The Bay of Jeffreys Bay stretches all the way from Cape Recife in the East, through to Cape St Francis in the west. The village lies about 80km from Port Elizabeth, pretty much midway between the Gamtoos and Kromme Rivers.
The town is bordered by rivers on two sides – the Kabeljous and the Seekoei, which both have beautiful estuaries running into the sea. These, as well as the Noorsekloof nature reserve, offer excellent light walks and trails. The Seekoei (seekoei in Afrikaans literally means "sea cow" – that’s hippo to us) River Estuary has some spectacular birding and even offers a hide overlooking the river to sit and admire the abundance of water fowl.
If you think Cape St Francis is important to surfers, J-Bay, as the locals call it, has achieved near pilgrimage status. The town’s official website even says that “Jeffreys Bay is home of the best right hand surf break in the world.” If you disagree, please take it up with them, preferably in person.
For those who actually know anything about surfing, we have included this review from the comprehensive global surfing website, magicseaweed.com:
“The longest, most perfect right-hand pointbreak on the planet, consists of no less than 10 different sections including Kitchen Windows, Magnatubes, Boneyards, Supertubes, Impossibles, Salad Bowls, Coins, Tubes, The Point and finally Albatross. Fingers of basalt hold the sand uniformly, creating the perfect bathymetry for 1km long rides between Boneyards and The Point when the swell is just the right size and perfectly lined up. Supertubes is the stellar section, where the pro competitions are held and the crew are most combative, while Point and Albatross are slower, more manageable walls for intermediates and longboarders. Maintaining high speed and a high line is critical for threading the multiple tube sections and cutting back is rarely a good idea. SW-W is offshore for most of the sections, while NW-NE Berg (or Devil) winds descend from the mountains, blowing into the barrels and creating a nasty chop that is hard to handle on a wave where speed is king.”
The fact that many surfers found it hard to leave such an idyllic spot has given the town its uniqueness, having grown out of one of the most famous hippy hang-outs in the country.
As would be expected, surf schools abound and the sport of SUP (stand up paddle boarding) has become ever more popular. Other water sports include scuba diving, fishing, sailing, canoeing, body surfing and of course, plain old swimming.
Jeffreys Bay is named after Captain Jeffreys who used to run trading expeditions up and down the South African coast in the 1840s. On one of his numerous trips he was forced to land his vessel due to an outbreak of scurvy amongst his crew. He quickly realised the potential of such a spectacular setting and quickly built a small port on what is now the main beach. And the rest, as they say, is history.
