Little late posting but last weekend was...

... another fabulous weekend! Every day, South Africa continues to keep me grounded; the beauty of this country is incredible. Jack, Emma, and I made the most of the past weekend with a trip along the Garden Route through Knysna to… one what is considered one of the top surf locations in the world: Jeffrey’s Bay.

We left Cape Town at sunset on Friday (first picture) and drove to Mosselbaai (aka Mossel Bay) where our ‘Rough Guide’ earned new meaning with its tip regarding accommodations. On the way, we read a good review about a place where “guests get their very own private train car” and called ahead for reservations. Along the way, I’m thinking what a great idea – use train cars as guest rooms. We can say that the Rough Guide was a little generous to the entrepreneur who ran a couple sleeping cars to the end of a railroad line - our room was about the size of two dining room tables pushed together. After our jokes finally ran dry, we passed out until we were greeted by the sun rising over Indian Ocean horizon.

Saturday was simply unreal. Some friends from work had recommended Knysna so we consulted our Rough Guide (undaunted confidence) and found a coffee shop where I had the best breakfast of my trip – yogurt, fruit, and muesli and fantastic coffee. After a little shopping, we continued on for our next stop – ELEPHANTS!!

We each got a bucket of fruit and veggies and were able to feed the docile giants. The baby in the pictures was 6 months old and completely fearless. He saw us approaching and left his mom’s side to run and greet us (or more likely, the white buckets in our hands). The Elephant Park started after rescuing orphaned elephants babies and after serious poaching in the area, these elephants there are the last of the Kynsna elephants. Just after Jack snapped the picture of Emma and I completely focused on feeding the little guy, Mom came and tapped my shoulder with her trunk and scared the living daylights out of me…

We drove on through the Tsitsikamma Mountains to sleepy Jeffrey’s Bay and found a hostel near the beach and short drive from the infamous Super Tubes. J-Bay’s Super Tubes are the venue for Billabong’s annual surf competition (starts next week) as well as the locale for Emma’s surfing debut. Being South Africa’s winter, we rented 4-3 wetsuits which is the same thickness we wear in San Fran, and surfed Sunday and Monday. The best part of J-Bay is how relatively empty the water was for the quality of the waves. Monday morning when we woke up early for a little surf session, we had the waves to ourselves.

The best ride of the weekend was definitely Jack’s as the sun was setting Sunday evening while Emma and I were watching from the shore; the runner-up was Monday morning when we all somehow found ourselves riding in together - which says a lot! Ending on a solid note, with the 3 of us on the same wave, we said our goodbyes to the water (and the dolphins that had just joined us) and returned to the hostel for hot showers before starting the 8 hour drive back to Cape Town.