muizenbergbeachclub

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Mar 5 2015

Muizenberg fire!

As many of you will know on the 1st of March, for a seemingly unknown reason a blaze started in the Muizenberg mountains. What probably wasn’t understood at the time is just how destructive this fire would turn out to be. It has spread and destroyed 3000 hectares of land. To put that into perspective, 3000 Rugby pitches in size! Spreading through Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek, even stretching all the way to Noordhoek on the Atlantic coastline.

Although these flames were terrifying up close, they did make for some breathtaking pictures from the beach…

As Tuesday is our surfing day with the kids, we carried on as usual, kitted them up and headed to the beach. This is where we saw more side effects of the Cape inferno. The mountains were still orange with fire, there was a thick layer of smoke hovering in the sky, ash falling like rain and turning the water black. Luckily for us the waves were fantastic and despite the water not looking too inviting, the kids had a fun hour of surfing.

To add to the apocalyptic scenes and smoky air, the kids noticed a school of fish writhing around and jumping over surfers passing by. When they went over to investigate, to their amazement, they found 5 seals chasing after the fish. For 5 minutes the kids were swimming around and laughing in astonishment at how close they were to this seal and fish frenzy!

After the excitement of the seals had died down and we came out of the water, we took the opportunity to get some group shots in front of the mountain, to save some photographic memories of the day the world seemed to be ending.

Thankfully, due to the admirable effort of 300 firefighters working around the clock, the damage was held back to damaging only 13 homes, with no fatalities and only one hospital admittance due to burns.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Beach, blaze, fire, MBC kids, Mountains, Muizenberg, South Africa, Surfing, volunteering

Feb 27 2015

Surf day

Yesterday we had a group of kids come so we decided to go surfing on the famous Muizenberg beach. The conditions were perfect for the all ages and skill level, so we caught a lot of good waves and the kids had a great fun… which is the most important thing.

Our kids in green!

waves looking fine

One of our volunteers going back in the sea to surf

Assi playing around on his short board, exausted after the 2 hours surf sesh.

Since Learn2Surf is partnered with |MBC| we have so many chances to use the equiptment, and the kids love being in the water, we try and take them out as much as possible. We teach them to the best of our ability, its so worth it to see the smiles on there faces.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: MBC kids, Muizenberg, South Africa, Surfing, volunteering

Feb 24 2015

Strole in Tokai

The other day we picked up the kids and took them to Tokai for a ‘wilderness’ hike. We ended up doing a walk as it was as steep as we expected, but the view were spectacular! It was a well trodden path, but well worth it as we had a soccer ball and one of the best group of kids to keep you entertained. One thing we’re starting to learn is that you dont need things to have fun, just a group of funny people with a lot to say and your going to have a good time!

While the kids played hide and seek between the bushes, they found a couple of stick shacks. We weren’t sure if they were someones home or not, but we occupied them pretty fast and had a good laugh in there, telling stories and talking smack.

At the end when we wanted to drive the kids home the van didn’t work so we had to push the van with the kids. Hilarious! It made the trip, as our MBC kids were giggling for a half a mile as we the volunteers were really struggling to push the bus. After pushing and pushing it, the van literally would not start up. Fortunately and eventually, a women drove down our road that was in the middle of nowhere, and asked if we needed her help. Hallelujah!! Everyone got home safe and sound, and have a lot of great memories from that day.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Hike, MBC kids, South Africa, tokai forest, van, volunteering

Feb 20 2015

Clearing the beach huts

Ant has been an owner of one of the iconic Muizenberg beach huts for some time. When it was in a fit state it was used as a changing room where boards, wetsuits and rash vests could all be stored.
Unfortunately, after a while the locks on the doors were destroyed, allowing anyone and everyone to enter the beach hut. This meant over time the hut was vandalized, littered and even used as a home. There was no point paying to replace the locks as it was inevitable for the same thing to happen over and over. Here are a couple of pictures of the hut in its run down state:

Recently some padlock covers have been installed to prevent vandalism to the inside of the hut and as volunteers, it was our task to clear the hut out and make it safe and clean enough for children to use as a changing/store room again. On a hot, sunny Wednesday afternoon we went to the beach with our cleaning gear to tackle the challenge. We cleared the rubbish (bags, empty cups & food containers, bottles, cigarette butts, broken bits of wood from the hut etc), brushed the walls down, swept the floor and even used disinfectant to cleanse the huts and make them easier on the nose. These photos show the hut after our effort:Although the hut has been majorly improved, there is still a long way to go (including paint and various furnishings) before it is fully restored to its former glory and can be used regularly by MBC kids, volunteers or other Learn2Surf customers.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: beach huts, cleaning, MBC kids, Muizenberg, South Africa, volunteering

Feb 13 2015

The Lion’s Head Hike

Table mountain towers over Cape Town and is absolutely worth a visit, however for the most panoramic view of Cape Town, Lion’s Head is the mountain to climb.

So it was that on a glorious sunny Tuesday evening in Cape Town our ragtag group of volunteers, friends and MBC kids arrived to tackle the behemoth in time for the sunset and supposedly spectacular full moon views. However we soon discovered that every tourist in the city along with a great majority of the local population had the same plan as us and we soon found ourselves shoulder to shoulder all the way up the climb which made for slow going at times.

After a brief stop to take some stunning panoramas above the clouds we pushed on up the climb looking to catch up with some of the frontrunning kids who were bounding gazelle like up the mountain despite the stifling heat. After around half an hour of gentle climbing we hit the main section of the hike which involved vertical climbing up ladders welded into the rockface. This slowed our progress considerably however we did get to feel like we were hanging over the edge of the world with sweeping clouds unfolding in every direction below us.

Arriving at the peak was if anything an unexpected surprise as the climb suddenly just stopped abruptly and there was Cape Town sprawling out below us, the glorious full moon we climbed to see slowly inching its way into the night sky. There are many breathtakingly sweeping views the world over that encapsulate what it means to live on our planet and at MBC we aim to show our participating kids how big and beautiful our world really is. By getting up Lions Head in time for the full moon we were lucky enough to witness how beautiful this country and this city can be both before and after dark.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Cape Town, Full Moon, Hike, Lion's Head, MBC kids, South, Volunteer

Feb 5 2015

Beach Soccer Jan 2015

Soccer is widely referred to as the beautiful game both for the skill and beauty of the game itself, but also for its effect on all who play it. No matter age, size or economic standing, soccer has the ability to transcend all man made barriers and unite all who play it in a common shared love of game.

So it was we found ourselves on one of the most picturesque beaches in Cape Town if not all of South Africa, a 38 y.o native South African, a 33 y.o German, a 21 y.o Aussie and a host of MBC kids aged between 10 and 14, all brought together by our affinity for the beautiful game.

A scrappy game of 3-a-side was brought to an abrupt end by the arrival of a group of local teenagers and soon enough we had a decent 6-a-side game underway. Add to the mix another middle aged local and a Japanese tourist and we became a perfect example of soccer’s ability to bring anyone and everyone together.

We must have played for at least an hour and probably more in the baking mid afternoon heat before an exodus of local players brought the game to a halt with smiles all round. There was just enough time for a cool off in the ocean before the traffic clogged drive home.

Soccer works on so many levels to bring people together and today was proof of its powers to make people’s lives just that much better.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Beach, MBC kids, Soccer, South Africa, Together, volunteering

Feb 4 2015

“Sandboarding”

So much of MBC and the activities we run are reliant on volunteers who often have regular day jobs. Fridays are designated as hiking however today our guide couldn’t get out of work and so a boogie board session was organised at the not so aptly named Danger Beach.

Upon arrival it didn’t take long to realise the water was dozens of degrees too cold for proper boogie boarding and so the action rapidly relocated to the beach where the boogie boards quickly turned into makeshift sandboards and with that development the afternoon was sorted.

After two hours of spills, 360’s and faceplanting into the sand, six smiling, sandy kids packed up and headed for home. Another day has passed with the MBC kids broadening both their and our horizons, getting outdoors, active and in touch with the amazing country in which they live.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Boogieboard, Danger Beach, MBC kids, Sandboarding, South Africa, Volunteer

Nov 28 2014

Farewell for Udo

The kids know all the hikes in the region already, so they proposed to take the bodyboards and go to Smithwinkel Bay, a nice remote beach in the very south close to the Cape Point National Park.

The view from the road to the bay is magnificent: