Jeffreys Bay (, nicknamed J-bay) is a town of 27,107 inhabitants as of the 2011 census in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is the seat of the Kouga municipality and is famous amongst surfers as a surf capital due to the right-hand point break at Supertubes Beach. The town is situated just off the N2 Highway, about 75 kilometres southwest of

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

History

Jeffreys Bay is named after the senior partner of the firm Jeffrey & Glendinnings who opened a store in 1849 on the location where the town is today. Jeffrey is believed to be the first person to have settled there. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Jeffreys Bay was known as a

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

hangout, where the now-burgeoning surf community originated. Jeffreys Bay has grown from a sleepy little fishing town over the past few years and is one of the fastest expanding urban areas in the country. Jeffreys Bay as a surfing destination was made famous by Bruce Brown's movie "The Endless Summer".

Demographics

Xhosa,

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

and English are the three most spoken languages. Jeffreys Bay is a constituent part of the Kouga Local Municipality of the Sarah Baartman District in the Eastern Cape Province.

Sport

Surfing

Jeffreys Bay is one of the five most famous

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

destinations in the world and hosts the annual World Surf League (WSL) surfing event at Super Tubes during July. Spectators and professional surfers from all over the world flock to this event. In 2015, Mick Fanning had an encounter with a shark two minutes into the J-Bay Open finals in Jeffreys Bay. Fanning was in the water with Julian Wilson during the final of the J-Bay Open 2015 when what is suspected to be a

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...

became entangled in his surfboard leash. Fanning punched the shark and tried to wedge his board between the shark and his body, and he emerged from the attack physically unharmed. ;The Jeffreys Bay Surf Break A very long, fast, tubing right hand point break breaks along the west side of the bay. The break is regarded as one of the best right hand point breaks in the entire world, in both consistency and quality, in season. It has been divided up into several sections, including, from the top of the point, ''Kitchen Windows'', ''Magna tubes'', ''Boneyards'', ''Supertubes'', ''Impossibles'', ''Tubes'', ''the Point'', and ''Albatross''. "Supertubes", which itself breaks for about 300m or more, is regarded as the best part of the wave. On rare occasions (large wave sizes, wide-breaking waves, and even swells), ''Boneyards'' can link up all the way to ''the Point'' for a ride over one kilometre long. Optimal size is considered to be from about 4 to 10 feet (Hawaiian scale), or about 8 to 20 feet wave faces. The initial discovery and promotion of the wave is curious. Another nearby right hand point wave at St. Francis Bay was first idolised and promoted in the surf movie '' The Endless Summer'' in the 1960s (although both Jeffreys Bay and St. Francis Bay were probably surfed much earlier). Surfers who travelled to the area soon stumbled upon the nearby Jeffreys Bay

surf break A surf break (also break, shore break, or big wave break) is a permanent (or semi-permanent) obstruction such as a coral reef, rock (geology), rock, shoal, or headland that causes a Wind wave, wave to Wind wave#Wave breaking, break, forming a ...

, which was found to be not only a faster, more powerful, and hollower wave, but also much more consistent. The J-Bay surf village is situated at the top of Da Gama Road. It provides a large collection of the best surf goods, clothing and more in conveniently arranged shops.

Tourism

Jeffreys Bay is a popular tourist destination because of its surfing opportunities and the

Blue Flag beach The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that a beach, marina, or sustainable boating tourism operator meets its standards. The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE, which is a Not-for-profit organi ...

. Jeffreys Bay is famous for abundant

seashell A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer usually created by an animal or organism that lives in the sea. Most seashells are made by Mollusca, mollusks, such as snails, clams, and oysters ...

s, great seafood and calamari. The nearby Kabeljous, Seekoei and Krom River lagoons host numerous water birds, and are also ideal for watersports like canoeing, boardsailing, and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. Every year, migrating

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

s make their way to Hermanus and Witsand to give birth, and whales can be seen breaching almost every day during the season. Just northeast of the town, on the Kabeljous River, lies the Kabeljous Nature Reserve. It is a walk-about reserve, well known to anglers for a diverse number of fish. The Kabeljous

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

is one of the best preserved estuaries in the Eastern Cape. The lagoon is home to waterfowl, herons, and a variety of waders. Nearby, the Seekoei River Nature Reserve lies between Aston Bay and Paradise Beach. The reserve lies on the estuary formed by the Seekoei and Swart rivers. The reserve is rich in birdlife with over 120 species of birds. The lagoon is also home to numerous red-knobbed coots and small antelope. There is also a circular hiking trail that takes about three hours to complete. The trail starts with a trip on a raft across the lagoon and runs through

fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

and subtropical vegetation. File:Jeffreys Bay beach view.jpg, Jeffreys Bay beach view File:Villa African Queen - Jeffreys Bay Beach View.jpg, Jeffreys Bay beach view from the top of the Villa African Queen File:JBay-Surfing at supertubes-001.jpg, Surfing at Supertubes

References

External links

Official tourism site

Jeffrey's Bay eateries
{{Authority control Populated places established in 1849 Populated places in the Kouga Local Municipality Populated coastal places in South Africa Tourism in South Africa Surfing locations Surfing locations in South Africa 1849 establishments in the Cape Colony