An Afternoon at Semaphore Beach, South Australia

Enigma and I spent our Easter Saturday at Semaphore beach, South Australia. That's our little spot on the beach pictured above where Enigma is actually reading a book, whilst keeping the sun off her face - in case you thought she was sleeping.

It was an almost perfect day. Just a touch too cool with the breeze for swimming but Enigma did venture out into the water for a dip whilst I wussed out and didn't go any deeper than below my knees near the shore.

I was never that great a swimmer and I've gone right off swimming as I've gotten older. I've particularly never been that confident swimming at the beach - even one as relatively harmless as Semaphore which doesn't face onto the open sea. It actually looks out into the Gulf of St. Vincent. As a result it's not really a great surf beach. I've never seen actual waves there - well nothing you could surf.

However it is great for wind surfing, kite surfing and is the home of an annual, international kite festival which, unfortunately, I can't give you any details about.

The wind is great but it's also Semaphore's biggest problem. If there's a light to medium breeze it's fabulous. Anything more than that and the sand starts to move creating truly awful conditions for anyone who just wants to relax on the sand. Lay down for too long and people will mistake you for a mound of sand.

That aside, Semaphore is a good family beach. Should conditions on the beach its self not be the best you still have the foreshore area which includes a huge - and very safe - adventure playground (covered with shade sails). During the Summer months the fair grounds are open with rides and games. There's plenty of grassed areas for throwing a Frisbee. You can even ride up and down the foreshore on a miniature steam train.

Food-wise there are free gas barbecues or you can buy hot food and ice cream from the Cafe right on the foreshore. If you prefer something a little more civilized head up to Semaphore road (the main street, you can't miss it) there's a whole range of cafes to chose from.

If your budget stretches to a movie the Odeon Star Cinema (further up the main street) is nearly half the price of most cinema's in Adelaide but still offers a quality venue with two screens.

Semaphore is also a good fishing beach, I'm assuming. In the past I've seen many an angler trying their luck. I don't fish myself. Currently the jetty is under major repairs and restoration so fishing isn't much of an option for now but no doubt it'll be great again when complete.

We finished our afternoon off with diner at Cafe Primo which is a restaurant franchise that serves great food at reasonable prices and usually has an excellent range of specials if your budget is tight.

Just to leave you with something a little different. I'm not known for drawing a lot of landscapes (or in this case seascapes) but one thing I did to pass the time was draw this view of the beach (below) from my chair. It's fairly basic but I thought I'd show you it all the same.

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