures and saw this lone fisherman walking along the shore with all his equipment. Probably on his way to his favorite fishing spot.

The water's edge

When I did the first "Random ..." post on "Roundness", it was because I couldn't find anything else that tickled my fancy for a post that night. The second one on "Rust" was out of wanting to post one specific photo and finding a couple of others which linked to the theme. Now I've realised that there are endless possibilities out there for themed posts that isn't connected to one place. Oh wait, that was actually Karin who said so in one of the comments on "Rust". But what she said is true. There are so many different possibilities to explore, and explore I will.

For today I chose "The water's edge". I love standing where the water gets to the sand and take pictures of the little waves breaking on the sand with some landscape in the background.

Ps. Tomorrow (or today or yesterday depending when you are reading this) is the Damselfly's birthday. I just want to wish her a Happy Birthday! I'll try to get up and make you coffee in bed tomorrow morning. Promise.

Natures Valley beach on the Garden Route

The beach at Cannon Rocks on the Sunshine Coast

Hobie Beach towards Pollock Beach in Port Elizabeth

Canon Rocks sunset

On Monday I did a post with a photograph of the wreck at Cannon Rocks at sunset. Today I am posting another two sunset pictures taken while camping at Cannon Rocks. Not much to say about it other than "enjoy".

There are a lot of awesome Skywatch pictures from all over the world that you can enjoy by clicking here.

Windy beach

There was a lot of windy weather along our coast between Christmas and New Year. Luckily the holiday resort where we were camping was very sheltered and we weren't effected that much. But when we headed down to the beach we knew that mother nature was blowing off some steam.

The one day the wind was extremely bad. It was blowing so much sea air onto the land in the distance that it actually looked like there was fog coming in. We wanted to go for a walk, but we got so sandblasted that we had to turn around.

There was a brave fisherman on the rocks trying his luck in the wind. I don't think he had much luck cause we saw him walk by later emptyhanded.

There was some joy in the wind though. A couple of kite surfers were getting ready to hit the water and you could see that the conditions were ideal for them.

Wreck at sunset

Today's post continues on yesterday's post on the shipwreck at Cannon Rocks on the Sunshine Coast. It rained three out of the seven days we were at Cannon Rocks and I was a bit worried that I may not get a sunset to photograph. Seeing that the evening had good prospects, I headed down the beach to the shipwreck to wait for sunset.

When I got there I thought this scene with the kelp gulls in the foreground and the fisherman in the background made for a nice picture. The gulls stayed just long enough for me to line it up and get the shot.

I tried to get a sunset photo with the shipwreck in the foreground and some reflexion on the wet sand. Most of the pics I took had sunspots on it, but this one came out fairly close to what I wanted. What do you think?

Cannon Rocks shipwreck

Cannon Rocks is a little holiday resort town on the Sunshine Coast about 120 km east of Port Elizabeth. The town (if you can call it a town) consists mostly of holiday homes and retired people and reminded me of Paradise Beach. This was were my grandparents retired and we spent every school holiday there, playing amongst the dunes, building forts in the bush, exploring between the rocks and off cause swimming. But I digress. Cannon Rocks, and neighboring Boknes, have miles of sandy beaches ideal for swimming, kite surfing, fishing or just walking hand in hand... or running after the Rugrats, whichever you prefer.

The landmark that stands out for me at Cannon Rocks is the wreck, or what's left of it, of the Hallelujah-20. The Hallelujay-20 was a fishing boat that ran aground on the beach in the mid 1990's for whatever reason. I didn't ask around why.

I was immediately drawn to the wreck. Infinite interesting angles to photograph, holes to frame with, colours to play with and not to mention the promise of a sunset photo with the wreck in the foreground. That post will follow tomorrow. Watch this space.

My favorite pic of my time spent at the wreck was this one.

Beach treasures

When you take a walk on the beach you always scan the sand to see it you can't find something interesting. Most of the time kids will pick up shells, sticks, stones (not to break bones), mermaid's purses, feathers or whatever else they find.

This seagull's feather lying next to this stone caught my attention and I just got one picture of it before Chaos Boy leaped into frame to pick it up.

The same happened with this tennis ball. I was still crawling around on all fours and swoozh, it was gone. The tennis ball had me wondering though. Where did it come from. Was it some dog's toy that got thrown too far into the waves for him to fetch and got washed up later? Was it one of the balls that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadel hit off the building in Dubai in that TV ad? Or did it belong to a couple of bored fishermen on a fishing boat that where playing catch? Who knows? But its lying in my garage now. LOL.

Both these photos were taken during our week spent in Cannon Rocks.