by Elza | Oct 26, 2018 | Uncategorized
It’s been a tough week as devastating fires swept through Vermaaklikheid, a sleepy little village about 47 kilometres from Stilbaai and a favourite hide-away holiday destination in Hessequa. It is estimated that as much as 15 000 hectares have been affected while 8 houses have been destroyed. A life has sadly also been lost as helicopter pilot, Nico Heyns, died when his helicopter crashed while he was one of the pilots on duty containing the fire.
Read more about the fires here – and please support, assist and donate to those affected if and how you can.
The wind has died down and the heatwave is not that intense anymore… It is weekend and there are quite a few things happening in Stilbaai. Have a look here – and enjoy the weekend!
by Elza | Oct 16, 2018 | Uncategorized
As a dedicated conservationist and wildlife and conservation photographer, Peter Chadwick has over 25 years of experience in terrestrial and marine protected area management. He is the founder of African Conservation Photography and has worked throughout southern Africa in some of its most special wild places, including the Kalagadi Desert, Kruger National Park, Drakensberg Mountains, the sub-antarctic Prince Edward Islands and De Hoop Nature Reserve and Marine Protected Area.
He compiled this article shared via his Facebook page Peter Chadwick at African Conservation Photography dd 16 Oct 2018.
Supporting South Africa’s marine protected areas – Stillbay MPA.
Stillbay is one of those idyllic South African coastal towns that offer the best of sun, sea, river and beach thus making it one of the most perfect holiday destinations! The marine protected area is not there to stop people from having access to marine resources but rather is there to make sure that utilization can be carried out in a sustainable manner. Within its boundaries is the countries best-preserved example of stone-age fish traps, sections of the Goukou estuary and a coastal and marine section that extends 4.7 kms out to sea.
Iconic species to be found within the MPA includes southern right whales, ragged-toothed sharks, numerous species of reef fish and delicate pansy shells. Perhaps the most interesting species however are the African mottled eel and the longfin eel. These animals complete a remarkable journey, having spawned off Mozambique or Madagascar, the eels then enter estuaries in South Africa where they mature in quite freshwater streams, a process reputed to take up to twenty years. The mature eels, well over a meter in length, return to the sea via the estuary to swim over 2000 kms to complete their life cycle. These eels may be viewed at Palinggat, a small freshwater pond in Stillbay.
The estuary mouth is a nutrient rich environment of mud flats and salt marshes where invertebrates thrive. Hidden worms, crustaceans and molluscs attract waders in large variety and numbers. During the summer months grey plovers, whimbrels, greenshanks, marsh sandpipers and common ringed plovers fly in from northern climes to join the resident waders. The estuary is also an important nursery area for many young stages of commercially important coastal fish species.
Skulpiesbaai Nature Reserve, that lies to the west of the small fishing harbour, is excellent for watching seabirds and for exploring amongst the intertidal rock pools.
For more information please do visit
www.marineprotectedareas.org.za and also please help spread the news in support of our MPAs @ Still Bay, Western Cape, South Africa
by Elza | Oct 5, 2018 | Uncategorized
For the holidaymakers, today (Friday, 5 October) is the last Friday of the school holiday. The good news is that there is still a weekend and there are lots of activities and things happening in and around town!
We found this awesome photo of Morris Point and the river taken by Armand Vermeulen with his drone. At www.mystilbaai.co.za we hope that this is a nice way to start the weekend and that this photo can form part of memories made at Stilbaai.
See you again soon!
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by Elza | Oct 4, 2018 | Uncategorized
With just one sailor on Team SA at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the pressure will be on Rut Gouws next week.
But the Stilbaai kiteboarder seems to thrive under pressure – having had to come through the continental qualification process, where only a win was good enough to book her spot on the team.
Having already achieved that win in Morocco earlier this year, hearing her name officially announced by the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) as part of Team SA was something Gouws will remember for a long time.
‘I didn’t have words. It was just amazing and it felt like all the effort that has been put in is finally worth it and everybody who helped, got the reward we were working for,’ explained the 15-year-old.
‘I just want to thank SA Sailing, the SA Kitesurfing Association, all my sponsors and especially my mom and dad who helped on the journey to get me here.
‘It’s such a huge opportunity that I can’t decide what I will enjoy more, but probably seeing and feeling and experiencing a new culture would be my favourite thing to do.’
With kiteboarding set to be added to the senior Olympic programme for Paris 2024, this will also be the first time it’s contested at the youth version of the global showpiece. And Gouws has just one goal in mind: ‘I hope to walk away knowing that I gave it my best.’
A lack of windy conditions has proved something of a challenge in the talented teenager’s preparations for the Games.
‘Without wind in SA it was hard to train on the water, but I trained really hard off the water, and kept my health and fitness up. We did go to Mozambique to train and it was successful but I wish SA had more wind,’ she admitted.
The SA team left Johannesburg for Argentina on Tuesday, with the sailing events due to get underway on Sunday.
For Gouws, who will be competing in the IKA Twin Tip Racing class, reaching the Youth Olympics was a goal in itself, but there’s plenty more she’s out to achieve.
‘The long-term goal is to reach the point of perfection, although I am well aware there is always something that a person can do to improve. I will still strive for that point, knowing it can never be fully reached.’
That is part of the appeal of the sport – along with the exhilaration it offers. What’s there not to love? I love everything, the thrill, adrenaline and family it created is just amazing,’ reckons Gouws.
‘It’s not just a sport, it’s a lifestyle, and you either have a passion for it or you don’t. You just have to commit and enjoy every second you’re on the water.’
(Article from www.teamsa.co.za)
PHOTO: Gouws doing what she loves best, by Maio Arias
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by Elza | Aug 15, 2018 | Uncategorized
Looking back at the 19th Vintner’s Surf Classic that took place on Friday, 10th August in Stilbaai.
Author: SPIKE
“For 19 years, winemakers have run the Vintners Surf Classic, with last Friday’s epic edition at Stilbaai signalling a bold plan to raise R1million for a cancer treatment charity,” writes SPIKE on www.wavescape.co.za.
“While it wasn’t quite the thumping 12 foot carnage of last year, it was a bumper turnout of 67 surfers from all walks of the wine industry who enjoyed a classic winter’s day, and the usual wine barrel bonhomie, interlaced with bouts of surfing in clean 3-4′ lines pushing down the point, with some five footers on the outside as the surf improved with the pushing tide.
The weather wasn’t great, with heavy squalls in the morning washing over the mud-spattered, white double cabs lining the car park, but the weather cleared in the afternoon in time for wine tasting, beer drinking and the normal root stock banter. More importantly, the wind stayed offshore the whole day.
And what about the world-class waves the next morning at a fishy surf spot: 6-8ft and gangbusters in an epic land breeze and walling low tide. About 20 frothing vintners boosted their odds of survival at the break, which normally lies fallow due to frequent flyer fears of visits by Sir Fin and Mr Torpedo.”
Read the rest of SPIKE’s blog
here – he ends off with these words of thanks: “
And then especially to all the local Stillbaai surfers for allowing us to host this contest on their breaks. R5,280 has been donated by the contestants towards improving and maintaining the facilities at the breaks.”
Thank you to the Vintners Surf Classic for choosing Stilbaai and Jongensfontein for your annual surf competition.
See you all again next year for the 20th
Vintner’s Surf Classic !!
MOTLEY CREW: The surfing winemakers pose for a pic after the finals. Photo: Nice Touch Media
by Elza | Aug 14, 2018 | Uncategorized
Spring is in the air (although we still feel the winter in August) and the flowers are blooming in Stilbaai!
The yellow flowers of the #Bietou (or Tick Berry or Bosluisbessie or Weskusbietou) as well as the white and blue #Blombos and shrubs along the beach are pretty sights along the coast and in town.
#ThingsToDo – do your own flower trip in Stilbaai and see how many different flowers you can see!
(Photo by Juanita van Papendorp via Instagram)
