After the hectic activity of our year, we decided to take a week off and booked a small flat at the side of this house in Yzerfontein, about 1½ hours north of Cape Town
It is at the edge of a dune. We do live by the sea, but a holiday right on the front with no buildings in front of us, no traffic, fresh sea air and lazy days are what we crave
almost on the beach. The dunes are steep, only John managed to get down the dune and back up. It's about 20 metres and the sand is soft. But access on other beaches is better and we had several long walks
with beautiful views 
and we enjoyed some dramatic sunsets
Lovely, subtle evening colours
A kelp gull fishing for mussels
You can see Dassen Island and its lighthouse on clear days and at night
A rock in the bay, home for cormorants
looking for interesting shells on the beach - none here. The West Coast has two kinds of mussels, the normal blue mussel and then what they call the white mussel, really a clam. You do need a permit to collect them
Hartlaub's gull
and the first time we've come this close to black oystercatchers
A bulbul on the beach
and a flock of oystercatchers in ragged formation 
People coming back from lunch at Strandkombuis. We had intended to go but it was fully booked at this time of the year
Oystercatchers and a kelp gull
Walks on the beach
watching the waves
and kids on holiday
Waaksaam, a local beach dog, joined us for a while
more purple evenings
Our flat is through the left arch
A gazania on the path
Another oystercatcher - should they be musselcatchers?
There are more mussels than oysters on this beach
The one that nearly got away
A different beach for another walk, with very soft sand which made it a good workout
Our friends Ronnie and Loraine came for lunch
Braaied fish (Panga). This was good but sadly it was frozen fish. There is a huge shortage of fish and the small local fish shop buys his fish from the same wholesaler in Cape Town as we do, and it is all frozen. There was only one day to buy crayfish, but it was very, very expensive so we didn't. Now it is on the SASSI red list, we shall miss it a lot
and salads
A succulent flower on the beach
Anemones in a rock pool
From across the little bay;
we were in the house with the arches
Ambition: fishing in a sadly empty sea
and a last supper before coming home
A simple supper, and then back home to do Christmas! And try to lose some weight
