I woke up early Friday morning (5:00 am) to begin the five-day surf pilgrimage to Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. Jeffrey’s Bay is by any means a surf “Mecca” of the world, as it is claimed to be the best surf spot in Africa, and one of the top in the world. I set off on this surfing pilgrimage with my two fellow Californian surfer friends Bryce and Vinnie, and my closest companion Liz Mandle, who took on the role of “beach mom”/photographer - as she sat patiently on the beach through all of our surf sessions, and took awesome pictures of us shredding up the waves.
Our first day consisted of driving from Cape Town to Jeffrey’s Bay. We had rented an automatic little Nissan - a pretty classy car considering the last rental that we had taken out from “DayWay car rentals” was held together via plastic zipties. I drove the whole way, of which I am needlessly proud to brag about. We completed listening to all 8 burned CD’s, of which Bryce and I had made. I was on the edge of my seat for the first twenty minutes of driving, as I drove through Cape Town traffic. I felt as if I was driving with a bizarre growth on the left side of the car - a growth of which the dimensions I was unsure of. Liz, my dutiful co-pilot for the first part of the trip, was constantly reassuring me that I in fact had room on the left side, and that I was in the right part of the lane. I can proudly say, that I did not once turn the windshield wipers on instead of the blinker (haha Dad, I must be a sharper driver than you!). After we got out of the main Cape Town business, I began to enjoy this new challenge of driving on the left hand side of the road.
I drove for about five hours until we reached Victoria’s Bay - at which we got off the road and went to find some food. We ate the best greasy calamari and chips that I have yet had in South Africa. After which, Vinnie and Bryce went for an after-lunch dip in the warm Indian Ocean, while Liz and I napped on the beach. After I had made it driving for five hours, I felt compelled to push through and drive the whole way. Most memorable about this drive, besides the occasional ostrich or baboon on the side of the road, was the manner in which South African drivers convert a two-lane highway into a four-lane speedway for passing slow cars. An unwritten rule in South Africa is that if you are a slow car, and a faster car comes behind you on the highway, you should drive as much to the left in the shoulder as possible. Luckily the shoulders are relatively large, almost the size of an entire lane. The faster car then proceeds to drive at a fast speed (of around 120-140 kms or 70+ mph) in the remnant of his lane, but is often forced to also pass with part of the car in the opposite side of the road. Often large trucks spend the remainder of their time driving half way in the shoulder, and half way in the lane. After a car passes a slower car, they flash their hazards, as a way of saying “thank you for helping me easily pass on this two-lane high way.” I did my fair share of passing…and being passed, as it was windy and I was afraid of the three surfboards being hurt that were precariously held onto the roof of the car via soft-racks.
We drove along the Garden Route through many cute small towns. We also drove through some townships. It was interesting to see how townships differed once outside of Cape Town. It was also an indication of how greatly apartheid shaped the whole country, not just the larger cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg. After a long 10 hours we finally reached the exit ramp for the Jeffrey’s Bay. We were all very jovial at this point, relieved to have finally made it to the “surf Mecca”.
We arrived and the offshore winds were howling. After briefly checking into our hostel, Island Vibe Backpackers, we got back into the car to go and find “Super Tubes” - the world-renowned JBay break. We eventually found it and suited up quickly before the sun set. The waves were not large, but nonetheless Super Tubes still was quick and setting up little barrels along its point. Because it wasn’t big, I decided I’d try paddling out there with the boys. This might have been a mistake, as I was the only longboarder (and girl for that matter), and the locals did not quite seem to accept me being there. It was definitely not a longboarding wave as was quick and super steep and powerful. It also was crashing nearly right on the reef. After a few times of trying to compete for the smaller set waves with the local shortboarders, I made the paddle of shame, and went in without catching any good waves. I felt a bit defeated walking up, but once I was out of my wetsuit and in warm clothes, I felt happy that I could say I paddled out (and at least tried to surf) at Super Tubes. I knew that “The Point,” located a short walk north of Supers, would be the place for me.
The next two days followed a similar pattern of surfing, eating, sleeping, surfing again and eating. I surfed The Point for the first time the next day. The paddle out was a little tricky, as you had to paddle out through a channel between the reef. The offshore winds were howling (probably like 30 knots), making the waves shapely, but hard to get into. The spray off of the back of the waves felt like being blasted with a fire hose. The first wave that I caught was very memorable. It was probably head high, but slow and good shape. It lived up to its reputation and I felt like I was riding for 20 seconds. It was a great wave, and I knew that I would greatly enjoy this point break. In the afternoon the surf got even better. The wind died down and it was only me and two others out there at the point. With this pattern me and the boys had surfed almost four surf sessions in the last 24 hours. It was super fun, but my feet definitely took a beating. The breaks were all shaped by reefs, and getting in and out was always slow going and painful. There was sometimes an easy way to get out, but coming in was always a battle. I cut up my feet on the reefs pretty bad, but it was definitely worth it. I also went on a walk with Liz up the beach one of the afternoons. We walked past the backyards of the abandoned summer beach houses and talked about life and life plans. It was a good break from surfing. When we got to the end of the properties, the wind that was blowing off the dunes was extreme, and the sand was painfully pelting us, causing us to turn around.
The next day we adventured to Cape Saint Francis located twenty minutes away. Cape Saint Francis is the home of “Bruce’s Beauties” - the famous “perfect wave” in the movie “The Endless Summer.” Bruce’s Beauties no longer breaks in the same way as it did in the 1960’s - due to housing development changing the way that the dune sand blows into the ocean. So we surfed at Cape Saint Francis Point. It was super sketchy getting out to the point as we walked out on rocks, then jumped out into the water when a big enough wave came, and paddled around the shallow rocks. Luckily we made it out without any problems. The wave was pretty fun, but a bit sketchy as the tide was low, so certain parts of the wave sucked out to expose a jagged rock. We made sure not to take the wave at these spots. It was overall fun, and I can say now that I surfed Cape Saint Francis! After surfing Liz and I walked to the lighthouse, where we explored and I collected a ton of shells (correction: I collected a plethora of shells - Liz was not a shell collection enthusiast). It appeared that the Cape was a “shell Mecca.” There was no sand, only shells - it was awesome!
After this we went to find the true “Bruce’s Beauties” location. We drove through a bizarre upscale housing development (where the boys thought about jumping off of a bridge and into a canal, but decided against it) and eventually found the beach that 50 years ago was a completely deserted landscape of dunes and perfectly forming beach break waves. The waves were pretty much nonexistent at this location, but it was awesome to think that we were at the same part in the ocean as Mike and Robert surfed in the 1960’s. We decided to find shelter on some rocks and lay in the sun. We slept and made peanut butter sandwiches while watching the local kids play with fishing poles on the jetty. We got adequately sunburnt, while Bryce and Vinnie played the guitar. It was a splendid time spent lying by the sea. (On a side note, we ate peanut butter sandwiches for 2 out of 3 meals a day during this trip - I was so sick of this nut/bread combo by the end of our trip, I still haven’t eaten it since.)
The next day we said goodbye to Jeffrey’s Bay and drove three hours closer to home to Buffel’s Bay. We stayed at the hostel “Buffalo Bay Backpackers” which was by far the cutest backpackers I have ever stayed in. It was by no means nice or clean, and was quite sandy and old/rusty. But it was located amongst the most beautiful dunes and rocky landscape of the Indian Ocean with gorgeous white sand. It looked like a Northern California landscape, except for the ocean was a lot warmer. The hostel was adorned with shell art, rusty beach things, and was made of wood. It was awesome, and I will definitely post pictures up on facebook when I get a chance. Unfortunately there was no swell so we didn’t surf for the last two days of the trip. The next day we drove the long way home back to Cape Town.
What an enjoyable surf safari throughout a part of South Africa :)
