Hi all and welcome to our final stop on what has been an epic tour of the South African coastline with Ticket to Ride.
There’s just a little over a week left to go here, but things are by no means winding down!
On Saturday we met with Deon at Ansteys for some more classroom work. The guys finished off all the final details on the surf savers course and went over a few points from the previous session in order to prep themselves for their assessments on Monday.
In the afternoon we decided to take a break from the classroom and headed into town for a surf at uShaka. The waves were just perfect!! We had most of the beach to ourselves so we all split up and paddled onto our own peak. We surfed well into the afternoon until we just couldn’t surf anymore. After such a solid effort in the water we all took some time to relax at Java café with a nice, warm cup of coffee as we chatted about the day’s surf.
On Sunday the guys took the day off to prepare for their surf saver assessments. While their intentions were good, the day soon digressed into a video marathon. So much for last minute cramming…
Yesterday we headed into town to meet Deon at the Sutton Park Pools for the final surf saver assessment. The guys were grilled on their CPR, and emergency situation protocols. It was a long morning with many a tough question and scenario, but our guys came up on top and everyone passed first time!!
Stoked from the successes of the morning, we headed to North Beach for a celebratory surf. The conditions started off really nicely with good south-west winds and clean waves. The water was nice and warm and it looked like we were in for another session of Durban bombs. The good conditions didn’t last forever as the onshore began to flutter later on in the afternoon, but our little window was well worth the paddle out.
This morning we got the van packed, said our goodbyes to the Palmboom family and headed out for our last stop on the tour; Ballito. The drive only takes about 40 minutes from Durban so it wasn’t too big a journey. We got into the hostel at around lunchtime where we were greeted by the Mike and Roz Smith, and their daughter and ASP pro girls surfer; Tammy-Lee. We were immediately made to feel at home in this wonderful setting on the North Coast of KZN and our home for the next few days. Like I said though, there’s been no sign of any winding down just yet here in SA, so watch this space…
Till next time…
Take care,
Bevan and Jill