They don't call it the Wild Coast for nothin'!

You will find South Africa's Wild Coast between East London and Port Edward in the Eastern Cape. It is probably called the Wild Coast because it is the most undeveloped and unpopulated part of the southern coast of South Africa. It is wild and pristine. But I called it the Wild Coast because of the wild Zodiac ride we took going out and coming in from from the Sardine Run. It was like Mr. Toad's Wild Zodiac Ride.












We went out into the Indian Ocean from the Offshore Africa launch on the Umzimvubu River in Port St. Johns.

In order to get out into the open ocean, you first have to go through a series of breakers where the river meets the sea.












These breakers may not look like much from up on the hill overlooking the shore, but from down below on the water and inside of a Zodiac, they look fierce!








Crossing the breakers was the only time we were required to put on our life jackets. Rob, our skipper, told us if we fall out, we have to ride the waves back ashore and catch a bakkie ride with Debbie back to camp. He won't be coming back in the Zodiac for us! I gritted my teeth, held on to the hand ropes for dear life and kept my feet buried in the floor straps. There was no way I was going overboard!

We made it out and I managed to stay in the boat. Woo hoo! I figured the worst part was over as coming back in would be like surfing on the waves. And once we made it past the breakers, it was smooth sailing out to sea. But alot depends on the wind and the chop and the currents and the location of the sardines.

Up at the airstrip, scouts take off to look for the shallow sardine schools offshore from high above in the sky. Rob kept in touch by radio to find out where the sardines were. And then he'd zoom out to find them based on their spotting.

scout overhead

By the end of the day, in order to follow the action, we had driven about 40 km southwest from Port St. Johns off the coast of the Hluleka Nature Reserve. And the wind had changed too sometime during the day.

When it was time to return to port, I strapped my feet back in and grabbed onto the ropes for what I though would be a smooth ride ride back to camp. It took a full two harrowing hours over choppy water to get back to the mouth of the river. We only stopped when necessary to change gas tanks. I told Vince afterwards it was like the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, only for a whole two hours. Brutal!

Thankfully we all had complete confidence in our skipper Rob. He is the best skipper on the Wild Coast and there was no doubt he'd get that Zodiac home safely. I was just happy to still be on board when he got there!

One good thing though. I was right about the breakers. We just surfed right on in.