A Day at Wreck Beach (April 15)

On Saturday April 14th we had to stay within the our gated and guarded apartment complex so that we would be safe during the elections in the event that any riots or related trouble started.

On Sunday we headed to the beach. The company we work for has three boats that can be rented to take us to a number of different beaches. On this day we went to an isolated beach called Wreck Beach as there is a remnant of a ship right on the beach. Unfortunately I did not take a picture in the morning so that you could have seen the entire perimeter of the ship while the tides were low. I will have to get a picture on my next visit.

The boat trip took about 1 hour (35km - Bob recorded the trip on his GPS) to get to the drop off point from which we had to walk about 1 km to get to the beach. The boat ride was on a protected inland waterway, protected by a long thin strip of land about 1km or so deep. It is this strip of land that we had to cross to get to the beach. There were about 14 of us and we did not have to carry all of our stuff to the beach. The family in the village carried it for us and they were amazing. One woman had a cooler and a boogie board on her head! Boy am I am wimp!

The waves were rather big, about 6-8 feet, but it was difficult for anyone to catch a rid on their boogie board of surf board because there was a very strong lateral current that took you pretty quickly down the beach. Bob, the fish that he is, swam out beyond the waves and just hung out out there. I tried to join him but I was getting too winded swimming through the white water and I did not have any goggles to keep my contacts on my eyeballs (excuses, excuses, I know!). I had goggles on my second attempt but by that time the tide had come up so much that I had to swim even longer before getting to the big waves and I was pooped! Now I have a goal!

Check out the little kid with 2 boogie boards and the woman with the cooler and the umbrella.

This is a picture late in the afternoon after the tide has come up significantly. The dark brown stuff sticking out of the water is the remnant of the ship.

Another picture of us on the beach.

The hut on the beach and the only shade... unless you brought your own umbrella. Too bad we did not know and we could have packed one in our shipment. Now we will have to shop around for one here.

Can you bleieve this woman has a very small child on her back and a cooler on her head!

Walking through the beautiful village on the way back to the boat.