Summer Sea, St Clair

Some of you enjoyed my  See The Sea  post about a winter visit to a small cafe by the salt water pool at St Clair, Dunedin. We did a spur-of-the-moment trip to Dunedin yesterday and stayed overnight, then returned for a summer visit to the cafe this morning. I looked out the cafe window and saw a surfer lying on his board and paddling out to the surf. Then I spotted another surfer carefully picking his way along the rocks carrying his surfboard (in bare feet). He too launched into the sea and began making his way, surprisingly fast, out to the surf. That’s the context of these photos.

Cafe at St Clair hot salt water pool, Dunedin, New Zealand

“(E)” before any photo means that you can click on the photo to enlarge – you’ll probably need to click again to get full-size.

(E)  The small figure of the first surfer making their way out to the surf.

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(E)  The second surfer clambering over the rocks with his board

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(E)  Second surfer paddling out to the surf

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(E)  They’re heading out “there” – you can see one or two small surfer figures. To the right of the photo the salt water pool is just visible.

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(E)  Looking back at St Clair I could see the swells moving in and the spray as waves broke against the sea wall. Nothing dramatic while I took my photo though. You can see the kelp swirling in the tide.

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I was part way through eating my chocolate and ricotta cake when I noticed that it was as beautiful as it was delicious.. perhaps the nicest piece of cake I’ve ever eaten.

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All the next photos are taken from the St Clair Esplanade

(E)  Sea view and spray. Far right is the cafe and salt water pool.

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(E)  A little bit more of the sky and foreshore in this photo

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Also from St Clair Esplanade but taken by Nigel

(E)  Sea view and St Clair Esplanade, cafe and salt water pool.

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Two views of the waves taken by Nigel from St Clair Esplanade

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Text by Liz, photos by Liz and Nigel; Exploring Colour (2019)

31 thoughts on “Summer Sea, St Clair”

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  8. Sea, sunshine and cake? Life sounds perfect, especially if there was good coffee too. Can’t wait ’til the weather here is good enough for a trip to the sea. 🙂

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      1. To our nearest, which has a sandy beach a small pier and some good eateries, it’s 3/4 hour. To my favourite beaches on the north Norfolk coast, it’s a 2-hour drive. The beaches there are just miles of sand with nothing to spoil them – very wild! 🙂

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        1. It takes us most of two hours when we drive to Dunedin from Gore. Returning today we initially followed the coast some of the way. Long, white beaches, then (curiously) white beaches with a light sprinkling of golden sand on top of the white.. very pretty. No photos this time, both of us wanted to push on toward home. The beaches will keep for another day! I like wild beaches too whether that means uninhabited or wild weather. Both are great!

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          1. I like both of those too, though we don’t see so much wild weather here. (Plenty when we lived in Scotland!) The white and white with gold beaches sound lovely!

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    1. Cool, that area is amazing! If you can spare a few seconds, do tell me something that really sticks in your mind from then.. I’d love to know!

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      1. Gosh there is quite a lot. Me and my siblings were often the first kids to walk down Tomahawk Road in the morning on the way to school. In winter that meant we would get to break the ice on top of the puddles. Up till then we had lived in Auckland so that was quite a novelty. I also remember playing in the sand dunes which were the school boundary. Each friend group had different hide always in the bushes

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        1. Thanks Sonya.. I like the friend group hide aways! The area school I went to in Northland had a beach boundary also but we weren’t allowed on the beach except for PE runs (and most of us had long bus rides to and from school – no opportunity outside of school time).

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  10. Nice cake ever…ooooh…now there’s a challenge isn’t there? 😄 I’m not sure if I have a favourite…I do make a mean baked lemon cheesecake though a couple of times a year…

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    1. I’m sure that baked lemon cheesecake is delicious Graham.. good on you! Now I’ve got you thinking about it perhaps you’ll make another one soon 🙂

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      1. Sure fire trip to being overweight if I make it too often…twice a year is plenty. When life deals you lemons, make a cheesecake (and lemonade with the leftovers)…

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