Dec 12

Kogel Bay or Cool Bay as it’s Known

Kogel bay or Cool bay as most people call it is a popular surf spot about 20-30 minutes drive from the Strand beach. The way to get there is by taking the coast road from Gordons bay which winds its way around the mountains on route to a small coastal village called Rooi Els. The journey to this beach offers a wonderful view of the local mountain scenery and the ocean and is a popular place to watch the whales from during the South African whale season which starts every year round about August or September and lasts for a month or two.

Those wanting to surf at Cool bay need to be experienced as this stretch of beach has very strong currents and rips that can easily land the in-experienced surfer in trouble. Many drownings have happened here over the years mainly as a result of people taking no notice of the warning signs along the beach. Due to the fact that deeper water becomes very shallow water suddenly here the waves are powerful and you can be standing in waist deep water looking up at a 5-6 foot wave about to crash on your head.

It’s the powerful waves that make this stretch of beach a popular surfing spot for keen surfers from all over the Cape peninsula and in actual fact it is the most open to what they term the “swell window” meaning that it picks up the most swell in the Cape area and almost always has a rideable wave. The popular area to surf and hang out is by the caves which involves parking your car in the car park at the top and negotiating your way along the path through the bushes and down the cliff side. Also because this particular beach is protected from the Cape South Easterly wind it can get extremely crowded at Kogel bay, or Cool bay, during the summer season.