Ballito!!! (part 1)

Our Ballito holiday was amazing! Driving out of JHB was such a cool feeling :-) And nothing beats the first breath of sea air when you open the car door upon arrival!!! We arrived late afternoon so there was that misty sea haze and the sun was just about setting. Our accommodation was freaking amazing... RIGHT on the beach!! It's called Sea Cottages, and we would definitely highly recommend it! It's not like some of the other North Coast accommodation that is super commercialised and can't have a very "I'm at the beach" feeling. This felt like an old school beach house! We immediately went down and took it all in. Put my feet in the ocean.... had a walk, took pictures!!!

Saturday was our first beach day. We soon found out that swimming in the sea is a tricky business... this was not PE!!! The sea was SUPER rough and the slope of the beach pretty intense. In the end we swam mostly in tidal pools like some of the ones above, with some protection against the waves. And of course in our very awesome little pool in front of our cottage. The feeling of the sun on you after you come out of the sea felt like heaven. (yes I wore SPF50 all the time). It was never cold, even when raining... real sub-tropical weather. My hair hated it LOL.

We were actually planning this trip for October last year, when I was still waiting for lungs.Even though it's quite a drive from Joburg, my Dr had agreed that it would do both of us good to get away, as we hadn't had a proper holiday in AGES. I had already bought a new bikini and sunhat, and we were about to pay the deposit, when I got the call for lungs! In the rush to get ready for theatre we managed to cancel the booking! How much better it was now with the new breathers!!! Walking on the beach was a piece of cake lung-wise, although my calf muscles didn't think so. Swimming was a non-issue. Everything was SO EASY! Got a few stares as a result of looking like a bit of a voodoo doll with all my scars (18 scars from drains and my Nissen surgery on my tummy and lower ribs, plus the actual transplant scars, and a big cut down my groin where the ECMO was in during theatre), but it really doesn't bother me in the least.