Hey everyone,
Here is our blog for our time in Plett, stop two on the African Road Trip. I got two of the riders to give us there experience of different aspects of there time in the beautiful Plettenberg bay that is always buzzing with adventure. Hope you enjoy.
Nikita
"The real start of our road trip began when we left one morning for Plettenberg bay. Although the journey was long we were kept entertained by funny podcasts and great banter about our shenanigans so far, interspersed with some wildlife spotting along some breath-taking coastline. We arrived at our destination just as it was getting dark, the hostel had a great vibe with the braai pit already cindering. We cooked our meals on the braai most evenings and it made for a great spot to talk about that day’s surfing.
We surfed two different spots in Plett, Central beach and Robberg. Central beach was a right hand point break that only works every few years and it provided some small fun waves, with our coach Levi, giving us some good tips whilst in the water with us. We surfed Robberg a few times, often sighting dolphins near the line-up. On our last afternoon left in Plett, Robberg provided an epic session with 4-5ft hollow waves. These were a big step up for those who had little surf experience before the trip; nevertheless everyone just got stuck in. The take-off was really steep so needed full commitment otherwise a bit of a beat down was in order. Everyone handled it well and we were pretty stoked to have surfed the biggest and heaviest waves of the trip so far. We had a good reflection of the session with Levi and some other local surfers over a few beers at a bar overlooking central beach; it was a great end to our time at Plett.
Next stop was Jeffrey’s bay, but along the way we faced the daunting task of conquering the Bloukrans bridge bungee, the highest commercial bungee in the world. As we drove over the bridge you could appreciate its true scale being 216m above the ground. Tensions started rising as we all got weighed and our harnesses were fitted, for some of us it was fear, others excitement. The first part of the experience was getting to the platform by walking under the bridge in a metal cage like structure. It wasn’t for the faint-hearted, you could see through the floor and it was bouncy underfoot. When we reached the platform we were greeted by the ‘Jump Master’, the motivation music started pumping and most of us were getting pretty psyched. Everyone jumped in a particular order. There was a lot of anticipation with the adrenaline setting in well before your jump.
When it was your turn they strapped you up and led you to the edge, from there it was a countdown and then jump, arms out and head first. The first bit of free fall was absolutely awesome, the acceleration was just unreal. The bouncing bit was a bit more chilled and after it finished you hung there for what felt like ages until a man abseiled down and hoisted you back up to the platform. It was a truly incredible experience. Charlie, one of the girls with us on the trip, was certain she wouldn’t jump and even went to turn back on the journey to the platform but she succumbed to our peer pressure and went for it. She was completely buzzing after her jump and so glad she did it.We’re starting off on our journey again and are all very excited to see what Jeffrey’s bay and the waves there have to offer.’’ Olly
‘’For some reason, perhaps because everyone else was too chicken, I ended up being the only one game enough to embark on the wonders of skydiving in Plett. The twenty or so minutes that we spend in the air on our plane ride gave us the amazing opportunity to spot dolphins and whales from a bird’s eye view whilst the thrill of the jump and natural beauty of the surroundings ensured a spectacular freefall.
The main wave that we rode at Plett was on central beach, a fairly newly formed surfing spot, with a rock wall on one side of the wave. Despite the initial nerves for surfing this rocky spot, we found the consistent right a good wave to progress to from our first stop in Muizenberg.
Just on the other side of the small point was Robberg One. We also surfed this spot on a couple of occasions and the waves were pumping. One of our days in Plett saw Nikita, our team leader, enthralled by the pumping and power driven waves, with the rest of us only received a pounding from the ocean. Overall, our time in Plett was wicked fun and a good lead up to J'Bay.’’
Michelle Davey