We recently bid farewell to Cape Town, our 2 weeks there seemed to fly by. Being based in such a beautiful province meant there was so much to see and do. We did our best to see as much as possible and one of the highlights for anybody visiting Cape Town is the chance to summit Table Mountain, a geological phenomenon synonymous with the Mother City (Cape Town). While there was a cable car we decided to get a bit of extra fitness in and hiked up via Platteklip Gorge, which is a rather strenuous route to the summit but once we were on top the views of the peninsula were well worth the effort.
At every destination on our trip we do our best to make time to give back to the communities that host us so wonderfully, it’s also a great way to meet people of all backgrounds on the ground and share a bit of culture and a few laughs. It’s great for all parties involved and is a load of fun. Waves for Change is an organisation we’ve been visiting for years, they run an exceptional surf therapy programme for kids from the local communities who face challenges far beyond what most youths from Europe and America may experience. We spent the afternoon playing games and surfing with the kids in what was a really heart-warming experience for all. Felipe from Brazil said the most touching moment for him was when a kid he was helping came to him and the first thing he said was “Do you really love surfing?!” excitedly as they prepared to enter the water, he knew then how much this programme helps the kids, and how happy the opportunity to surf made them.
We had a few days of tricky winds on the surfing front which meant we did a fair bit of travelling in an attempt to find fun waves away from our home base and comfort zone at Muizenberg Beach. This actually served us very well as it got us into more challenging waves earlier on in the trip and more time in the water under these conditions can only do wonders for our surfing on the whole. We surfed Long Beach quite a bit in our second week and the colder water, larger waves and power in the break really pushed everyone that much more. We also made the journey out to Big Bay where unfortunately strong winds prevailed but didn’t stop a few of the group from getting a few great rides.
So we’ve left Cape Town and started our journey up the coast, we are currently in Plettenberg Bay. We also said farewell to Felipe and Pamela who were only with us for the Cape Town surf camp leg as they only had time available to them to do the surf camp there. We had an exceptional time together and we’ll miss them as we go on and we’ll be sure to catch a few extra waves for them as well.
I’ll update you guys in couple of days on our time in Plett ( It’s been exceptional!!)
Till then, Shakka’s 🙂
Luke