In the latest Blue Flag awards for the 2024/2025 season, Kouga Municipality has once again achieved top honours, with Dolphin Beach in Jeffreys Bay and Cape St Francis Beach awarded full Blue Flag status.
This prestigious designation highlights the municipality’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of environmental management, safety, and accessibility.
The Blue Flag programme, managed by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), promotes sustainable tourism through rigorous assessments on water quality, safety, and environmental education.
The Blue Flag season, which runs from 1 December 2024 to 31 April 2025 for Dolphin Beach and from 1 December 2024 to 28 February 2025 for Cape St Francis Beach, is marked by the flag’s presence – symbolising a commitment to these lofty standards and compliance with the stringent criteria set forth by the FEE and WESSA.
With lifeguard services available daily from 08:00 to 17:00, both Dolphin Beach and Cape St Francis Beach feature well-maintained walkways, disability ramps, and accessible pedestrian crossings. Additionally, amphibian wheelchairs are provided for individuals with mobility challenges, alongside facility maps to assist visitors in locating amenities.
High water quality standards are meticulously maintained, and daily litter collection and waste management ensure a clean and welcoming environment. For the safety of all visitors, domestic animals are not permitted on these beaches during the season.
“Our unspoiled shorelines are a prime attraction for tourists and holidaymakers alike,” said Kouga Executive Mayor, Hattingh Bornman. “We are committed to providing exceptional coastal experiences that allow both tourists and our local community to enjoy the beauty of our natural treasures.”
Mayor Bornman expressed pride in this recognition, noting, “The Blue Flag status is not only an international endorsement of our beaches, but also strengthens their appeal as a key destination for tourism and the holiday season.”
Living in a coastal village, sand is integral to our lives.
One of the main reasons St Francis Bay became well-known was that an American named Bruce Brown discovered a wave here in 1963, along with Mike Hynson and Robert August. The essential ingredient that makes this wave exist is sand – the sand build-up off the former dunes formed a perfect sandbank for waves to peel uniformly along they point, which they did for about 300 metres, proving an absolute delight to surfers.
The discovered moment in St. Francis in South Africa is one of surf filmdom’s most revelatory and compelling moments. There are bigger, better, scarier and more exciting waves in many other surf flicks, but none quite as satisfying as “Bruce’s Beauties.”
“From all the information we could gather, we figure it’s like this about 300 days of the year,” says Bruce Brown in the narration. “The water was seventy degrees. The prevailing wind there straight offshore.”
How wrong was he? It only breaks a few times a year, depending on the frequency of south swells.
By pure luck, Bruce and his crew arrived on a magical day. A fresh south swell was running, the wind was offshore, the water was warm, and there was bright sunshine.
The real story was that the crew was further down past Main Beach and, according to history, were “irritating each other” when one of them noticed a little wave peeling in the corner, walked away from the irritating people to go and have a look, and boom! Discovery time.
The footage of the discovery in the movie was actually staged a few days later and took a long time to get right, as any movie production does take. They filmed it repeatedly, with Brown trying to make it perfect.
Then, as people realised how cool this little village was, the dunes were stabilised for development. Port Jackson and Rooikrans willow were introduced, the sands stopped feeding the beaches, and the waves stopped pumping.
While Leighton Hulett probably had the idea to stabilise the dunes, Tom Brown was the man who did the toil. Tom was most likely the visionary who stopped the critical flow of sand and now has a boulevard named after him. Being a Liverpudlian, he would have had little understanding of the dynamics of surfing.
When The Sand Returns
For the last few days, the waves have been pumping at Bruce’s, and inexplicably, there is so much sand along the point that a wipe-out involves pushing off the sand bottom every time as it is so shallow.
The sand has deposited due to a few easterly winds and swells, possibly shifting some sand from the extensive offshore sandbanks.
It’s a great indicator of the future, of what could happen when we have groynes and a million cubes of sand being pumped onto the beaches.
Shallow water makes for hollow waves, and the surfing kids of St Francis Bay (and a few of the ballies) have been living their best lives, racing along the perfect waves of Bruce’s Beauties and thankful that some sand has temporarily returned, even just for a short while.
As the festive season approaches and we prepare to take a break , spend time with family and to celebrate, lets make sure we have the right ingredients to make these occasions memorable.
This week’s recommendation to get things going in style is a very special sparkling wine because what would a celebration be without some fine bubbly?
Gold Award
The Matriarch is a product of the Nitida Cellars in Durbanville and was the recipient of a Gold Award in the Cap Classique Challenge in 2023 as well as receiving four-star ratings from Platter’s in 2023 as well as 2024.
This is a Cap Classique sparkling wine, meaning that it is made in the traditional Méthod Champenoise style, where the second fermentation takes place in the bottle under crown cap, resulting in finer bubbles that add elegance to the overall tasting experience.
Expect childhood memories of Grandma’s cinnamon apple strudel and custard pastries in a kitchen filled with familiar smells when you have your first sip. The rich, full and luxurious flavours rest easy on the palate and are reminiscent of the fire in that kitchen’s big hearth.
Bubbly For Breakfast
If you are on holiday there is no reason why you shouldn’t sip some bubbly for breakfast! The Matriarch is especially good when served with a buttery croissant, topped with lightly smoked salmon, or perfectly poached Eggs Benedict.
The blend of Pinot Noir (50%) and Chardonnay (50%) was bottled in 2022 and has a pH value of 3.33, meaning that it has a lower acidity which is complemented by an average residual sugar content making it a very drinkable delight.
The Matriarch is currently in stock at Super Spar Tops, Village Square St Francis, so make sure you stock up to make those lazy summer days that much more memorable!
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