Life’s a beach for Boogie Babes
It's a beautiful time of the year to come together and celebrate the ocean, as it's known as the 'lungs of the earth'.
Keeping the beaches clean and having a ball in the ocean is what a group of women called the Boogie Babes are becomingly increasingly well known for.
Each year, the ocean is celebrated in all its glory in the month of June.
With this in mind, the Herald caught up with the delightful Boogie Babes at Lucien Beach.
For those who haven’t been to Lucien Beach in a while, you will be pleasantly surprised by the amazing transformation, largely thanks to Joanie Strachan of the Boogie Babes and Tidy Towns Shelly Beach to Margate.
It’s a perfect winter’s day – the sun is shining, the ocean is a deep blue and the aloes are blooming – and the Boogie Babes are not shy to strip down to their costumes and jump on their bodyboards to play in the waves.
They are everything these women, aged from 59 to 73 – fun, playfully silly, curvaceous and passionate ocean lovers.
Stephen Herbst of Tidy Towns described the famous Boogie Babes, as the trendsetting ladies, who keep a tidy eye for waste, are self-motivated to clean areas of concern – they are truly heroes.
Over the years, Brigitte Konrad has become well-known for walking and collecting litter from roads, wetlands and the beaches.
Her passion to pick-up litter has rubbed off on the Boogie Babes who meet every Tuesday, not only to bodyboard but to walk and pick-up litter along the beaches but most of all, have an enormous amount of fun and laughs.
The Boogie Babes was founded by Muriel de Vries, and the group’s golden rule is to have a sunrise swim once a month.
On cold days, they drink coffee and paint rocks for Desere Bouillon of Exploring South Coast – KZN Rocks, which entails that you paint rocks with fun and interesting graphics or meaningful messages, hide them around your community, and wait for others to find them.
It’s truly inspirational to see a group of women so in love with the South Coast.
“How many people live on the coast and never come to the beach? Our date on Tuesdays make sure we don’t miss these gorgeous mornings. Wouldn’t swap this for the world,” said Schanet Richardson, adding, she wished she had moved sooner to the coast from Gauteng.
Konrad said people often ask her why doesn’t she go back to Germany? Her reply is: “The weather is bad in Germany, and nothing has changed. We live in paradise!”
The group also added that South Coast people are friendly, and Tidy Towns is doing an excellent job.
If you want to join the group contact Muriel on 084 8459394.
On another note, everyone is invited to support Zoë Prinsloo from Cape Town, who is a 21-year-old environmental activist, cleaning a 100 beaches in 60 days. She will be at Sunwich Port Beach on June 24 at 09:30. Follow her incredible waste collecting journey on Facebook: Save a Fishie or contact Tanya on 084 5910077.
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