Travel destination Jan/Feb

[Havre]

Hopefully SA will be good this "winter", but that graph really only shows that SA have had similar lows twice before and still suddenly the cases surged. And Israel's highest peak was after most of the population had been vaccinated - I doubt SA will be even close to the vaccination rate by December vs. the rate Israel had when those numbers climbed again. On like to think that it has to stop at some point though.

In any case - how likely is it that SA go completely mad and close down beaches again - even with a new peak? Especially if you got a lot more tourists coming vs. last "winter"? I have no reason to believe much about it, but hopefully Hugh2 is right.

Personally I'm waiting to book anything, but would be lovely to go to Cape Town to catch up with Hugh2 of course.

[Hugh2]

I've paid for three tickets, the only thing I did is pay a little extra so we can change dates if, heaven forbid, one of us has a positive covid test just before flying, in either direction. And we have booked a week at the start of December in Kruger National Park, before the local school holidays start, plus booked a flat next to my sister's flat in Milnerton. I have a car in a garage there that has sat for two years. I will need to get a new TT to replace the ones stolen from my garage last year. Otherwise I am all set, with older 5.5 and 7m kites already there, and taking newer 9 and 11m with me. But first, we have some strong warm SW winds coming up that are perfect for our local lake, then Cape Hatteras for the rest of October, and Panama for November for a short San Blas islands cruise on my 34ft sailboat there. Life is good! One day I will make it to Brazil and see what everyone raves about there, but for now the thrill of riding in Cape Town is too good, and having history, family, and friends there makes it an easy destination for us. My daughter is almost an intermediate kiter, so two weeks in Cape Hatteras should get her there, plus likely a visit or two to Langebaan, and then on non-nuking days in Cape Town I plan to get her out in the waves at Bloubergstrand. Otherwise her focus is on rock climbing, my old passion when I was her age. And I have the SURFR app on an old iPhone and hope to reach my personal goal of 10m jumps. You can see a relatively pathetic jump at 3:10 in this excellent Sam Light video about kiting in Cape Town (on my green and blue 2015 7m Naish Pivot). I've reached 7.2m on our local lake, so 10m in Cape Town should be possible. I might post regular accounts here as I did before.

[hotracer]

Thanks Hugh, I am thinking Cape Town might be a go, as numbers are really down, or did they just stop testing??!! and flights from Europe are crazy cheap!!! I haven't been before but sound like Blouberg is the go to place, any recommended relatively cheap and safe place to stay? how safe is it there? any recommendations would be great
Thanks

[Havre]

Definitely one of the dodgiest places I have been to, but also fantastic.

Others on here would know better than me, but downtown you got to be aware of your surroundings. Not a place I would like to be alone 3AM in the morning drunk.

It depends on your comfort level and experience I guess. A lot of people on here have been and go to CT regularly - and I don't think I have ever read about anyone actually being robbed or anything? I'm definitely going back even if it would have been fantastic if there was less crime and that you could be more comfortable walking the streets at night without having to plan too much where you can and shouldn't go.

If you stay Blouberg or somewhere like Big Bay it is quite different than downtown (or at least it feels different). Langebaan (which is quite sleepy) feels very safe (even if all the houses got alarms etc.).

[hotracer]

Hahahah Havre, yep don't think I wanna be out in CT at 3AM either, or Forteleza or a lot of other locations, Hopefully all ok

[Hugh2]

I have a flat to stay in so don't have personal experience renting in Bloubergstrand or Big Bay, but Airbnb or Booking is your friend, tons of places listed. If you can afford it, beachfront along Bloubergstrand is excellent for kiting, so convenient to just walk across the road to the beach (this is where Kevin Langeree and Nick Jacobsen and other stay), plenty of nearby kite shops and restaurants. I've also met folk who stayed in "shared" accommodation or hostels a bit back from the beach front, if you are young and sociable and can deal with noise, that might work for you. There's even the famous Kite House right on the beach road that counts Mike Macdonald as a regular. Upwind is Sunset Beach with a couple kitesurfing houses and downwind is Big Bay with mostly a little more upscale places. I would only go to Langebaan if you want only flat water, rather keep it for a day trip otherwise. Your choices very much depend on what you like doing. If you just want to ride in place then you have endless choices if you have a car, not just Table Bay because you can go south to Witsand or Cape Point, or SE to Muisenberg, or further east to a variety of places like Hermanus (although the lagoon there might have sanded in, but the beach is still good), and it would be a shame to be stuck only on Bloubergstrand without a car. I love doing downwinders in Cape Town, and for those I start at Milnerton where my flat is (far upwind and sketchy self-launch), or Sunset Beach, or Kite Beach on Bloubergstrand (the main launch site, e.g. for KOTA). I ride down to Big Bay or preferably down to just north of Haakgat (a sketchy wave-riding spot with lefties) to the middle of that bay (called Holbaai) where there is a municipal bus stop (MyCiti bus, you need a card for it bought at one of the bigger stations, e.g. the big terminal at Tableview, and need to keep it away from salt water or the chip corrodes - I laminate multiple cards and keep them in a waterproof case, very cheap). That gets you back to Big Bay or Kite Beach with one bus, to get back to Sunset or Milnerton you need to transfer to a second bus at the big terminal at Tableview. No problem using the bus with wetsuit, kite, and board, just don't be too sandy and be polite and don't get a seat wet. I've met folk who are dedicated wave riders who stay in Big Bay and only ride that section down to Holbaai, usually several times a day. For me at 65, the trip from Kite Beach to Holbaai is usually enough for one day, and definitely if I start at Milnerton. A little more extreme is to ride all the way down to Melkbosstrand and stop just before the fencing for the nuclear power plant, then walk inland to the busstop, although that bus involves some long waits. It's best to get a map of all the busstops and check schedules - you can also see them all, plus all these place names, on Google maps if you zoom in. The thing about Cape Town is that while some folk have a great time just riding at Kite Beach, with a car you can explore all sorts of other places, even overnight stays in Witsands/Breede River to the East or Langebaan or further north (Spots on here is good for info, as are the kiteshops), plus on completely windless days do all sorts of other trips like winelands inland, or the mountains inland for hikes, or Cape Point trips, etc. Safety is not a major issue outside of the downtown and despite occasional thefts from cars at Kite beach, it has never happened to me in 10 years of kiting there, and I leave my windows cracked to avoid melting my kites (Milnerton, Sunset, Dolphin, and Big Bay are all safe for parking - tip the informal car guards and make friends with them - not so for Haakgat or Holbaai, don't leave a car there unattended). There are tons of videos about all these places from folk like Kevin Langaree and a few locals - this intro is general but decent - And don't just come for one week, you could get unlucky and have several days with no wind! I would say two weeks is a minimum.