Jeffrey’s Bay (J-Bay) is known as one of the best waves in the world and is the site of the main pro surf competition in South Africa each year. The town itself feels a lot like a family beach destination in Florida, so not particularly exciting, but we were here for one things: waves.
The first two days there was almost no swell but we still managed to have a good time. We made friends with a another traveling surfer from Australia and caught a couple of fun waves, but it was the third day that a large swell was forecast to fill in. What we found on the afternoon of the third day was perfect overheard waves rolling through in very consistent sets with only 20-25 people in the water at ‘supertubes’, the most famous break in J-Bay.
Perfect barrels
Post-surf seafood grub
I was still pretty rusty from not having surfed in a few months, so I didn’t surf as well I would have hoped, but it was still one of the more memorable surf sessions of my life. The waves had perfect shape, were extremely fast, and there were barrels to be had everywhere. The local surfers were also some of the most skilled I’ve ever seen and were super friendly. I was totally spent after that session but still made it out the next morning for the a few more waves as the swell tailed off. We hit the road later that morning toward the Garden Route feeling very lucky to have scored a swell like that during the summer, the least consistent time of the year for swell in South Africa.