Captains Log - Day 6

Last night I crashed by 8am so it should come as no surprise that I was up today at 3:30am.  I literally watched the sun rise out of the east like a huge orange orb behind the ocean. 

I had a very interesting chat with Douglas, a Jeffrey's Bay local before I paddled out at Super Tubes. It was way smaller than yesterday but still lots of fun. On my walk back, I decided to do a second session at Boneyards where I met more locals and one Yank. 

By the time I got back to Pinnaquin, everyone was raring to go.  So the first pit stop was at Sea View Lion Park where we got to see and pet Lions!  Next stop was Addo Elephant Park where our very first afternoon game drive was immediately rewarded with the sighting of a huge herd of Elephant amongst other wildlife. 

After a noisy dinner (the kids were exceptionally unruly) we retired to our perfect accomodations and in exactly 5 minutes...the kids were snoring...and so were we.

2011Dec_LionPark

Captains Log - Day 5

I woke up at 4am again. This time, the kids had nothing to do with it.  I was just too excited to sleep. As soon as I slid the French doors open, I could hear and smell the ocean. 

I took a walk along the beach to do some reconnaissance work on where I wanted to paddle out.  I soon discovered Super Tubes and The Point and made my decision. A short walk back to Pinnaquin to pickup my gear and I was back at the point.  

I stuffed my bag into the bushes, skipped gingerly across the razor sharp lava rocks that guard the perfect peaks at The Point and heaved myself onto my first real good wave at approximately 6am!   What a session! 

When I returned, giddy from my session, we hit the road and headed to Tsitsikama to do some bird watching.  Grandpa Alexander has an unmistakable passion for birds and it was great to have such a knowledgable guide. Luke wasn't too keen at the beginning but towards the end he had even mastered the calls of a beautiful peacock that bid us adieu.  Laila's attempts to mimick the calls had us cracking up too. 

We drove back to Jeffriesbaai, threw some scrumptious chicken skewers on the braai and after indulging ourselves, retired for the night. 

What a day!

2011Dec_JayBay

Captains Log - Day 4

It's 4am  and we are all wide awake.  I really don't get this!  There has to be a documented paradoxical effect on children and time zone travel to the Southern hemisphere.  If there isn't, I can provide valuable statistics and observations based on how Luke and Laila's sleep patterns have been disrupted. 

We are in no hurry, so we had an early breakfast, packed for a short trip to J-bay and were on the road by 9am.  The road trip was fun with a pit-stop at M & J where we had some authentic South African pies, Appletizers and Luke signed their visitors wall. 

Jeffrey's Bay!  Why didn't I stop here before?  Smita and I couldn't help but notice how it felt no different than San Diego or any small coastal town in the US but still very authentically South African. 

The beach was crowded with holiday revelers of all hues, shapes and sizes. Luke had his first encounter with a jellyfish.  Nothing a little vinegar couldn't fix.  I paddled out after chatting with the lifeguards and caught a few good lefts. 

Another highlight was bumping into Antoinette Joubert at Dolphin Beach with her family. The probability of this occurrence was easily one in one hundred thousand based on the crowds but it happened!  

I can't say enough about our room and the views.  The Pinnaquin is literally two blocks from the beach..not just any beach but SuperTubes which is the surfing Mecca.  

Need I say more. 

Captains Log - Day 3

Lazy Saturday sums up today.

The kids refused to sleep for more than 1 hour last night. Laila had a mystery mild fever that had to be monitored closely so nobody got a full nights sleep. I was bright eyed by 3am and watched the darkness give way to light.

We spent the day lazing about the pool, touching thorny plants, feeding birds, kicking a ball around...usual vacation stuff. Can you tell I'm loving this? It's nice to not have to rush anywhere for anything. I might as well introduce my watch to a hammer.

Later in the afternoon Grandpa Aexander started a charcoal barbecue and threw on some of Grandma Rita's uniquely marinaded cuts of lamb chicken and various types of sausages. The kids loved it and Laila was back to her bubbly boisterous loud self! We stuffed our faces (greed) dozed of into deep slumber (sloth), woke up and did it again (malice).

Tomorrow we embark on a short road trip. What more could one want?

Captains Log - Day 2

So it's day two and I'm still blogging so that's a good thing right?

Today was awesome. After the usual early morning routines, I took my walk this time in the opposite direction and ended up at the Dale College swimming pool which was all set up for water polo. They must have quite a team, I thought to myself. I passed a few locals whom I greeted in Xhosa correctly assuming I blended in perfectly. 'Moolweni!'

As soon as got back, we were on the road to East London shortly thereafter where we went on a short but successful hunt for Smitas longtime friend Shereen. Shereen is so important....let me put it this way, if it wasn't for Shereen and the circle of friends around her, Smita and I would never have met and so on and so forth...you do the math.

After that heart warming episode, we went to the Gonubie open market/show which is held annually around this time of the year. I met a SUP surfer there and he proceeded to give me some tips on where to go and where to buy my gear; so we headed there. There in this case was Nahoon where I did my first paddle out in MY continent, in MY ocean. Suffice it to say that it was emotional, fun, fulfilling and worth it.

The kids had fun and were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got home.

More story Ngomso...as they would say.

Captains Log - Day 1

What an ordeal it is to get here but we are here at last.  

Two +10 hour flights, a 5 hour layover in JNB' a 1 hour flight to ELS and another 1 hour drive to KWT! The younglings did well but started melting down towards the end with whimpers, whining, crying and the screaming.  Night número uno was absolutely relaxing but we were all up at 4am, breakfast by 6am and fading again by 8am. 

I took a leisurely walk on Queens Weg (road in Afrikaans) to scout out the area.  I was taken aback by the breathtaking mountain views and defeaning silence occasionally broken by the sounds of various birds and most of all, air that my lungs reasonably identified as smog-free.

I crashed again from 12pm to 5pm.   This jet lag thing is no joke.  Hopefully by tomorrow I'm all over it. 

A lovely start indeed. 

Award for most efficient government agency

It is rare for me to give accolades to any organization so this is already uncomfortable. 

However, after we applied for our passports on Wednesday and picked them up yesterday(Friday),  I have to award the US passport agency the award for most efficient government agency.

Granted, we had to pay expedite fees and wait in line but it was all worth it.

The photos below have nothing to do with passports.  I just thought they were cute. :-)

See y'all soon!

Thanksgiving Swell

This Thanksgiving we had back-to-back swell.  This means that I surfed for ~3 hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday!  You can imagine the smile on my face.  The body is tired but my soul is content and thankful.

Fellow bodyboarder and video/photographer, Lee of  Team Stoked took some video and Al of 808Soul snapped some shots.

I am on minute marker 2:19 but you should watch it all to see how superior the other guys riding skills are.

I cant wait to see what Jeffereys Bay brings!

Enjoy.

Unforgettable Conversations

[Edit - This happened in November 26th 2011 and was sitting in draft mode on my phone.  Still worth a read]

I strike up conversations with other surfers all the time and yesterday I was reminiscing about one fellow I met a couple of months ago.

He was curious about my background, origins and how I got involved with this sport considering how I stick out like a sore thumb in the lineup.  When he discovered I was from Kenya, he went on to rattle out names of musicians that he loved.  Tabu Ley Rochereau, M'bilia Bel, Papa Wemba, Kanda Bongo Man, Madilu System, Femi Kuti, Franco, Les Wanyika, Koffi Olomide...and he went on and on.

This middle-aged Caucasian was more African than me!  He was fluent in English, French and Lingala.  So I took the bait and asked him, 'no offence but how....why..do you seem so African?'  His response, 'We are all Africans my brother just different shades but all Africans'.

I will never forget that conversation.  Suffice it to say, I haven't seen this African since then.

Gobble Gobble!

I was telling Luke and Laila a story about how when I was a boy we used to make high pitched screams so that the 2 turkeys we had could go gobble gobble.  I am thankful for a lovely childhood.

Did you know the Meru word for turkey is 'mbata muchinka'?  This translates roughly to 'duck that shoots'.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Repost: Kid's Video Clips

I thought it might be worthwhile to repost these since the YouTube ones lost some quality.



Luke and Laila swimming clip taken with GoPro Hero.



Laila's swim session.

November Saturday Specials!

The last two Saturday's have been spectacular as far as surf goes and this Saturday looks like it might repeat!

It is times like these that I wish I had started doing this sooner!

TeamStoked this Saturday.
808Soul this Saturday.
808Soul last Saturday.

Thank God!

I always knew the hard questions would come and that I would struggle to answer them.
Well, today Luke asked me a 'stunner-question'.

'Dad, how come there are so many brown people playing sports? I noticed it in Football and Basketball.' 

Wowzer! I proceeded to tell him about God given talents which was pretty well received because..Thank God!..todays Gospel was about....talents! You see, Luke has been following the little kids into the 'little church' where they have a 'little mass' and clearly he paid attention today.

Suffice it to say that I think I did better than Rick Perry would have with the question. If you don't know who that is, Google it.

Have a great week!

Saturday 6AM before the surf session.

Saturday 10AM after Surf.
I took this through my polarized sunglasses

Saturday 10AM same shot as above.
Crowded line-up in the surf but a beautiful day.

Sweet reward

Think i need my own blog:

Children's paleo

Steak, cucumbers and banana....
Followed by non-paleo icecream cones and choc sauce. Yah friday night!!

Happy-face pancakes for Luke & Laila

What a cool treat for stay-home-sick kids!

Naturalization Oath Ceremony

Looks like I will be singing the 'Star Spangled Banner' after all.

I literally just opened this right now.

Wohoo!

Adios October, Hello November!

Was that October that flew by so fast?  All I saw was the tail end of it which was graced by a visit from Mom who just returned to Kenya.  We cant wait for the next 7 weeks to fly by so we can start our vacation and see everybody and do everything.

Unfortunately October wasn't all that it was hyped to be as far as surf goes so here is to hoping that November delivers.  The air and water temperatures have dropped so I broke out my most precious thicker Patagonia R3 wetsuit.

The clip I embedded below was taken by  Mr. Rick Holmes.  For my 'shameless-self-promotion-section-that-i-can-only-do-with-my-family', pay attention to the following minute markers 3:09,4:17,4:40 and 5:10.)

Enjoy and have a lovely November!

Beautiful smiles

Scary car wash... Brother please hold my hand..