I had always pictured that my first holiday with Jeff would be something fun and unforgettable. I only got it 50% right.

  On our long winding drive down to Durban (the premier holiday city in South Africa), we caught the words “…giant waves… hurricane…flooded coastline…” through the static. I started getting frantic. Would we be so unlucky that a hurricane was due to hit Durban the first time we go on a holiday? What doom! As it turned out, after listening to the entire news broadcast, Durban had been hit by some freak giant waves earlier during the day and almost the entire coastline of the province was closed as there was flooding. Many properties and infrastructure right along the coast had been damaged by the sudden increase in water levels. Giant waves but no hurricane? I could do with that.

  The first sighting of the beach was somewhat surreal. I had been there just two weeks earlier and saw nothing but bright sunshine and alluring beaches. This time, the wind was humid and the waves were crashing onto the edge of the beach. The entire beach as far as my eye could see had been closed off the public and there were police patrolling to re-inforce the occasional curious bystander who wandered just a bit too close the action. After checking into our very expensive beachfront hotel, we could see that the waves were battering the entire coast and almost engulfing the piers erected on the popular beachfront. Just my luck. Durban was flooding and I’m here on holiday.

  We wandered over to the much publicized Ushaka Marine World. To the outside world, it is ‘One the TEN biggest aquariums in the world with top class restaurants and a water resort right on the beachfront’. To the locals, it’s just an over-priced beachfront location to suck money off the fat tourists. I just had to see it. The water along the beachfront at Ushaka was calm and there were scores of surf-bums on their boards exploring the mellow waves, dude. I was just worried if my sunblock really does have UV filter against the rays. Being a typical Asian tourist, I was more concerned about getting great pictures rather then enjoying the waves. After I decided I needed to re-apply another layer of sunblock, we left Ushaka for the ultimate holiday town – Umhlanga Rocks.

  Umhlanga is what would have been a quiet little resort town if not for the greedy roving eye of the property developer. It’s a little spot just north of the plush suburbs of Durban North with a highly impacted presence of three to five star hotels which would cost the average Alec almost an entire month’s salary for a whiff of the filter coffee. With names such as ‘The Oyster Box’ and ‘Beverly Hills Hotel’, Umhlanga is out for blood but all in all, it still has a rocking beach. Well, it had a rocking beach until the freak waves hit. The last glimpse of Umhlanga I caught was on being engulfed by the Indian Ocean, beachside cafés included. The entire beach was being washed by giant waves - so much for the romantic sunset stroll along the waterfront with gentle waves lapping gently at my feet. We, along with other downtrodden holiday makers stood behind the red tape put up by the coast authorities and gazed at the mesmerizing waves which seemed to take away our holiday dreams piece by piece as it hit against the broadwalk. With spirits and body dampened, we left Umhlanga and Durban behind us. The only positive aspect of the entire trip was actually being part of the history. We witnessed the day that Durban beachfront got washed away, including the dockside restaurant we had planned to celebrate out time together.