Surf, Penguins and Good Times in Cape Town

Hi every one, my name is Nikita and I'm the Ticket to Ride South Africa trip leader.

We are about a week into our July 2014 SA trip, and has it been an adventure. The group managed to get their first surf lesson in the day they arrived which is very rare as there are normally late arrivals. The group got an awesome run down of the basic from our operations director Mr Chris Bond. Making sure the group is covered on all the safety as well as the best way to master a pop up and the fastest way to progress. The next couple of days were jam packed with loads of surfing, with the majority of the group having had a couple of lessons before and only one guy (Chris) who had never surfed before; the group was improving in leaps and bounds. By the third day with the conditions being perfect, the two girls, Charlie and Michelle, as well as our newbie Chris were all out the back catching open faced waves. Unfortunately Matt, our season traveler and blogger on the trip, had hurt his ankle and was unable to surf, so he took a rest day and took a couple of photos of Muizenberg (the area that we are currently staying in Cape Town).

On our fourth day we took it easy, had a surf lesson in the morning with TK (our local surf coach), who is very knowledgeable as well as being a great surfer; but the conditions not being that great the group struggled to get out the back as it was onshore and very choppy. We then all jumped into the car to go do some sightseeing, we went and had some lunch in Kalk bay which is a little harbour port and is well known for its fish and chips. It also has some local sea life (big massive seals that just hang out in the port waiting for scraps from the fishermen) that got us intrigued for at least 30 minutes. Matt the Go Pro guru got some awesome footage of the seals messing about.

The fun with the wild life didn't stop there, we then headed to Boulders Beach to go check out the African Penguins. We walked around a fair bit as Matt and Chris really wanted to try get in the water and capture the ever so cute animals who are my absolute favorite. We then took a slow drive home and met up with Tim from Waves for change who gave the group a brief run down on what the organization does before we headed there the next day to see what they do.

The next day was awesome, we got some really fun waves in the morning and then headed to Khayelitsha to go and surf with the kids from the Waves for Change and help push them into waves and just all-round show some support for the kids. The group really enjoyed the helping out and we are planning on getting back there for another afternoon of fun.

Enjoy the gallery of photos,

Nikita