Well, we have finished up our stay in Cape Town and moved on up the coast to Plettenberg Bay. Cape Town was a great start to the trip with great waves every day as well as an assortment of other things on offer to do. In the last stint of the trip we went wine tasting, saw penguins, decided not to climb table mountain (in the unforeseen rain) and had a great braai at surfing legend and braaimaster Paul Botha’s house overlooking the famous Kom.
Since we last spoke the first thing we did was went wine-tasting. South Africa is famous for its wines both for their quality as well as for how well priced it is. Constantia is a suburb in Cape Town which has several vineyards/wine farms. Klein Constantia is the farm we usually go to. It has been there for centuries and is famous for their Vin de Constance dessert wine which is ridiculously delicious (and quite pricey). We were shown the method used when wine tasting which was fun as I’m sure not many of them knew why people swirl the wine in the glass before smelling it and then how to swish it around your mouth. As you will see in the photo with Matt the art of aerating the wind once it is in your mouth is not too easy to master! We tried six different wines each which was very different and all very good. Although some of the boys in the group were not wine ‘fans’ they still tasted all of them, just couldn’t believe that they were supposed to taste subtle flavours of gooseberry, lemongrass, or numerous others!
Boulders beach is famous for its penguins as it is one of the biggest populations on our coastline and very accessible for people. Penguins are very funny creatures and just watching them on land causes one to laugh. Seeing them in the water is a vastly different experience as they look like a bird flying gracefully. Aside from Boulders beach we have been very fortunate in the other sea life we have seen, especially since arriving in Plett. We saw Southern Right whales in Muizenberg and plenty of seals but up in Plett we have now seen mother and calf southern rights as well as an amazing pod of dolphins which swam straight through the group while they were surfing. A lot of people would pay hundreds of Rands (or probably £ or $) to have an experience like that and I’m sure it is something they will remember for a long time. They are such graceful creatures and to see them close like that in their natural environment is something special.
Waves wise Muizenberg really provided on this trip and was perfect for the last few days. Small enough for the people who hadn’t surfed before to get out the backline and catch unbroken waves, but big enough for those who are more advanced to still get good rides and work on their turning etc. Up in Plett the waves have been nice and small and the group have really got on well with the International Surf School’s tuition headed by John and Donna. They have also been doing a bit of training which is good. With a lifesaving course at the end of this trip a lot of the group have some work to do on their fitness! On that note we are about to take them on a run-swim-run mixed with some bodysurfing on the beach just down the hill.
With things like jumping out of planes and off bridges we have an exciting week ahead and we’ll report back on how its gone later in the week.
Enjoy your week,
Chris