‘It was like a bubble bath!’: Wild weather covers Johnshaven streets in sea foam

Striking images taken during Thursday’s wild weather show the Aberdeenshire village of Johnshaven covered in sea foam.

Homes, streets and cars were covered in a thick layer of foam amid a day of heavy rain, strong winds and flooding across the north-east.

Coastal villages were among those hit, with huge waves crashing over the sea wall at Stonehaven.

And sea foam made for quite the sight in communities such as Fraserburgh and Johnshaven.

So impressed was Johnshaven resident Simon Schapira at the sight, he spent part of his day capturing images of the foam on Fore Street and the surrounding area on camera.

He spoke exclusively to the Press and Journal, recalling the extraordinary sight as the foam coated streets near the shore.

There were drifts deeper than the snow that recently hit the north-east but Thursday’s deluge was more akin to a bubble bath than conditions for building snowmen.

Don’t worry Johnshaven, this isn’t another snowstorm!

Simon has been a resident of the Aberdeenshire village for 24 years and told us: “The foam always just amuses people.

“It doesn’t happen very often but it’s quite a sight.

“In Johnshaven, we always get a strong easterly wind, and it just whips up this crazy foam.

“You could see it was a rough sea, but every once in a while it would throw up a really big wave, soaking absolutely everything.

“And in doing that, the wind would pick up the foam that had formed on the sea and throw it across the village, looking like a bubble bath.”

Impressive though it was, Simon says the coating has been even thicker in the past – and he has the pictures to prove it.

“This doesn’t compare to the really bad one we saw back in 2023, which was quite a sight,” he said.

It may look fun, but be ready for the stench!

As tempting as it may be to take a plunge into the deep foam, Simon warns the stench can be quite something.

“The bad news about it is if you get covered in it, which some people do, you start to smell as you dry out.

“This is not nice clean fairy liquid foam.

“It’s stuff that’s been dredged up from the seabed and from the harbour.

“It gets smelly, put it that way.”

And if it sounds like Simon is speaking from experience?

That’s when he shared the story of the incredible sea foam back in 2023.

After he and his neighbour made the mistake of heading to the pub straight after a playful day in the foam.

Showing us the picture above, he says: “That’s John, my next-door neighbour.

“Both of us were standing in the foam.

“We had waterproofs on, but we did get wrecked.

“Then we went to the pub to have a beer afterwards and as we dried out, people started to complain that we stank!

“We both made our way back to our own houses, had a shower, got changed, and went back to the boozer.”

So if having a dip in the foam sounds appealing to you, Simon says shower first, then hit the pub!

[Source: Press and Journal]