September 2014 (ROTM#69) Tomahawk Beach, Otago, New Zealand

New Zealand has perhaps the most varied coastline of any country in the world, beaches included. There are multiple coastlines, straits, bays, islands, different wave climates….and lots of rips. I took this picture on the South Island just north of Dunedin, which has a beautiful coastline and great beaches, albeit a bit chilly.

 This picture is looking south onto Tomahawk Beach (you can see houses of Dunedin in the background) and there are actually 3 rips....again...look for the dark gaps. There is one in the foreground, one in the middle, and a thin sliver of green cutting through the surf further down the beach. All of them are separated by shallow sand bars, but on a beach like this that has not lifeguards and isn’t the easiest to get to, who’s going to save you if you get in trouble? This is always worth thinking about before you go swimming on an unpatrolled beach.

Not sure why it’s called Tomahawk