Rocky coastline

I took Chaos Boy for a morning of geocaching along Marine Drive the other day, picking up about 15 caches along the Wildside. It meant that we stopped quite often to go boulder hopping in search of caches. The Wildside between Cape Recife and Schoenmakerskop (and further) is a rugged coastline and when the south-westerly … Continue reading Rocky coastline →

Oceanos Lifeboat

4 August 1991 was a dramatic and fateful day on the Eastern Cape coastline with the sinking of the MTS Oceanos on the Wild Coast close to Coffee Bay, east of East London. What does this have to do with Port Elizabeth, you ask? After all 571 passengers on board was rescued, some of the … Continue reading Oceanos Lifeboat →

Schoenies from the village green

I often wish I lived in Schoenmakerskop. A beautiful place for walks, swims, snorkeling, fishing (not that I'm a fisherman), sunsets and photographs. Plus its nice and peaceful in the week and only gets a little busier over weekend. My kind of place, unless the wind pumps out of the south-west.

Rocks at Schoenies

Chaos Boy rock hopping at Schoenmakerskop

Schoenies fortress view

The view from the Fortress Observation Post at Schoenmakerskop

Schoenmakerskop fortress

I have posted in the past about the series of Fortress Observation Posts that was built around Port Elizabeth at the start of the Second World War as harbour defences, showing in particular the one in Cape Recife. The FOP most people may have seen before is the one sitting on the hill above Schoenmakerskop. Notice the curves along … Continue reading Schoenmakerskop fortress →

Swampy coastline

Along the Wildside there are many fresh water springs that originate from water that has collected between the (vegetated) sand dunes along what used to be the Driftsands area. The water then emerges again on the coast in the form of springs and flow to the sea. In some places it dams up above the high water … Continue reading Swampy coastline →

Cannon looking west

The cannon in Schoenmakerskop at the start of the Sacramento Trail is one of the cannons recovered from the wreck site of the Sacramento in 1977 and points towards the site where the ship went down in 1647. The Sacramento was a Portuguese Galleon on its way back to Portugal when it ran aground in a … Continue reading Cannon looking west →

Nature reserve gully

We took the Kidz and the Worse (our dachshunds) for a walk on the first section of the Sacramento Trail a couple of weekends ago. This little gully is just past the Sacramento monument just as you pass into the nature reserve.

The top of the trail

Most people hiking along the Sacramento Trail between Schoenmakerskop and Sardinia Bay follows the path along the shore line in both directions not really knowing how stunning the views are from the top trail. I had taken the bottom path many times before and got to take the top path for the first time while … Continue reading The top of the trail →