Holidays by the sea during winter sound crazy in colder regions. Here in KwaZulu-Natal, summer holidays often mean torrential rain, not the best weather for camping in rustic tents! Winter, on the other hand, is the best time of the year around here. Very little chance of being rained out, warm sunny days with no extreme summer humidity, plus the best sunrises on the east coast of Africa, the best time of the year for camping holidays!
My photos are packed in boxes, but I had scanned some older ones for family; none had any photos of our childhood holidays.
Fortunately, hubby also loved the sea and fishing, so we started going on camping holidays with my parents, who had a caravan at the time. In this old photo, my son is standing in front of our old tour-away (fold-up 'caravan').
The second image was also taken many years ago on a family camping holiday on the south coast, our favourite destination. It is my Dad and I with my two nephews, both now adults in their thirties.
Holidays by the sea meant swimming and catching waves for hours on end - lathering ourselves with suntan oil. Lying on our beach towels on the beach sand, changing positions to ensure almost every part of our bodies gets a slow tan. More often than not, it meant getting burnt, and then having the skin peel, spoiling that slow golden suntan we were working on! Crazy, yes, but what did we know about skin cancer! I often had my nose deep inside a book while the rest went fishing, or had fun with holiday friends. Those teen holiday crushes saw me heartbroken when it was time to go back home.
What I remember so clearly, though, is being lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves at night, and that feeling of floating on the waves bobbing up and down. It was heavenly!
My brothers started fishing from a very young age. Mom also fished, and while the menfolk studied the phases of the moon, the tides, and collected special bait, Mom would often be the one to get the first fish! I never took to fishing, but did not mind scaling and gutting the fish before we went back to the campground. The entrails would be thrown back into the sea as food for other sea creatures.
Camping, fishing, and swimming were what made our holidays.
I'm still doing catch-up after moving to my halfway house, which I will share for Prompt #8, so this has been my response the the SB-Chronicle Prompt #7Memories of Childhood Vacations where we were asked:
Tell us about your favorites memories of your childhood summer vacations Where did you usually go, with whom, what did you like doing most in those days?
Memories of those carefree three-week holidays by the sea are ingrained in my being - thanks to parents who did not have much in monetary terms, but gave us riches beyond measure with love and those annual holidays by the sea.
๐๐ค๐ง ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐ง๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ
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