Gap Year Experiences

A few potholes to Coffee Bay

Sunday 9 March 2008

We left Cintsa in a bit of rain on Wednesday morning and headed further up the coast to Coffee Bay in the Transkei. Coffee Bay is an incredibly beautiful and very remote little spot in a fairly rural part of South Africa. The drive involves some fairly bad roads and I was cringing at every bump and pothole in the road but we made it to the incredibly located Coffee Shack eventually and it was decided that this might be the favourite spot yet with George guaranteeing us that he was going to move there and live for a while. The Coffee Shack has to be experienced to be understood. No matter how much I try and describe it to you, you won't really get it unless you've been there. The laid back and incredibly welcoming atmosphere of the place really draws you in and you can easily understand how some people can arrive for a few days and end up staying for months. There was some fun surf and the water is starting to get really warm as we get closer and closer to Durban. Everyone is really progressing well with their surfing and by the end of our 3 weeks in Durban I think we are going to have some impressive surfers among us. Apart from surfing, there was a lot reading, a visit to the really impressive "hole in the wall" and some serious stone-skimming competitions. We also spent an amazing morning at the local school, chatting o the kids. There was a serious game of football with Enzo, George and Johnny being taught a thing or two but my favourite sight of the morning was definitely Maddy running around like a crazy person with a hundred little kids trying to catch her. After an amazing few days in paradise, we have now finally arrived on Durbans South Coast, but more on that tommorrow....
Its an early start in the morning so I'm going to sign off for the night..

Vince