In Doringbaai, aquatic adventures are delivered in shoals.
First up is the diving utopia in this crustacean battleground. Every year, when the recreational rock lobster season opens (on 12 specific days between December and March), divers can dust off their wetsuits and get ready to dive for glory. But this isn’t a Wild West seafood grab. No sir. The rules read like an SAS survival manual: four crayfish per person per day, 80 mm carapace length and absolutely no scuba gear.
But let’s say you prefer your encounters with nature a touch less… crustaceous. Just a short drive inland from Doringbaai is the majestic Olifants River Estuary near Papendorp. Here, canoeing is therapy with oars. Slip onto this 36-kilometre ribbon of still water and you’re instantly immersed in one of South Africa’s last unspoilt estuarine systems. It’s all salt marshes, floodplains and big skies. There’s no roar of boat engines—just silence, the birdsong of 183 species and the satisfying plop of your paddle. The only crowds in summer are the 15 000 birds that descend on the estuary.
Still not had your fill of West Coast adrenalin? Good. Because around the rocky corner lies Bamboesbaai, home to some epic surfing. The waves? Left-hand reef breaks that roll like butter down a hot skillet. Think: long, powerful rides of up to 300m; fairly consistent conditions, with the best swells arriving from the southwest. Offshore winds from the east-southeast keep the breaks clean.
