December 1st: Now for those who I grew up with in Reading know full well how much the Endless Summer II meant to me, it was a film that was always being played whenever we had a chance to watch it, it was most instrumental in guiding us towards surfing as we grew up and also for me defined places I was to visit once I was able to save up money to go! (my first flight at the age of 18 and first trip abroad outside of two trips to Paris, was to California and more specifically the beaches south of Santa Monica one of the more accessible locations for me at the time from the Endless Summer II).
So it was with great joy and not to lie some emotion that we drove towards Cape St Francis and Jeffrey’s Bay in South Africa. It may seem funny to be emotional but it has now been twice this year that I have fulfilled dreams that I have had for some time, in this instance it has been 17 years since I have wanted to come to this part of the world. So, to face and complete a dream is something special and to me emotional, often in the words of Oasis “dreams we have as children fade away”.
As in the films especially between the original Endless Summer (1964) and follow up (1994) there are lots of changes between the locations over the 30 years, I expected a few changes and I also expected to be able to get out for a bit of body board but as per all my trips to the great surf spots of the world is was… flat…..’Should have been here yesterday’! this dog was certainly bummed about the lack of surf
But not down heartened we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the area and what a beautiful part of the world, there are not many places in the world where you can see Dolphins cruising in the oceans and playing around metres from the beach
Cape St Francis
Jeffreys Bay
despite the surf disappointment I still got my feet wet at JBay and ‘Supertubes’…
