Supertubes at J-bay

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Arriving in J-Bay is like the feeling you get before going to watch a film everybody is talking about, but with mixed reviews. When you travel to far corners of the earth and mix with local surfers, its J-bay that they all know about and long to visit.
On previous visits I failed to see what all the fuss was about and was hoping for an opportunity to experience the magic the place is famous for.
We arrived early in the morning after our over night stay in PE. The signs were good as everybody else on the Baz bus had opted to stay at the well know Island Vibe. Having stayed there before and looking to get away from the crowds we decided to stay at Ubuntu backpackers. This was already half the battle won in enjoying our stay. The place is an old two story house with a great African feel and chilled atmosphere. The top floor balcony overlooks Boneyards and megatubes surf breaks and it was a two minute walk for a surf.
Needless to say this is pretty much all we did.
The waves were rubbish on the first day but looked more promising as week went on, peaking on the day we were planning to leave(typical.)
Claire was now only riding my new short board and it was apparent that if I wanted it back I would need to make a plan. So all of a sudden we were in the market for a new surfboard. Which in J-bay is like being a gambling addict in Las Vegas. We finally settled on a Clayton Fish( good all round board, easy to paddle and quicker to take on small/mushy waves) bringing our total to 4 surfboards to carry.
Claire managed to put a hole in my new board on one of the morning surfs, but after a short journey into town we had it repaired and resprayed for R100. Claire even took the opportunity to do some of the respraying herself, she was so stoked you would have thought she had just shaped the board.
On our third morning we woke as usual at 5:30am and headed down to the beach for a surf. The waves were pushing 4-5 foot and it was a real struggle to get out to backline( especially for Claire) when all of a sudden a pod of 30 dolphins appeared in the waves and started showing us how to really surf. Claire and I sat on our boards behind the waves while the dolphins swam around us and the other surfers for almost an hour. On many occasion it was possible to touch them and while ducking under a wave one of them swam under my board at the same time. The seaview balconies were filled with people watching and people were swimming out to share the experience.
This whole encounter has to be rated as one of the most memorable of our lives, and in someways was almost spiritual in its effect it had on us.
It had become clear that we needed to make a plan to stay in J-Bay for the coming swell and at least get a chance to see Supertubes working as it should. This was easily done by booking onto the over night Intercape bus for a day later that scheduled.
On the Friday morning we headed down to 'Supers' and watched the sun rise over perfect 6-8foot barrelling waves and finally I understood why J-bay is one of the worlds best surf spots and truly deserves its status.

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