Plettenberg Bay
On Monday after a long drive from Cape Town we arrived safe and sound to a beautiful sunny and warm day in Plettenberg Bay.
Tuesday treated us to one of the best days I’ve ever seen in Plett. The sky’s were bright blue and the sun was shining so after a good hearty breakfast myself, Klee and the group headed off to Central Beach (a ten minute walk from our backpackers), very excited for our first surf in the relatively warm and sparkling blue Plett water.
After a very fun surf (some even in board shorts and bikinis) we headed 22km north along the N2 to Tenikwa, which is a wildcat rehabilitation centre. There, the group got to experience the beautiful wild cats that inhabit South Africa such as leopards, civits, cheetahs and caracal (a linx-type cat). We got the opportunity to walk with the tame cheetahs, which was an incredible experience and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
After the cat sanctuary we headed back to Plett for a late afternoon free surf at Central Beach. The conditions were epic for the group to become more comfortable with waves that were a little more challenging. After a fun surf, everyone was amped up for the days ahead because rumor had it that we were in for some good surf conditions for the rest of the week, which meant there was going to be loads of surfing going down.
On Wednesday, the group and myself woke up bright and early to catch the high tide, which presented perfect conditions for a lesson at Robberg Beach. We arrived at the beach 8:30 sharp for a lesson with international surf school owner John Henry. John has been in the surf coaching game for the last 20 years and knows Plettenberg Bay backwards. So thanks to John’s excellent judgement, the group paddled out at Robberg to the arguably the best waves of the trip so far. It was a good 1-2ft super glassy (very smooth) swell where everyone made it out to the backline (where the waves break) and had some really long open face rides. A brilliant start to our day!
After our epic 3-hour surf we headed straight for some really well deserved lunch. While the team was eating lunch, Klee and myself decided that it would be the perfect day to do the world’s highest bungee jump; Bloukrans. So we gathered the group, told them to hop into the van and headed out. The group was completely naïve as to what Klee and I had in stall for them.
To get to the bungee jump one drives over the bridge that you will inevitably jump off. As I drove over the bridge, I glanced in the rear-view mirror at the groups faces, when they realized what we were about to do. I have never seen such alarmed and anxious faced in my life.
As the group climbed out of the van, I got some funny looks from a couple of the ladies, disenchanted for not telling them where we were going. We got into our harnesses and started walking towards the bridge that we were about to throw ourselves off. Even though there were some extremely nervous looking faces everyone jumped and had the biggest smiles on their faces after experiencing one of the biggest adrenaline rushes of their lives. We allowed the adrenalin to make its way through our bodies and wear off before heading back to Plett and that evening enjoyed one of the most amazing pizza evenings while reminiscing the days events.
Thursday was another early morning for the group, myself and Klee. We guzzled down our breakie and headed back to Robberg beach for our second lesson with John. The tide was perfect and allowed some great waves to come into the bay and some very long rides. The ladies showed the guys up during that particular surf, catching the majority of the waves and getting much longer rides (although I’m probably going to get some slack for that comment ;)).
After lunch, we missioned off for a hike around the Plettenberg Bay Peninsula. It wasn’t nearly as steep as our Table Mountain expedition but a long and scenic walk with many stops to marvel at the beautiful coast line of Plett. We close enough to observe the huge seal colony that has inhabited the point of the peninsula. There must have been about 2-3 hundred bull seals sun bathing 60-70 meters below us. Exhausted, we headed back to the backpackers and that night, were treated to Klee’s famous stir-fry for dinner.
On Friday I let the group have a little lie in seeing as everyone seemed a little worn-out from all the surfing and activities over the past few days as well as the fact that the tide was going to be perfect for them to do a lesson late morning. Again, Robberg blessed us with very fun 2-3 foots offshore conditions. The guys were eager to redeem themselves from the day before and did so successfully!
That afternoon, I gave the group a talk on the unwritten rules of the ocean that every surfer should know and abide by. Hopefully everyone understood me with my South African surfer slang and terminology but so far the group has been keen to pick up on some of the local language and will probably be taking some new vocabulary home with them. Then on Friday night, we all headed out to experience the Plett nightlife.
Saturday was a relaxed day on Central Beach. The swell had picked up and was a bit too big for the group to paddle out in although a few gave it a try but struggled in the conditions. We spent the afternoon discussing everyone’s surfing in one-on-one sessions analyzing each individual persons surfing from strengths to weaknesses and filled in their rider diaries.
On Sunday we fitted in as much surfing as we could and spent the majority of the day on the beach and in the water, just simply enjoying our last day in Plettenberg Bay. In the afternoon, we started packing to prepare for our drive to Jeffrey’s Bay the next day.
Plett has been a blast. We’ve been very fortunate with sunny weather, perfect surf conditions, warm water and a lot of good times!
Chad