Things to Do in J-Bay When It's Onshore

Onshore wind is the one that blows into the waves instead of off the land. At the Point that usually means chop, whitewater, and a lineup that looks busy for all the wrong reasons. The swell is still there. It just isn't worth the paddle.

Jeffreys Bay still works with a coffee, a tour, a coworking desk, or a slow wander through the surf shops. These are the spots we send people when the flags point the wrong way.

Get out of town with a local

If the ocean is blown out, get someone who grew up here to show you the rest of it. Naturally Stoked J Bay run private, small-group day tours and multi-day Garden Route trips: fishing, Addo, hidden landmarks, guided by locals. They also do surf lessons for when the wind swings back.

Best coffee in town

Two spots, both doing the job a blown-out morning needs.

Go to First Light on St Croix Street for freshly roasted beans, a famous brekkie bun (add bacon), and a room that fills with locals on laptops. You can sit for an hour without feeling like you should leave.

Flamingos on Da Gama Road is the other option. Strong coffee, pancakes, flapjacks, and a patio for when you'd rather be outside than staring at a messy sea.

Pick one for breakfast, the other for the second cup.

Work, or just listen: Green Room

Green Room is the coworking and coliving space in town: desks, solar power, and a salty crowd who still want to get something done. On a blown-out day you can sit down and work instead of watching whitecaps.

If you're here on a Thursday, go for Off the Lips, their lunchtime talk series. Locals and visitors give short sessions on whatever they're building or obsessed with. You don't need to be a member. Check the Talks blog for what's on.

Let your wife blow the budget at J-Bay Surf Village

Da Gama Road's Surf Village is the cluster of thatched surf shops, factory stores and fashion boutiques: Country Feeling, Billabong, RVCA, The Store, InStep, and a string of smaller labels in between. You can do the whole run on foot. New boardshorts, a leather belt, something for the house, lunch. Warn the bank card in advance.

Order your next custom board

When the Point is blown out, the shapers are usually still in town.

Hugh Thompson of Natural Curve has been shaping for decades. Thousands of boards, still done by hand, still built around how this coast breaks. You talk through a board with the person who will shape it.

Stevie Sawyer grew up in that same lineage. He won the 2018 world longboard title on a Sawyer board he was part of building, and he still shapes in Jeffreys Bay.

Get under it with J-Bay SCUBA

Onshore chop on the surface doesn't always mean a write-off underneath. J-Bay SCUBA surf-launch from Main Beach and run out of Port St. Francis seasonally, so check their dive forecast before you write the day off.

The reef here is temperate volcanic rock: gullies, walls, sponges, and hardly anyone on it. Ragged-tooth sharks, rays, cuttlefish. They do boat charters, RAID courses, air fills and gear, and a Try Dive if you've never had a regulator in your mouth. Message Paul on WhatsApp — that's the quickest way in.