Early morning is the best time of day!
There is something so clean and pure about the early morning crispness, coupled with beautiful pastel colours, which make it a very special time to be up.

So at 5:00 am one Saturday morning we gathered the troops and headed off to Muizenberg Beach for a sunrise walk to Sunrise Beach.
Starting off in the pitch dark next to Muizenberg train station, we walked towards just a faint hue of light coming up over the far off mountains. It was a magnificent autumn morning and as we progressed so the soft light started to envelope us in its magical aura. The three upfront claim to have seen an amazing shooting star, which flashed across the entire dawn sky, though skeptical - those of us who didn’t see it have never heard the end of it!

As the sun started to rear it’s shiny head so people seem to appear out of the early morning mist on what earlier seemed a secluded beach.
Fishermen, strollers with dogs, birds aplenty and other morning-sun worshippers made it a special time indeed on the beach.
Not so for a beached sand shark, which we tried to return to the water only to find it beached once again on our return journey.

After walking for an hour we sat and enjoyed our flask of coffee and yummy snacks as the sun started to warm us and the sea, enough for us all to enjoy a balmy autumn morning swim in the warm Indian Ocean.

Finally, after many snacks, swims, the building of magnificent sand sculptures (we at least thought so) and close encounters with over friendly dogs we reluctantly ambled our way back to the car - stopping only to inspect the blood worms that many fishermen were pumping out of the wet sand to be used as bait.
I refuse to believe that any animal, fish included, would find these long fat worms appealing but all the fishermen we spoke to swore by them!

After a final swim and the obligatory ice creams we headed for home, relaxed & happy with a certain inner calm.
It's great when at only 10 in the morning you’ve already had a walk, seen the sun rise and swum in the sea and the day's only starting.