If I could choose one place to forever end each day of my life it would be Noordhoek beach. It is nestled amongst layers of rising mountains, submerged boulders, bungalow beach homes, and the most beautiful land you will find. The town of Noordhoek is a sleepy little artist beach community overlooking the ocean and is just south of Cape Town proper. We had actually planned on starting our road trip around Cape Point at the Noordhoek beach, but after realizing the sun would be setting at the end of our trip we thought it would be the perfect end to the day instead.
Really the only pre-trip research I did was to read this blog post from Cereal Magazine about Noordhoek Beach. Upon finishing I knew we had to go here. Noordhoek was the only must do on our trip. I cannot find the words to explain this place and I will tell you the photos are only the beginning of how beautiful and unique this little place is. I wish we had had more time to explore the town itself while we were there, but we just couldn’t.
Entering the beach you will see beautiful bungalows gathered around as if specifically perched day in and day out to watch the beach change throughout the day. Before you get to the actual beach you have to cross a stream that empties into a small pond of water that collects the high tide. The water is not exactly the most inviting swimming water, but it is absolutely beautiful. It is hard to tell how deep the tide pool is as the water is a beautiful gradient of browns that seem to drift into its own depths.
The sun sets on the Noordhoek side of the Point making the end of the day light absolutely magical. Every direction you turned it was perfect lighting in every way. So of course we grabbed a few photos before making our way out to the water.
In order to get to the actual shore you had to cross a small creek that feeds in to the pool on the beach. It comes from above and through the rocks, down the sand and finally into the mysterious waters of the tide pool.
After crossing the creek you wander through the boulders and sand to make your way to shore. As we hiked through the sand we couldn’t help but to stop and take in the beauty of this place as the sun began to slowly lower.
There are some really perfect places in the world and this is one of them. The layering of the landscape, the color, the light…it was all so magical.
Before the sun lowered too far we wandered the beach in search of the right place to enjoy some local craft beer we purchased from the market earlier that day.
While wandering the beach we discovered so many beautiful treasures. The ocean brings so many amazing things to shore from the 20 feet long kelp trees, to gorgeous shells that contain such vibrant colors. There is no lack of beautiful and unique things to find after the tide has lowered and many things are left to be discovered.
We finally found the perfect boulders amongst the crashing waves and mystical sea breeze. As we settled in the waves were crashing and the sun was beginning to lower below the clouds. We looked around and realized we were not the only ones with this idea. Amongst the other boulders and sea side cliffs many of the local families were also gathering to watch the splendor of the sunset. It was neat to see so many people just as enamored with the magical light and colors as we were. It was as if we all couldn’t wait for those last few special moments where the day slowly recedes in to night.
As we settled in Mike pulled out the Citizen Beer and proved his man skills by opening the beer for us without an opener.
I couldn’t imagine a more wonderful end to an amazing day of adventures. Though it was our last day of exploring Cape Town, I couldn’t have chosen a better way to end our adventures than to watch the sun glisten over the crashing waves while we blent into the inspiring landscape around us.
