On the 20th of March we experienced a new moon in South Africa, nothing unusual in that, except it coincided with the moon being in close proximity to the Earth, a mere 357 583 km. Astrologists call this a Supermoon and with it falling on the equinox (meaning equal night and day) marking the start of autumn or spring, depending on where you live, combining this event with the solar eclipse seen in the northern hemisphere which hasn’t happened on this date since 1662!
You can imagine the excitement and predictions Astrologists foretold surrounding this event!
Well it was very exciting on the shoreline here in the Overberg simply the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon working together combined with the close proximity of the moon caused extreme tides exposing rocks seldom seen, and eroding primary dunes. Had we had a storm swell at the same time, we would have experienced extreme erosion.
Interestingly for those on a diet during this short period while the moon and sun were pulling in the same direction your mass would have been a few grams lighter, unfortunately 12 hours later you would have been a few grams heavier!
Beachcomber Guide, Pearly Beach Conservancy
