Taking chances!

Wanting to continue fishing as long as possible, but the spring tide has other plans!

Coastal Erosion

Since we discussed coastal erosion on the PE blog today, and St Francis is in the midst of a bit of a crisis because of this, we thought it apt to feature it here too. This shot was taken in January 2007, from the beach car park at St Francis Bay. Since then it has got worse, and in a recent storm, some of the roads leading to the beachfront properties were washed away, as well as the ablution block here and the foundations of some houses are beginning to be undemined.

When we went there for the first time in the mid 90s, we went for a walk along the 2 km wide sandy beach all the way to the Kromme River Mouth and back. Now it is impassable in many places, as the sand has been eroded away by currents, and due to the development and cutting off of the migratory sand river dunes from the rest of the coast, it is not being replaced. All sorts of expensive and controversial plans have been put forward to fix it, but as there are not enough funds, nothing has been done. At last, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, and a cost effective scheme which has been successful along the North Sea coast is being looked at. Let's hope something comes of it soon, as this situation can't be left to continue as it is for much longer.

spring tide #5 After the storm

The sun rises on a beautiful new day. The swells are high but the storm has passed.

spring tide # 4

Riding out the storm

The day before the spring high, a storm came through, and the bay was just crammed with fishing boats who had come into the relatively sheltered spot to ride out the storm. If you look at the big map on the sidebar, the westerly winds go tearing past shark point and across the bay, leaving a sheltered spot near the harbour mouth. Beyond the point there was a visible difference in the sea and the swells were huge.

Floods

Why is man so slow to learn? Mess with Nature, and she bites back. We have featured the fascinating sand river before, and mentioned that the road is frequently bulldozed to keep the dune from encroaching over it. When the road was built it was basically just put across the sand river, with small pipes to allow for the river to flow under it. Because, for much of the year, it is a subterranean river system, with minimal flow, this seemed like a good idea at the time.


However, dunes migrate, and rivers flood. And natural wetlands act as giant sponges which absorb much of the water which causes flooding, thus reducing the impact. And when you mess with any of these, you will cause problems. The vlei (wetland area) adjoining the sand river system has been turned into a golf course. And in recent years the sand river has come down in flood more frequently, dumping vast quantities of the dune sand on the lower lying properties across the road.


This is all that can be seen of the very large bulldozer which used to be kept on site for regular dune clearing on the road.... after the flood of August 2006. 2007 was an unusually wet year, and the river flooded again in March and December. At some point a plan will have to be made to channel it more effectively and re-make the road so that it does not cause so much damage, but that may be a while. Judging by the state of all the roads in the area (pothole dodging could become a popular local sport) fixing the infrastructure seems to be low on the list of priorities for the local council.