If you've been following this blog it will be no surprise to you which beach is being featured today. Clifton 4th beach, obviously. :)
The guy and girl sitting on the unusually high chairs are lifeguards watching over bathers. We watched for some time as about 10 people practised their lifesaving skills by dragging a "victim" from the ocean; and unlike my brief description here, watching this mock-rescue was actually fairly entertaining.
Clifton 4th is classified as a Blue Flag beach, meaning that it complies with certain quality requirements set forward by the Foundation for Environmental Education.
In this case "quality" doesn't refer to how beautiful the people on the beach are (though if it did, Clifton would retain its status, no doubt). Instead it refers to a number of criteria in the following categories:
- Bather environmental education and information
- Water quality
- Environmental management
- Safety and services
You can read the full list of measurement criteria on the Blue Flag website.