This is my spot

Like every summer there is the ongoing saga in our beaches of reserving your spot on the beach  - this sometimes brings up some unwanted tension between beach goers. On the beaches where there is sand this does not seem to happen that often as there is no markings on the sand or anything you can use to say this is my spot - all you need to do is get down there early so you have the 1^st pick of the best spot.

But in Camp Bay and Little Bay this is another story altogether, as the beaches are concrete platforms with tables and umbrella stands where you can set up camp. Growing up on these beaches I got used to respecting each other’s spot so the beach was evenly shared with the regular beach goers. But the wind and the sea changes are often and quite diverse so this sometimes complicates matters at the beach.

Some people just want to avoid conflict and go early in the morning to put up the beach umbrella and reserve their spot, which sometimes brings other tension but I will go into that later. The other kind of people in these beaches are the ones who expect their spot to be free but sometimes it is taken by someone else who is from another beach or maybe a tourist. Of course, they are not happy when they arrive and someone is in their spot, which really is a public beach but they claim they have been in the same spot for the last 20-30 years so there is some tension between them and the people sitting around the said disputed spot.

Now the other problem are the people who go in the morning to put up the beach umbrella on their spot and then don’t turn up at the beach until really late so you have all the prime spots taken but no one using them – this in my view is unfair for the rest of the users. This has been brought up in the media before and many people have complained in the past.

Best way to go about this is if you use any of these beaches make sure you don’t take a prime spot or find out from the local which spots are going to be trouble-free so at least you can enjoy the beach without any hassle.