Lunch at Beira Mar, St Helena Bay

In our extensive hunt for restaurants in the Britannia Bay/Stompneus/St Helena Bay area we found there were approximately five. We thought we might like a good Sunday Lunch on Easter Day and, having secured a reservation – with a bit of nice talking, headed for Beira Mar, which is the first restaurant you come to as you enter St Helena Bay from Vredenburg

This is their sign and the road to tiny Slipper Bay, a very ancient historic site

Not a wildly welcoming entrance but better is to come

Prescriptive or preventative? Children are welcomed. Despite the sign, a lovely Labrador puppy gained entrance. It was very well-behaved

Still a bit rocky

The bar and reception area where we met the very friendly and helpful staff

Another toast to Pieter Visser of Oak Valley, from the best table in the house with a magnificent view of the bay

Studying the menu

Slightly cloudy on the restaurant deck at 12h30, which cleared to much brighter later. Large parties were expected and one table of 14 simply did not turn up. Unacceptable and unforgivable on a public holiday, when the restaurateur had to turn people away because they thought they were fully booked. We had been squeezed in. We saw several people who wanted to eat here turned away

This bottle of 2002 Nederburg Auction Reserve Private Bin Cabernet from our cellar was absolutely magnificent. Full of soft and full berry flavours, delicious and as elegant as hell. Can go for a few years more but, if you have any, drink now.

Yes to all of the above

Lynne went for the ribs and strip: barbeque pork ribs with the meat falling off the bone and a few crisp calamari with a salad. The wine was made for this sort of food

and it wowed with John’s Portuguese Espetada. Grilled fillet of beef on skewer with a red wine and garlic sauce. Also with a salad

Oh, it was Easter and we could not resist an ‘Easter Egg’ reward of dessert. We shared a perfect New York baked cheesecake – light and tangy and a solid ganache chocolate tart. Was worth the cheating. Followed by a good espresso.

Sun is out, the restaurant fills up and there is that empty no-show table. Such a pity, this was the best food we had all weekend and we will be back. It was good value at R410 for the two of us for two courses each, including tip. There was no corkage charge

Slipper Bay. Lynne read about this in a local history book and, apparently, this is where dolphins and whales regularly beach themselves and, apparently, they have proved that ancient man used to come and take advantage of this.

A white heron, aka Great Egret, (Ardea alba melanorhynchos), also known as the Great White Egret and Common Egret

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

Easter weekend in Britannia Bay

We found our Bed and Breakfast, Djuna, on Bookings.com. We normally prefer Self catering, but there was none available in the area when we booked. It is on Golden Mile and currently has a good sea view, but there is a house being built in front of it now

Our very comfortable bedroom and bathroom

The long, long white sandy beach at Britannia Bay and, yes, for three days the weather was perfect. On Easter Monday we awoke to thick sea mist, but it was time to pack and leave and it did burn off later

A nice long wave break makes a lovely sound to send one to sleep

This house is owned by people we know. They were not down for the Easter weekend and had said we could use their braai area, so we could cook our crayfish. It was quite an endeavour, one we might not ever try again, unless we use much more forethought, planning and equipment! But we did have a great deal of fun

Getting out all the food and the equipment we had brought with us. A wok, to boil the crayfish in, SO didn’t work as we couldn't get the water to boil, either on the braai or on the small gas burner we had brought with us. The vine dried Excelsior might seem strange to start with, but it was to go with the pâté we bought when we were in France last year and was a perfect match

A healthy fire using wood gathered around the house and on the beach

The two essential participants in their bath of fresh water, which put them to sleep.

In the end we dispatched them both -  a coup de grace with a big, sharp Sabatier kitchen knife - and grilled them directly on the fire for a very short while. Liberal amounts of butter with fresh garlic, flake salt and some Madagascar spice mix were the only ingredients necessary to flavour them. They were sweet and delicious and contained a surprising amount of meat

The beautiful sunset. Britannia Bay faces the same direction as our house in Sea Point (it is about 140 km further north from Cape Town) and has just as good sunsets every evening

A suitable glass of crisp Special Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc from Springfield, always a favourite. And this 2011 was very, very special.

The gulls gather to roost for the night

Pâté de foie with some lovely sweet wine was our starter

And the sunset just got better and better

We clearly didn’t bring enough light. Our halogen torch batteries have all failed, we forgot the LED lantern and had to rely on four candles which kept blowing out! It was hilarious and we had a lovely evening. Our car headlights got us back to the car, laden with all we had brought with us.

Sunrise from our balcony

Everyone takes a morning walk on the beach, including us, and you meet a lot of nice dogs

Great Black backed gulls fly over

Early morning canoeists. The sea beyond the break is quite calm

Taking off at a run

The beach is covered with the shells of large mussels and what the locals call white mussels, which are actually large clams. You need a licence to ‘pick’ them and you have to dig for the clams

Morning exercise

A young gull

This black back pulled two live crabs from the surf in two minutes

and demolished them in an instant

A local having fun with her German Shepherd. The sociable smaller dog adopted us for our walk and then wandered off to join another party as we departed the beach

A healthy Banting breakfast served every morning at Djuna. Sometimes with mushrooms for Lynne. There were also fruit, yoghurt and black coffee. We could have asked for more...

The tiny sandpipers were so fast it was difficult to get a photograph

A weaver building a nest at the local nursery

We drove, and then walked, to the Shelley Point lighthouse

A sad memorial to someone lost at sea

Roosting cormorants.... and....

... hello, a grey heron and a kelp gull liked the company - ubuntu, just how we should all get along

We found a nice rock for our picnic. No sand in our food please.

Lynne prepares, while John photographs

Shelley Point is an enclosed estate with a golf course. It seemed very empty for an Easter long weekend, where people own expensive properties

A turtle rock? Or a Dr Seuss bird in a hat? Or a resting leopard

A squadron of cormorants over the bay ...

... and coming in to land

Cavorting on the rocks

While the tide returns

Yes, there are dolphins in the bay, we saw them most days. This small pod was treating us to a breaching display, but they were so quick that it was hard to capture an image. But we saw no whales this time

Children delight at playing on the beach

A late afternoon walk on the beach

We left Britannia Bay at mid-morning and headed back to Cape Town, with a stop at Yzerfontein. We found a great parking spot to have a picnic
And discovered a whole colony of Dassies (hyrax/“rock rabbits”) enjoying the midday sunshine on their rocks

Strange to think their nearest ancient relative is an elephant. These are obviously well fed

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013