April 23

We all seemed to be up early this morning. Lying in bed, I looked outside the window and saw a solid block of white. I was disappointed. I had hoped for a final beach day and it seemed cloudy and fogged in. It wasn't until I got out of bed that I realized the window looked on to a white stucco wall. In reality it was cloudy with some patches of blue. The beach was a complete possibility.

Early the same morning, Gila told me that she had unpacked her suitcase and could not find her anti malarial pills. Her first thought was to call her doctor and get him to speak to a pharmacist. Shelley suggested calling a chemist as she calls him, explain the situation and see if she could get the pills without the need to call her doctor or see a doctor in East London.

We had not bought any supplies for breakfast, so we had a number of items to take are of before we decided how to spend our day. First we organized our laundry so it could all be cleaned before beginning the second half of the trip. Then we found a pharmacy and an accommodating chemist who was willing to sell Gila the prescription she needed. And finally we found a Wimpey's for breakfast. Gila had wonderful ideas for the day; a spa treatment, a visit to an art gallery and some type of performance. All I wanted was to go to the beach. Furthermore Shelley did not know of any galleries that she thought would be of interest to Gila nor could she find any performances for the evening. By default, the choice that remained was the beach. We bought some take away for a lunch and set off.

Although it was warm enough the sky was more cloudy than blue. Here and there the clouds parted enough to spy a patch of blue and I asked Shelley to make sure she was driving in the direction of the blue skies. The beach she had in mind was Cintsa on the wild coast, so called because the coast had not yet been developed. This beach was in the Transkei portion of South Africa. Shelley explained that the Transkei used to be a separate country but it was integrated into South Africa some years ago. 

The parking area for the beach was deserted and we asked a surfer returning from the beach where to find it. He pointed to a pathway and a boardwalk and stairs. As we made our way down the wooden pathway, we began hearing the music of the ever present and persistent ocean. Arriving on the other side of the sand dunes, we saw an enormous waterfront. It seemed to stretch for miles in both directions. There were no buildings, no flags, no restaurants or washrooms. just waves crashing on to shore.

The wind was no longer a cool force blowing in from the ocean, but a warm breeze. The sky directly overhead was cloudy but it was slowly being blown away and replaced by a bright sunny blue sky. The water, although not the warmth of the Caribbean, was the warmest we had felt yet. Off in the distance we saw a surfer taking on the waves for a while. From time to time, a dog would frolic at the water's edge with its owner, but other than that, the beach was all ours. 

We played in the waves, walked along the water's edge collecting seashells, enjoyed our lunch, explored another section of the beach and enjoyed the water once again. (I could not have asked for a better day on the beach) while Gila sculpted a full sized woman in the sand.. It was quiet and relaxing. The sounds of the waves endlessly crashing on the shore was like a calming life force. This was all I had hoped for in a beach.

The drive back was slow due to traffic and construction, but we had enough time to shower and relax (after all that hard work on the beach) before heading out to a local pub for our last dinner with Shelley. Tomorrow is basically a travel day. We need to pick up our laundry, pack up once again and head to the airport for our flight to Durban and shuttle to Lesotho. The trip through the Drakensberg mountains will give us yet another perspective of this amazing country.