Port Shepstone Lighthouse

Marcel’s parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in February 2008 and organised a fabulous apartment in Margate for all of us. They’d arrived a week earlier and had found a fabulous little restaurant renowned for their fish & chips in Port Shepstone, so decided to treat us for lunch. Before going to lunch, we couldn’t miss out on visiting the Port Shepstone Lighthouse, which was built in 1902(5?) and is situated on the mouth of the Umzimkulu River.

The coastline from Port Shepstone to Cape Hermes is notorius for its dangerous currents, sharp rocks and pounding waves. The two most famous ship-wrecks off this coast are a Portuegese galleon, Sao Joao, and the Grosvenor, which allegedly took the Peacock Throne of the Moguls (worth approx. 6 million pounds) with it to the bottom of the sea. Neither vessel has relented her precious cargo, thanks to the inaccessibility for salvage divers. [Source: South African Lighthouses]

Here are some photographs we took of the lighthouse and coastline. You can see from the dark band in the sea that it had been raining quite heavily as the rivers pushed their murky flood waters back into the sea.