I have talked about the surfing in Jeffreys Bay in the last blog so this time its more about the flat day fun. Having said that there was still plenty of surfing including a few trips to the famous St. Francis Bay, but we had some great days helping out in the township as well as at the waterfall.
When we refer to the waterfall in Jeffreys Bay we are equally referring to the best place for rock jumps on the trip. It is an easy fifteen-minute drive out of J-Bay but a bit of a secret and even people like Chad, who has been going to J-Bay for years had not heard about it before Ticket to Ride. There is a zipline off a 6m ledge into a deep pool in the river, and up the one side is a big 12-15m jump. Ian and Tim jumped it easily while the other boys took a bit longer and the girls stuck to the smaller jump and the zipline. It is a great place to hang out on the rocks and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all. It was topped off with a deadly puffadder snake almost getting Chad on the way back to the car. Just a gentle reminder, This is Africa!
Another important part of these Ticket to Ride trips is getting involved in some work in the communities and townships to give something back to the South Africans who are struggling to survive. With one of the highest unemployment rates in the world many South Africans are struggling to get by and we try and do our bit by getting into the townships and helping out. We choose a different project each time but have in the last year or so have gone back to the same day crèche to help where we can. This time it was the outside of the school that was looking dull and dreary and needed some paint. The kids at the school also love having new people around and the hours spent painting are broken up by playing with the children. The group did a great job as well and a little bit of manual labour didn’t do them any harm. What better way to keep yourself busy when the waves are small!
One of the favourites of the Jeffreys Bay stop is the trip to St Francis Bay and Cape St Francis. These spots are just 5km apart and are more famously known as Bruce’s Beauties and Seal Point. They were made famous by the Endless Summer Movies which are two of very few movies to make it to commercial cinema. This time around we got to go there 3 times and got some really great waves. We surfed the beach break at St Francis and there were really nice peaks coming through. The day before we left Jeffreys Bay we were back there and had one of the best sessions I have seen. Everyone in the water got really good waves and it was a good way to end off a great stay in Jeffreys Bay.
To top it off we had a great dress-up party on that final night and have a look through the pictures to see some of the outfits!
Cintsa next moving further into the bush and that includes lion cubs and some great waves lets hope!
Ciao