The handing over ceremony of a Pink Rescue Buoy for Castle Beach was a fitting way to celebrate Earth Day on 22 April 2021.

The event, held at Pearly Beach near Gansbaai, saw Pearly Beach Conservancy chairperson, Susanne Fuchs, unveil an emergency flotation device mounted on a pole next to the boardwalk that will hopefully remind people to take care when entering the water. The Pearly Beach Conservancy donated the pink buoy to the community.

The rescue buoys are bright pink so that they can be easily spotted on the water by responding rescuers. The pink colour is also unique to NSRI.

Susanne Fuchs thanked Tom Brooks-Simon and the crew of the NSRI Hermanus Station 17 in their absence, for planting the Pink Rescue Buoy.

Graphics on the pole advise that the buoy should be thrown to someone in distress, that an untrained rescuer should not get into the water to try and rescue someone and provides two telephone numbers to dial for help.

Fuchs said the Pink Torpedo Buoys have proved to be effective flotation devices for people in difficulty in the water, until professional help arrives.

Help your mother, father, grandfather, grandmother or friend 60 years and above to register!

The registration of the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) can be done through a smartphone or computer. To register connect to internet and go to vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za.

Should you encounter problems during the registration process, you may contact the COVID-19 Hotline at  0800 029 999.
COVID-19 vaccine will be administered for free at point of service.

Step by step instructions here: sacoronavirus.co.za/evds/

The Walker Bay Fishing Trail only provides 4×4 access to popular angling and picnic spots along Die Plaat.

Kindly note that Die Plaat is not suited to normal cars. The route is only accessible to 4x4 vehicles.

It is also important to note that cellphone reception and coverage is poor. Even if there is coverage, there’s nobody to call unless you’ve made a prior arrangement.

It has been many years since the heavily used sports fields in the Overstrand received a much needed ‘breather’ in order to increase the quality of the playing surfaces.

A decision was made to establish a regular aeration programme to help alleviate soil compaction caused by frequent foot traffic from players. This was done after compactions tests were carried out on most of the sport fields in Kleinmond, Hawston, Mt Pleasant, Zwelihle and  Stanford as well as the fields at the Spaces for Sports in Gansbaai, and the sport fields at Masakhane, Blompark and Pearly Beach. The test results indicated that compaction levels are on average too high.

Aerating is one of the best things you can do for sports fields. When the soil becomes hard and compacted, root systems struggle to get the oxygen they need, and the soil becomes a barrier to root penetration.