BEACH PLEASE !

Details of what i'm wearing: Two-piece beach wear & pink shades (@tijesusvogue), palm slippers (@guiseppezanoti)

There are so many great beaches in Lagos but this particular one caught my attention while I was doing my usual research on places to visit.

I really hoped my visit wasn’t going to be ruined after a failed attempt at visiting Tarkwa Bay weeks back because of the weather of course. My essentials were set then and I was coasting towards were to board a boat to the island where the beach was situated, just to get there and the rain that had been falling since the morning of that day failed to stop, even if they said they could take us on a ride, because I was going with friends, the waves were far too scary and it seemed like any boat that tries to row in it might just capsize. maybe I’m exaggerating a just a little, but, it was clearly too big a risk to take.

My essentials: Coca cola tote bag, 'Think Big' novel by Ben Carson, Pink shades.

Finally, i planned a solo visit to Lekki Leisure Lake with a photographer and i wasn’t really enthusiastic about the day because the weather forecast showed it was going to rain, oh well, i still went because you can’t keep waiting for the perfect moment before you make moves, now is the perfect time, so go get all of it!!!! these were the words I kept telling myself.

Of course it rained in the morning, but it all cleared up in the afternoon. I got to the venue first without having to row a boat lol and it was a tall building covering the beach, i wondered if I was at the right place for less than a second because I could now notice the bold imprints of the name of the venue at the entrance.

Seated were two security men a little distant from the gate seemingly unbothered as they were grossly engaged in a conversation to take note of a young boy that merely just wants to have fun.

Good day sir, for the third time, before one managed to snap out of the sweet talk and reluctantly walks towards me, ‘What do you want here’? he asked staring at the big bag I was carrying that contained the outfits I planned to change into and maybe surprised to see a visitor on a week day, To hit the beach I reply, his facial expressions seemed like he was taken a little aback and I figured maybe that came out wrongly.

He says it’s N2,000 to enter on weekdays and N1,000 on weekends, it was in conformity with what I saw online except the weekday part but I still oblige and tell him to let my friend in (the photographer) when he gets here.

 

The beach space looked very different from other ones I’ve been to with bright colors everywhere, it was just a group of people present there, then another group joined later on and that was all of the crowd present.

While admiring the space and already figuring out the spots that would make great picture production, the other security man that sat as his mate snapped out of the gist to attend to me when I was at the gate earlier on comes to call me that my guy is with a camera and camera isn’t allowed here, i was caught off guard by that because that wasn’t indicated on their page.

On getting there, one would think he was carrying an actual bomb that had a few seconds left on timer as that was what  they exaggerated a camera to seem like with their far too unnecessary expressions and rude remarks, we ask to speak to someone else and we explain the situation to the also unbothered man who was in white office shirt and had pot belly features, he was acting like we were trespassers and finally says it’s N20,000 to go in with a camera.

At least they’ve shown poor customer relationship towards us, what exactly is  the point of it? I won’t even be happy with myself, were some of the thoughts that played really quick in my head. We finally agree to shoot with phones.

 I couldn’t have asked for a better weather as the sun was still out, we planned to shoot within an hour not because there was a constraint in time but because of the long gone time, but trust a camera unshy (if there is a word like that) person like me to by far exceed the time, as I was busy channeling the right poses and ensuring the right angles were caught. I shot in two outfits and we were done.

I had a really amazing time dipping my legs into the sand and feeling the warmth of it, standing at the shore with my feet against the sand and waiting for the waves to overlap it, observing the holes in the sang dug by crabs and also lying at the rock beside the water while gazing at the sky. It was a liberating experience. I think it's a great space, but if changing their security guards would mean better customer relationship they should go for it!!!!

I hope you had a glimpse of my beach experience at Lekki Leisure Lake? Kindly leave me your genuine thoughts in the comments section as I would be most delighted reading and responding to them.

Love, Tijesu.