LIFE IN ZA

Getting the Groove Back

We spent 7 days at the wonderful Island Vibe backpackers in Jeffrey’s bay. Most of this time was spent surfing because, well, it’s J-Bay. It was great we woke up early (6:30-7am) to surf every day. It was the first time in a while that we actually got back into a normal routine. We have spent over a month where almost every day was drastically different than the next. It was nice and predictable again. We met another American at who was spending a few months to work the bar at the backpackers and we befriended him and the other volunteers and employees.

Seven days at a backpackers is usually a long time unless you become ‘stuck’ which is the term used for not wanting to leave and stay for anywhere from two to infinity weeks.

After three days we finally felt like we graduated from the beach break to the closest point break, which was named Kitchen Windows. It was much easier on the clean waves and that became the elevator to shreds-ville. We spent most of the time riding on an 8’7”inch and a 7’6” so catching the waves was the easy part. The last day was Saturday and we were out there with some local kids (they were 13-15yo). They were good, but like most die hard locals, they also had territorial attitudes. We obeyed all the usual right of way rules that go along with surfing waves and we still able to get our groove on with the bigger boards!

J-Bay was a huge success! It was tough leaving as we had meet some really fun people. On our last few hours, Nick did a funnel thru a vuvuzela (you know the really loud obnoxious horn thing from the Soccer World Cup) and we said our good byes before we boarded the Bazbus at 8:30 PM headed for Port Elizabeth.