We lived in Cape town, South Africa for many years. Just 5 minutes from Table View Beach. It is a fantastic place with mile after mile of beautiful pristine beaches right around to Cape town in the south and all the way up the Western Cape to the Skeleton coast.
It is called the Skeleton coast because of the number of shipwrecks that have happened over the centuries. In the years that we lived there (2003-2011). There were several shipwrecks on Table View beach.
This is the fishing boat Seawin that got into difficulties while trying to save another fishing boat that had run aground. These were both pulled back into the sea in a just a couple of days.
Then a disaster happened. This once pristine coastline much loved by surfers, kite surfers and walkers alike, saw a huge coal carrying ship run aground. The real disaster happened to the environment and local wildlife as coal and heavy marine bunker oil began to leak from the stricken MV Seli 1 shipwreck.
The Cape town harbor authorities and local government began arguing about who was responsible for the wreck and what to do to try to protect the beach ecosystem.
While they argued 100's of sea birds and penguins became contaminated with oil. Sightseers would trample all over the sand dunes on the beach and in the process destroyed the environment more. The sand dunes are very delicate and held together by special grasses.
It fell to local wildlife volunteer groups to step in and do what they could to save as many animals and as much of the dunes as they could. SAANCOB did in fact save many animals and it is to their credit that so many survived and the dunes recovered somewhat.
SAANCOB
The handling of the Motor Vessel Seli 1 shipwreck went through many years of confusion, inaction and downright stupidity which I wrote about at the time. I called out the owner of the MV Seli 1 and the authorities on their handling of the situation but it had little effect.
source
The local press was at first in uproar but eventually it got dropped from the news and forgotten about.
Nobody wanted to accuse the new South African government of being useless. But that is exactly what it was.
The shipwreck was there for many years (2009 -2013) and every so often a new idea would be tried to remove it. Including blowing it up which just spread the contaminants everywhere. It was a farce.
Eventually it was broken up and now forms a reef which curiously has created some great wave breaks for surfers. It had other beneficial effects as the authorities eventually figured out a plan of action for any future shipwrecks to be handled much faster and hopefully more effectively.
It was stomach churning to witness but also shows what a few committed volunteers can do when the authorities are clueless.
Above is Table View beach after the disaster and how I like to remember it. We used to go for walks along the beach towards sunset. It was magical.
You would be forgiven for thinking that nothing has ever happened here. This is the power of nature which eventually cleaned up the mess made by a reckless ship owner and incompetent authorities.
Nature has a way of reasserting itself given enough time.
Another beach related blog @molometer/a-day-at-the-beach
