As I type this, my arms are seizing up from excessive paddling in massive swells, and my knees are all raw from skidding down sand dunes all morning. Nevertheless, I am above and beyond happy! Since I promised my poor mom that I would not partake in any more shark-related activities, I moved on to the second phase of must-do activities Cape Town has to offer: a sandboarding and surfing combo!
Once again, Downhill Adventures completely outdid themselves, providing incredible locations, well-kept-up gear, and an amazing guide, who made the experience fun and definitely memorable. My hat's off to Jerry at Downhill! Hilarious, encouraging, patient and knows the crap out of surfing...if you ever find yourself doing this tour in Cape Town, ask for him!
At 10:00am, I arrived at the Downhill Adventures office, and learned that I was in fact, the only person going on the tour that day! Apparently in winter, not as many people sign up because they don't want to brave the cold water. I can tell you firsthand that when you're trying to maneuver through three or four foot swells in a wetsuit, you're anything but cold.
The first half of the day was sandboarding. I learned that Downhill Adventures is the only company in Cape Town that uses actual snowboards, boots and bindings as opposed to a piece of wood with foot-loops. The technique of sandboarding is similar to snowboarding. If you want more speed, stand flat on your board instead of carving with your edges. That's pretty much the only difference. However, the actual feel of sandboarding is way, way different. The sand doesn't pack down as well as snow, and if you hit a bump that you aren't anticipating, you will take a dive! The sand gets absolutely everywhere, and the guides actually rent you boots about a half-size too big to compensate for the sand!
I also found that after each run, you need to re-wax your board, or the sand will clump on the bottom, and you won't go anywhere. I found this out the hard way, as I was flying down a particularly steep dune, stopped out of nowhere, and toppled over sideways. I sort of wish I could have seen myself.
After each run, you have to walk all the way back to the top of the dune! I can't imagine doing it in the summer, as Jerry was telling stories about walking up in fifty degree heat! Although the hike to the top is rather painful, sandboarding is a total blast! Altantis, where the dunes are located, is more or less a mini-desert about forty-five minutes out of Cape Town. There is a perfect view of Table Mountain in the distance, and since today was clear, without a cloud in the sky, it felt like someone had placed a backdrop there!
After a few hours of sandboarding, we had a break for lunch, and then headed to Big Bay. Although it isn't as much of a surfer's paradise as Muizenberg, Jerry explained that it was a safer beach, the swells were more predictable, and it was shark free! This sounded good to me, as I prefer sharks from the safety of a cage.
The swells were a little bit bigger than anticipated, but I actually found this a little bit easier to gain the momentum to stand up. Yes, friends, I did stand up. More often than not. I'm surprised too.
Dragging a surfboard over massive swells, having to lift the front and jump the wave every few seconds, and then turn the board around is quite rough on the arms. Especially if you lack any sort of upper-body strength, like me! At the end of the day, I felt a bit like a wet noodle, but a happy one. Apparently South Africa boasts some of the best surfing in the world, and I'm very proud to say that I've experienced it!
The surf/sandboard combo is quite decently priced, and you bake in the sun all morning sliding down sand dunes, and then cool off in the afternoon. It's the perfect day trip, and can almost guarantee a good night's sleep. I strongly recommend it!
For the record, I'm now considering just staying in Cape Town forever and becoming a surf bum. Fair warning.
Once again, a massive thanks to Downhill Adventures for an unforgettable day!
Questions? Comments? Criticisms? I'd love to hear them all!
the-wanderingjew@hotmail.com
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