The Wild Coast

It’s come to the part of the trip where we make our way deeper into the heart of South Africa and for the first time so far we found ourselves based outside of a town or city. It is in places like these where we can really get in touch with African culture an envision the lives people have lived here for 100’s of years. A few 100km’s deeper into the Eastern Cape which well known as the homeland for the millions of indigenous South Africans we made our way to a place called Cinsta, a short drive outside of East London. Based on a large estate in what I would describe as semi-jungle. The space and scenery on offer came at the perfect time in our trip after a few weeks of hard surfing and activity based scheduling, at this stop we’d have the personal time and space to rejuvenate in our beautiful surroundings whilst preparing for the Surf Instructor course a few weeks ahead and working on our own personal goals.

I often get asked by groups which stop is my favourite and I can never give a complete answer or I always find myself going back and forth between destinations and the reason is this: Each stop is so vastly unique and different from one another and though much of the activities we do are similar throughout they all feel very different and very new each time, every destination has its own look, feel and culture and the only comparable attributes are so futile they wouldn’t even cross your mind. It’s what makes this particular trip and experience so special, It is real surf travel with real people in the most beautiful of places and having done it numerous times I can tell you that it is as incredible each time. 10 weeks on a piece of paper seems like a long time but living it day by day you find yourself wishing you could slow it down and live it longer, taking as much time as possible to soak in the beauty of everything that happens here, like laying in the grass and looking up at the stars, so small yet so significant.

Don’t forget to look up from time to time 😉

After being incredibly lucky in Jeffrey’s Bay with waves we were well prepared for the new challenges that waited for us on the wild coast, unfortunately all good things must come to an end and our luck with waves wasn’t quite the same as in Jeffreys Bay. That’s not to say it was horrible but it definitely was tougher with stronger winds, often onshore and raw ocean hitting one of the most beautiful beaches on the coastline. We still managed to get a few nuggets out there and I feel like you always learn a lot more when you’re struggling. One thing that did excite the group was how incredibly warm the water was, spring suits and boardies were in full force on this leg.

We were invited down to the beach to partake in a fundraiser for a local school fund. We entered into a sand mural building competition against local community members, families and beneficiaries from the fund. It was a fun morning interacting with the locals and sharing stories of our travels and giving back to the community that hosts us so well. We got a 2nd place in the end with our sand mural of the famous big 5.