AFRIOCEANS WARRIORS BLOG

BLUE FLAG RULES!

26 November 2010, 11:05

As I blew the whistle on a blustery Bikini beach, near Gordons Bay, 6 teams of staff drawn from Cape Town's 6 internationaly acclaimed Blue Flag beaches battled it out to outwit, outplay and outsmart their rival teams in the first ever Blue Flag Discovery Race to be held in South Africa.Whilst the other teams were left frantically scratching for puzzle pieces planted in demarcated areas in the beach sand, the Clifton Camps Bay Blue team snatched a commanding early lead as they pieced the puzzle together spelling BLUEFLAG.After taking a sea water sample under the watchful eye of Scientific services officials, the teams received the next clue and they were off in mini taxis to Mnandi beach, the second blue flag beach visited, where they searched for further clues.

Blue Flag is an international award given to beaches on a yearly basis that meet the 27 stringent criteria that are based on environmental education & awareness, water quality, environmental management and visitor safety & security. For the 2010/2011 season, 27 of South Africa's beaches received Blue Flag status.The 6 Cape Town Beaches awarded full status are Bikini Beach in Gordons Bay, Mnandi Beach, near Khayelitsha, Strandfontein Beach near Mitchells Plain, Muizenberg beach, Camps Bay and the famous Clifton 4th beach.

In the Discovery Race, at each Blue Flag beach two activities were designed to challenge the staff team members and get them working as a team. At Muizenberg, participants had to take part in a 'Shark Smart' 'quiz and identify different Shark spotting flags, whilst at Camps Bay they had to search for visitor safety clues and then interview 5 visitors.The finale, at the famous Clifton beach involved a range of life saving activities, that were well suited to the victorious Camps Bay/Clifton team, that led the Discovery Race from start to finish. In a cruel twist of fate, one of the runner up teams, Muizenberg Green Team found the sought after immunity idol that made them automatic winners of the race.

Many of the participants remarked how they had enjoyed this team building event and based on what we witnessed, there was a healthy competitive spirit betweenen the 6 blue flag beaches, which is great for raising the standard of our beaches.An important community initiative was the wearing of colourful bandanas purchased from the Sunflower fund,which added to the colourful, adventurous day out for all whilst supporting a great cause. A big thanks to Lindie Buirski, Paul, Esmay, Max, Harry, Abdul, Faaiz and the interns from the City of Cape Town who were our crews on the day. Thanks also go to Coleen from WP Lifesaving, Sarah Titley and the Shark Spotters and our AfriOceans team, Lesley, Terry and Verona for planning and running this sucessful event. The winning Green team from Muizenberg received a trip up Table Mountain and a meal together whilst second placed Camps Bay Clifton/Camps Bay gets to go to Robben Island. Blue Flag beaches are best! For more photos visit our Blue Flag Discovery Race Photo Album on our AfriOceans Warriors Facebook www.facebook.com/album.php

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SAVE THE WHALES

7 November 2010, 22:50

Over 400 black clad protestors and activists, moms and daughters took to Cape Town's streets again on Friday afternoon to protest against the start of the Whaling season for the Japanese 'research fleet'.Shark Warrior and I decided we had to be part of this protest too as we are incensed at what is going down at the Cove in TaiJi. Why this insistence on slaughtering beautiful, highly intelligent creatures like dolphins just because they are 'surplus to the requirements' of dolphinariums around the world? And then feed the meat to their school children, highly toxic in mercury content!

People were angry. Shouting Save the Whales. Stop the Slaughter. Some wore ghoul type masks, others fake blood splashed all over them. Surprised drivers hooted in support. Environmental Activism around issues in our Oceans is starting to make waves in Cape Town. SA Police vehicles kept a close watch on procedings as children drew messages to the whales and the whalers.The message coming out of this protest, which was mirrored in many cities around the world, is its time to stop whaling forever. Free the Whales! Forever.

After stepping off the plane from an exhausting trip to Birmingham for the UK Dive show earlier this week, Lesley took no time at all in getting back into that familiar role of Activist. AfriOceans were there where it really mattered and we are proud of our involvement in both this Anti Whaling Protest and the Save Japans Dolphins protest earlier this month.Save the Whales, Stop the Slaughter!