Jeffrey's Bay to Mossel Bay

We spend the next few days heading down the coast towards the Cape. Our first stop along the way is Jeffrey's Bay, where our friends are also staying. We spend a couple of days surfing and drinking craft beer. JBay, as is it called around here, is known as one of the greatest surf spots in the world, and has a famous competition in the winter months, where the tubes draw the most elite surfers from across the globe.

We're nowhere near good enough to surf conditions like that, but luckily the conditions in Summer are a more gentle- perfect for beginners like us.

After JBay, we head down to Plettenberg Bay. The owner of our guesthouse is a little strange, and gives us terrible recommendations for places to eat. The first- a beachfront cafe- serves very average toasties and shakes, but has great views across the bay. We're lucky enough to see dolphins, which up to this point we had dismissed as a myth, having not seen them anywhere along the African coast.

Further down the Garden Route we take a few pit stops to have a swim in a small, very frigid bay and view the 'Map of Africa' - a strange bend in the river that when viewed at a certain angle appears to take the shape of the African continent. We finally reach Mossel Bay, a strange place where we end up camping in a campsite full of pensioners. They have huge mansion-like tents, with multiple wings and conservatories. Some even have even brought along their satellite dishes, and we can hear them watching the cricket inside their canvas castles.Read more