Boknes Beach

About Boknes Beach

Boknesstrand, or Boknes Beach, lies tagged on to the end of Cannon Rocks like a gentle comma marking the space between two thoughts - in this case Cannon Rocks and the long stretch of beach that stretches to the headland of the Diaz Cross memorial.

The seaside village is a typical coastal town, with few permanent residents, a couple of small shops that close early, and lots of holiday homes. But it's the beach and its lagoon that are the stars of the show.

Formerly a blue flag beach, and now a pilot blue flag beach while it works on tidying up its bathroom facilities and a broken wall close to the lagoon, Boknes Beach is surprisingly vast. The lagoon is warm and perfect for children and families. You can hire peddle boats, similar to those in Ramsgate, from the grassy banks, or sail your way up along the Boknes River. And fishermen pump up sand prawns to use as bait for the pignose grunter, or steenbras.

The beach, with kilometres of that not quite yellow sand so typical of the Sunshine Coast, is overseen by an iconic wooden lifeguard hut, similar to ones at Kenton-on-Sea and Port Alfred. There's plenty of space here so that even peak season shouldn't get ridiculous.

The swimming and fishing (mostly kob, elf, steenbras and white musselcracker)here are considered excellent, and there are families that return year after year. Fishermen describe how they have the best fishing spots virtually to themselves for most of the year.

You can walk along the beach for about 3 km to the stone Diaz Cross memorial at Kwaaihoek, erected by navigator Bartholomew Diaz when he rounded the Cape in 1488. It's South Africa's oldest European monument and one of three he erected whilst rounding the Cape to find a route to India.

The name Boknes is derived from the Khoe language, and means 'father's river'.