March 2023

If you missed our first post about lovely Morgan Bay, you can read about it here.

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After watching an absolutely amazing sunrise from our hotel porch and taking a long walk on the beach, we were ready for a hearty breakfast.

Breakfast room at Morgan Bay Hotel

At breakfast and dinner, you are shown to your table (which will be your table for as long as you stay in the hotel). At each table is a newsletter from the hotel. In our newsletter during breakfast, all guests who arrived the previous day were welcomed by name. And they are also saying goodbye to those who are leaving. I thought this was a very special touch.

In this newsletter there is a weather report for the day and what there is to see and do around Morgan Bay. They also remind guests of the complimentary tea and coffee station and what time home-made snacks will be served in the lounge. It’s almost like reading a newspaper (with only good news) during breakfast!

Breakfast time

We enjoyed such a delicious breakfast! We had a choice of the following:

  • Fresh fruit juices, as well as coffee and tea,
  • Freshly cut fruit can be enjoyed with assorted yoghurts,
  • Hot porridge and a variety of cereals,
  • Eggs (to order), bacon, tasty taters, pork cocktail sausage with sage, tomato bredie (stew) and toast,
  • And if you’re still hungry, there are a wide variety of baked goods (such as cinnamon swirls, muffins and coconut bread).

There’s definitely enough to get you through a day, but don’t even dare think we skipped lunch!

View from the breakfast room

After filling our tummies with all that goodness, we walked around the hotel. There are so many comfy and cozy sitting areas where you can relax without actually being among the other guests.

Lounge area

Relaxing areas

Lounge area

Tastefully decorated

It was hard to drag ourselves out of this lovely hotel to explore the area, but it was such a great day to be outside that we soon got in the car to take a scenic drive.

As we drove slowly up and down the few streets in Morgan Bay, we came across a herd of goats. Some of them feasted on one of the residents’ spekbome (also known as Portulacaria afra), while others rested in the middle of the road.

Goats wanders around the village

We drove to Kei Mouth which is only 13km (8 miles) from Morgan Bay. Kei Mouth is also home to the ‘Pont’, one of South Africa’s three remaining car-transporting pontoon river ferry services. This is firmly on our list (*), so we will not elaborate too much now … but it is a lovely place.

* During April 2024, we finally had the opportunity to cross the Kei River on the ferry. You can read that post here.

Cattle on the bank of the Great Kei River

After our visit to Kei Mouth we drove to the Double Mouth Nature Reserve which is about 5km west of Morgan Bay. Here two rivers meet in a pristine estuary that carves a single course through forested dunes to the sea.

Double Mouth Nature Reserve

To our delight, we saw a lovely campsite! The campsites have the most beautiful views over the sea … we are already planning how to transport our camping gear from Langebaan (**).

** Although we haven’t camped at Double Mouth Nature Reserve yet, we did camp at Morgan Bay Hotel’s campsite for the first time in March 2024 and it was a great experience. Read more about it here.

The campsite is at the bottom of this road

Once again, our road was blocked by farm animals

View over the beach at Morgan Bay

The view back towards Double Mouth Nature Reserve

When we got back to the hotel, we walked over to the complimentary coffee station where we got some hot drinks and bran muffins. We sat outside on the hotel’s patio and enjoyed our drinks while looking out over the sea. I can do this every day!

Mid-morning drinks at the hotel

Next to the hotel were a few local ladies who made and sold lovely bracelets and necklaces, as well as handmade wicker baskets. I bought two pretty bracelets and Berto got a basket – great memorabilia to remind us of our time here at Morgan Bay.

A local woman with some of her hand-made jewellery

During our early morning drive we saw a sign to a place called Bay View Farm. After reading more about this place, we decided it would be our ideal lunch spot.

Bay View Farm, where they grow their own veggies and herbs

The old-style Cape Dutch house is truly a hidden gem. Besides their beautiful restaurant and bar, they also have accommodation. Apparently, this is also a great place for weddings … and we could see why, nature is breathtakingly beautiful.

Old-style Cape Dutch house

We loved the interior of this place! There are so many antiques and it was good to see how new and old blend perfectly.

Inside Bay View Farm

Beautiful double doors at the entrance

Ostrich eggs and old-fashioned till

Inside sitting area and bar

Since it was such a hot day, we joined other guests and decided to sit outside while enjoying lunch. We had a lovely view of the garden and could hear different birds chirping in the tall trees.

View of the lush green nature

We ordered our drinks – Berto enjoyed one of the local beers from Emerald Vale Brewery (a farm we’ve visited twice) and I had a cocktail. We also each enjoyed a Cactus Jack shot (a true Mexican tequila with tabasco sauce and black pepper) … if you haven’t tried it before, try it, you’ll be surprised how well these flavours work together!

Our drinks

Our lunch was not only tasty but also well presented. It’s always nice to see when a restaurant puts effort into their food. Berto ordered a spicy burger with chips and onion rings, while I was very pleased with my chicken pasta with olives and mushrooms.

Lunch

After lunch we went straight back to the hotel. Now it was time to get into our bathing costumes and relax by the hotel pool for the rest of the afternoon. It was now quite warm and we enjoyed the cold water of the pool. There was a large tour group from the UK and it was funny to see how they preferred to lie in the sun, while we went to the sun umbrellas! I suspect they had had enough of their cold winter and now just wanted to enjoy the sunshine.

Relaxing at the hotel’s swimming pool

I was surprised to see a cow next to our room’s patio – happily grazing on the green grass. The receptionist mentioned earlier that they have to chase the cows away often … however I thought that they probably don’t need a lawnmower if the cows are ‘willing’ to do the work for them! But then again, it’s not so nice when they leave their ‘evidence’ on the grass when they’ve had enough.

Our ‘neighbour’ is enjoying an early dinner

It’s almost impossible to imagine that after our delicious lunch, we got ready for dinner again! But it was a very special meal and we certainly didn’t want to miss it.

We enjoyed complimentary canapés in the Lounge Bar before being taken to our table for a delicious 4 course meal.

Canapés – sushi rolls and roasted salmon toasties

Dinner was a real feast! The menu looked like this:

  • Starter: Pan grilled Kingklip with lemon butter
  • Soup: Coconut Red Lentil soup with crisp melba toast
  • Main meal: Well matured Dutch beef fillet with glazed carrot batons & sprouted broccoli
  • Salad greens with crispy croutons
  • Dessert: Vanilla Cheesecake/Lemon Jelly & custard/South African cheese board and biscuits

Grilled Kingklip and Coconut soup

Main meal

I was looking forward to the cheese board and biscuits, but I had reached my limit for the day of eating delicious food! However, Berto rarely passed up a cheesecake and he enjoyed his dessert.

Decadent Vanilla cheesecake

It was lovely to be treated to such a delicious meal and we went to bed peaceful and happy after enjoying a wonderful day.

The only thing left for us to do was to appreciate another glorious sunrise while enjoying our coffee and tea on the patio … while we watched over the beautiful Indian Ocean.

Our last sunrise at Morgan Bay

Early morning hot drinks

After packing and taking our luggage to our car, we had one last delicious breakfast.

Our last breakfast at Morgan Bay Hotel

What a lovely weekend! We were spoiled with hospitality, great food and amazing views. It was a privilege to be able to stay in such a beautiful hotel and we wouldn’t mind if the opportunity presented itself again!