Jeffreys Bay
January 21, 2005
One of the most memorable places we've been to is the east coast of South Africa. Unlike the dry and windy west coast, the east coast is almost sub-tropical - the further east you go the warmer the water and air temperatures.
At the time of our trip to the East Coast, we planned most of our activity around the Port Elizabeth area. We had some good days, but unfortunately we ran into a bad patch of overcast and windless days - which forced us to go and look for wind in other places.
On one such day we headed in the direction of the legendary surf town, Jeffreys Bay. We were actually hoping to find some clear skies and surf, instead we found steady wind and a really awesome spot to kite - in fact we enjoyed it so much that we decided to spend a good number of days kiting Jeffreys.
The beach we kited in J-Bay is called Paradise Beach. To get there you must turn right just before you enter Jeffreys Bay and drive for about 12 km's.
During the days we kited there we only ran into two windsurfers and one local kiter. This place is so untouched that Riaan, the local kiter, encouraged us to promote the spot on iKiteboarding as they are looking for people to kite with.
Jeffreys bay has plenty to offer besides kiting. If you do manage to find a windless day, there's plenty of places to surf. We didn't find much surf - according to the locals January till March doesn't offer much surf, and the winter months offers the best surf. Be sure to visit the Billabong and Quicksilver factory shops where you can buy clothes at half price or less.
Every day we spent in J-Bay was windy. The easterly wind blows cross on - and blew in the region of 16 to 20 knots on a daily basis. It is possible to kite in Jeffreys Bay main beach, but it usually blows straight onshore there.
Jeffreys bay is definitely one of the better places we have kited on the East Coast of South Africa. We were sad to leave it, but we will definitely be spending some more time there soon.
