*3.1. Molecular Identification of Staphylococcus aureus in Recreational Beach Water and Sand Samples*

A total of 245 samples were screened; beach water (*n* = 178) and sand samples (*n* = 67) of which 143 isolates (one isolate from each sample) were presumptive by culture on MSA. A 12.3% (30/245) of the isolates were confirmed by PCR as *S. aureus*, with 12.4% (22/178) of isolates from seawater, and 11.9% (8/67) from marine sand. Of the 22 confirmed *S. aureus* isolates from seawater, 6 isolates each were from Middle beach and Eastern beach, 5 isolates from Nahoon beach, 2 each from Kariega beach and East beach and 1 isolate from West beach. Of the 8 confirmed *S. aureus* isolates from sand, 4 isolates were from Middle beach and 2 each were from East beach and Kariega beach respectively.
