Cape Peninsula Surf Safari: SEE, TASTE, TOUCH, EXPLORE

Enjoy an epic surf day out on your exclusive marine rib safari boat! Explore the highlights of the Cape Peninsula's coast, looking for any excuse to embrace the ocean and explore one of the most unique marine habitats in the world. Your route will be decided upon on the day as your skipper takes into consideration the tide and swell direction  launching from Kommetjie, the epicentre of high-performance surfing on the Cape Peninsula.

Launching from Kommetjie, the Cape Peninsula's coastline is home to ideal conditions for surfers of all ages and abilities in a wide range of beach-breaks, points and reefs. Your private guide will assess the conditions and choose the best surf spot for your ability. 

Long Beach ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Facing Chapman’s Peak on a promontory at the south end of Noordhoek Beach, an established learning ground teeming with surf rats. Because this spot faces almost due north, the southwest wind is offshore here, making it one of the few spots that can handle this wind. The downside is that the swell has to bend from the exposed west side of the coast, almost doing a U-turn to reach this north-facing break. The refraction focuses clean lines towards the beach that result in left-breaking peaks that run for at least 40-60 metres before ending in a shore break close-out.

Sunset ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Out to sea lies a deep-water bombora reef like its namesake in Hawaii. A huge right peak with jaw-dropping take-offs. Backdoor it and a cathedral dome arches on high as your tiny earthly shape passes through sun-glinted Pearly Gates. Wipe out and the heavenly light recedes as you somersault into the roiling madness of Hades. A giant tapered shoulder expends itself on the ledge, then fades into a deep channel. On the other side of the peak, a sharp drop-off in bathymetric contour nullifies the left. The local crew surf here on fun 15- to 20-foot days, and in ‘small’ 10- to 12-foot conditions. While it doesn’t offer the top-to-bottom, sectioning castle walls of Dungeons, the immense power of this pea-green A-frame has its own romantic attraction.

The Hoek ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

An archetypal Cape Town A-frame peak that barrels over a shallow sandbar in crisp, clean water and a majestic setting. An offshore reef focuses the swell into the corner of a small boulder-strewn bay at the base of the cliffs below Chapman’s Peak. At best, a world-class tube – short, round and perfect. The lip sucks top to bottom; throws fast and hard. Protected, slightly, from the offshore southeaster, the Hoek works on a low tide and copes best with a medium-energy four- to six-foot west swell.

Outer Kom ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Left-hand point. Thick peaks break on an outer reef, before running onto the inside ledge.Best in clean six-to ten-foot west swell and any light east wind.

Crons ✪ ✪ ✪

A shore break at Long Beach popular among bodyboarders due to the sucking barrel. Fast and hollow. Often dumps a long close-out section on to a boiling sandbar.

Scarborough ✪ ✪ ✪

The ledge in front of the car park is best in three- to five-foot west swell on clean, glassy days. Gets good when right-handers hit the rock, and reel across the sandbar. A peak in the middle of the beach breaks in two to four foot, and sometimes connects with the shore break. The most consistent wave is the small right-hander in the far corner at the base of the point. Reforming lefts become rights as they bend down the point and swing wide, hitting a sandbar and breaking into a channel that runs up the point. The rip keeps the sand on the sandbar. Waves have perfect form here.

Misty Cliffs ✪ ✪

Further down lies a fickle spot that only works when the swell is clean, usually when other spots are too small. Sandbar-dependent.

Witsands ✪ ✪

Featuring a shifty sand-bottomed peak, with rips and channels, Witsands is best when the conditions are calm. A sandbar appears from time to time called Barclays Bank which is perfect for beginners.

Dias Beach ✪ ✪ ✪

Just around the corner from the sheer cliffs of Cape Point, it’s an imposing venue. Best suited for bodyboarders, but ridden by stand-ups too.

Crayfish Factory ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Big-wave right-hander that pitches on to an outside reef, then sucks for 100 metres across an inside ledge, before bending into a channel. The factory is one of Cape Town’s heaviest, but most exhilarating waves. During big west swell, the Kom can be eight foot, but the Factory flat. During a 10- to 15-foot southwest to south swell, this regal right-hander is a walling, sucking, spitting glass monster that heaves tons of liquidised innards onto a jagged, boiling ledge.

Dungeons ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Made famous by Red Bull Big Wave Africa, just off the Sentinel off Hout Bay, Dungeons starts breaking from eight to ten foot. Best in light winds and a thumping 20-foot west swell. Best on the low tide. Beyond 20 foot, the tide is less significant. One session on 30 July 2006 saw tow surfers tackle monstrous 60-foot faces – the biggest waves ridden in Africa at the time.