Jeffrey's Bay

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Our second stop was Jeffrey's Bay. This place must be where all good surfer's go when they die. A small town nestled up against the beach in pretty much the middle of nowhere with not much more to offer than an awesome beach, a little town designed to service nomad surfers and if the wind blows right, and the stars align, the perfect wave.

We pulled into town and were directed to Island Vibe backpackers. A clean room, an awesome view of the beach, and a laid back vibe were good medicine after a day on the road. We settled into a great evening of cold Castle Lagers and surfing stories served up by the fairly cosmopolitan bunch of surfers from around the world on a pilgrimage to test their skills on one of the three legendary breaks in the bay -- "Supertubes", "the Kitchen Window", and for the truly inspired, "The Boneyard."

As it happened, the sea was flatter than a pancake, which gave me a fantastic opportunity to be one of the boys without them having to know that the closest I ever intend to get to something called a boneyard will be when they lower me into the ground many years from now. They are a rare breed indeed, true free sprits whose tales seem to revolve around the search for the perfect wave, the biggest wipeout and the size of the sharks they mingle with and seem to accept as part of the religion. South Africa is blessed with a fairly pristine coastline offering surfers an endless buffet on which to feed, but there is something about Jeffreys Bay that seems to tug a little harder at the strings. If you've ever caught the surfing bug, it is a Mecca, a right of passage, an opportunity to be encased in a perfect tube of water, and for a few brief seconds to have harnessed the raw power of the ocean.

Wait till i get out there with my boogie board...the small waves...at noon when the sharks have gone

Totally Radical Dude

Side note on surfers -- is the exact size of the shark really a debate when deciding to go back in or not?? it's a f*@&*ing shark dude, get out of the water!!!!!!!!!

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Photos

View of our pad
Weather was a bit of a letdown, but we had a sweet view none-the-less

View from our pad
open the door and you're on the beach

retired surfboards
you can't turn around without falling over a surfboard in this place

I think I'll have a beer...
taking advantage of some bar space while everyone else is out surfing

Travelling Barman
Selling beers to fund your worldly travels is no way to go thru life.....why didn't we think of that? We must have funded a couple of miles that night

Where the magic happens
Hard to beleive from this picture, but when conditions are right, this little stretch of earth produces some of the most legendary surfing conditions in the world.

an old car
the old surf-mobile (guess you kind of had to be there to appreciate it's character)