Sunday 22 May 2011

South Cape Bay - 14th May 2011

With a warning about dangerous surf and forecasts of eight-metre swells for Saturday 14th May, there was only one place to go: South Cape Bay. There are probably others, but walking to the bay also provides some good exercise. Never mind the attendant forecasts of rain, the seas promised some spectacular sights.  In the event the weather was a bit windy and occasionally drizzly, and it was certainly chilly out on the south coast, but overall the weather wasn't too bad. The waves were spectacular too, although I'd hoped to see them washing deeply across the entire beach. The beach was quite walkable, with only the occasional large wave managing to touch the little rocky projection in the middle with a few inches of froth. I note in hindsight that the tide was actually lowest during my visit. When walking on the beach however, the waves as they broke, hundreds of metres out, were clearly higher than where I was standing. Probably what we need to make it really spectacular is eight-metre swells forecast during an actual storm. Not sure how you'd manage to take photos of it though....

South Cape Bay washed by eight-metre swells, viewed from the cliffs - 14th May 2011

The view between Lion Rock and Coal Bluff, South Cape Bay - 14th May 2011

Foam in a wave-lashed South Cape Bay - 14th May 2011

3 comments:

Keith said...

Lovely & wild looking.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/

Nature Scribe said...

Lovely work Mark. I was at Melaleuca not long afterwards, and the surf at Cox Bight was a clearly audible roar even though I was about 10km inland. Awesome!

Mark said...

Hi Peter, yes I read your blog and realised you'd heard the "same" surf. Awesome it was! It's pretty cool to stand on the beach and realise that the waves breaking out in the bay are a lot higher than you are. Probably should have commented on your blog myself, but I don't often find the time to do all that. Sorry.