First Light Beach House

First Light Beach House in Sheffield Beach, KwaZulu-Natal, is becoming the magnet for an annual gathering of the 'clans'—my son joined us from Zevenaar, Netherlands, my nephew from Minnesota, who discovered this Airbnb, and the rest of us all from South Africa.
This time we were celebrating my sister-in-law's 60th birthday; it was an absolute blast!

The gorgeous eight-bedroom beach house sits above fascinating sub-volcanic rock formations called Dolerite breccia, with fabulous rock pools for swimming and exploring, and great fishing spots. I took many photos of the rock formations last year and shared them with you.
I took a tumble a few weeks ago that curtailed my exploring, much to my disdain! But I managed to walk down and dip my toes in the water. I was happy to just be there, catch up with everyone, and watch the beach action from the large balcony with the background sound of the waves crashing on the rocks.

This Airbnb just gets better each year. The sandy fire pit is new, but we never got to sit there; too much happening and too little time!

At nightfall, the perfect time to sit around the fire, but we were all too busy playing catch-up and helping set up the venue for the birthday bash!

Someone remarked that it reminds them of the reality TV show Survivor. Looked very inviting to me, but still no one was there the following day.

My brother also booked the Airbnb on the property above First Light to accommodate friends the night of the party, and took this photo of 'our' house from there.
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First light gave us this gorgeous sunrise over the Indian Ocean.

The rock pools and the beach attracted some of our fishermen. A fair-sized rock cod was caught but thrown back to live another day.

Same view as above, but at nightfall, and one sees the lights from the popular Ballito in the distance.

The weather was gorgeous for the first two days, and more so the night of the party, so we sat outside. Autumn and winter on the KZN coast are mild.

The very long table can accommodate up to 20 people. The kitchen is divided by this table; tea and coffee making, as well as mixing drinks or cocktails, along one wall. The other side is set up for food preparation, with a scullery accommodating extra kitchen appliances around the corner.

We were once again spoilt by the Ballito Private Chefs, with eleven main canapes and two desserts. Too many gorgeous foodie photos for the travel community, although I'm sure you would all want to tuck into some of the deliciousness.
I will give you a glimpse of the birthday cake, though - no guessing what my sister-in-law's favourite pooches are;)

Hearing the sound of the waves each night was the best lullaby, but on our second-last night, the wind came up, howling, no sun, and turned into a cold and blustery day! The waves came up much higher than normal at high tide. The house is quite high, though, so no worries that we'd get washed away!
But, there was no fishing, swimming, or walking done that day; just as well, as everyone was tired from the night before. It did not stop the chattering and laughter, though. My darling sister-in-law, the birthday girl, was the life of the party as always, but I'll share some of that with you when I tell more about the party.
The waves pushed so high that one cannot see the rock pools anymore.

We were sad to part ways. My nephew flew back to the US, and my son is high up in the air right now, on his way back to the Netherlands. Some of the other family members took a local flight to get back home.

We don't realize just how fortunate we are that we can cross oceans with such ease. I shudder to think just how difficult it was to travel from one city to another eons ago, on horseback or by coach;)

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