Hot Water Beach

After the previous post we have arrived on the camping at Hot Water Beach. And the plan is going to the beach tomorrow morning.

Let’s play a game. It’s called “I go on holiday and bring with me”.

I go on holiday and bring with me… my swim short and my towel.

Here is how it goes: at every round you have to repeat everything, and add one item at the end.


I go on holiday and bring with me… my swim short, my towel and a spade.

Oh yes, we are going to dig a big hole on the beach.

I go on holiday and bring with me… my swim short, my towel, a spade and a tide chart.

And see, there is a low tide at half past 8 this evening. Since my tent is up and I’ve had dinner, I could as well go take a look already.

One thing is immediately obvious. Steam is billowing above the beach. There’s definitely hot water here. And right there in the middle there is still plenty of room to dig a hole. It didn’t take a lot of digging to figure out why: I was between the places where the hot water comes up. So I dug a big hole full of cold water. So, next try. On a place where there is a lot of steam.

Bad plan. And I should have known—there was a sign. Hot water. 65°C.

I go on holiday and bring with me… my swim short, my towel, a spade, a tide chart and a bucket.

Oh no, my bucket. It’s still at home. It would have come in handy. Some cold water to cool down the water in my hole. Because hot it is. Officially lost my title of soft boiled egg after this one. Let’s have a good night sleep then and try again tomorrow with a fresh mind.

Balance of the day: on average the temperature in my two holes was perfect. Three cheers to statistics!

So the next morning we have low tide around half past 8. By half past 7 it’s time to go to the beach. And third time’s the charm.

Digging holes

So, on the left we have the big hole where I can sit down. In the middle we have my small hole with very hot water, which I can tap a bit when my big hole cools down. Perfectly designed. Or maybe I started out with the smaller hole and gave up because it’s too hot? We will never find out for sure I guess…

And now the beach is starting to fill up, as the campings and B&B’s are waking up. Lots of people bringing a shovel. The veteran explaining how to find the spot with the perfect temperature. Some kids verifying every 30 seconds if my small hole is still too hot.

Time to head back now. And my hole? Surely someone will volunteer to take it over from me…

Greetings,
Roeland