A not so lazy weekend in GQ*
Friday, 22nd November 2024
Article by Marguerite Smit
Caught the early flight into GQ (Gqeberha) on a Friday morning, weekend objective: get my active mode on in as many ways as is possible before the big one. I’d given Sean from Mosaic Tourism (https://mosaictourism.co.za) a buzz before leaving and there he was at the airport pick up with the Tuk-Tuk ready and waiting. It’s the road less travelled with the three-wheeler, and what a start to see GQ’s magnificent beachfront from the open-to-air experience of the Tuk-Tuk. We were to become firm friends over the weekend.
Sean dropped me at my bed and breakfast In Summies (slang for where summer first lands on South African shores, or if you want the more official version, the suburb known as Summerstrand) I’d found through PEMBBA (https://www.pembba.co.za), to a warm welcome from my hosts that didn’t blink at my odd-shaped duffel bag full of kit. The thing I love about B&B’s (especially those vetted by their association PEMBBA) is they’re a home-away-from-home, and within minutes I had enough koeksisters and melktert offerings to sink a medium-sized ship.
Speaking of which Sean was back at the door and whizzed me off to Hobie beach, where I met Franco and his dive team from ProDive Port Elizabeth (https://prodivepe.co.za). What’s so unique about PE/GQ/Ibhayi/Nelson Mandela Bay/Algoa Bay, besides the mosaic of names that reflects their rich cultural heritage? It’s the sea. It’s where Goldilocks comes to play, not too cold, not too warm, just right, and wow-oh-wow the world under the waves is something to behold. The ProDive boat launches from Hobie Beach, and within ten minutes we were at the Bell Buoy reef getting up close and personal with the most chilled ragged-tooth sharks and a mosaic reef life I’d ever seen. Pyjama sharks, rays, basket stars, and the cutest nudibranchs (think dancing underwater caterpillars in neon colours) all call the shallow reefs just off Summies home.
Sean was there on my beach landing (what a ride up the sand on the Prodive boat) and before you could say tuk-tuk, I was back at my B&B, for a lekker evening with some other mates that had flown in for the active weekend. At sparrows, or more accurately, at Ha-de-da’s (who needs an alarm in GQ?) Sean was there to take me, my running togs, and my mates, back to Hobie for the Hobie Beach Parkrun (https://www.parkrun.co.za/pehobiebeach/). It’s a family-friendly event, that routes along the awesome GQ beachfront on a circular course of 5km’s. You can run it as fast or as slow as you like and is part of the national parkrun network. Ob-vee-us, my mates and I, because we’re not competitive at all, were inspired to a PB (personal best, c’mon you knew that right?) in GQ, you know wind-in-the-hair, sea-breeze caressing your cheeks kind of motivation. And a nice little warm up for the big one.
Because of the big one, we’d arranged with Awehness Travel (https://awehness.org) for one of their Ocean Warrior coaches to meet us at Hobie at the end of the park run. GQ has some of the best open-water swimming in the Southern Hemisphere, well let’s not be shy, probably the best in the world, and who better than Kevin or Mary-Anne to show us how to navigate the alternate behind-the-breakers route? It’s a nice gentle 2km+ swim (depending on how straight you swim) from Hobie to Kings beach and back. Ocean Warriors, we became, and the gentle stroke nudge-nudge and handy hints of spotting shore markers from Mary-Anne and Kevin made it an awesome experience. And hey presto, before you knew it, we were back at Hobie, and back in the tuk-tuk for our next adventure.
This time Sean took us off to Cape Recife, with our bold ego’s we needed a little reminder of who’s the fastest in the water, and who better than the tuxedo-clad little guys and gals aka African penguins at SANCCOB (https://sanccob.co.za) to put us back in our place? Sean does the Cape Recife journey as one of his standard tours, which includes a trip all the way through the beautiful coastal reserve to the famous lighthouse, and stunning views of GQ’s “wild-side” – where the big breakers come to play. It was the perfect apéritif to our morning activity and boy does GQ have the outdoors to die errr… live for?
And now to the big one. Sunday morning dawned, and reliable as ever the Mosaic tuk-tuk was at our door bright and early to carry us down to Pollok Beach for the big event**. Pollok beach is host to GQ’s iconic roadhouse, Something Good (https://www.somethinggoodroadhouse.co.za), but we were there for a different reason other than their awesome burgers and smorgasbord of ice-creams. Our raison d’etre for being in GQ was, for what’s billed as “Africa’s toughest Indian Ocean swim”, the Bell Buoy Challenge (https://www.zsports.co.za/bellbuoy). A swim that starts at Pollok beach and then straight out to sea for 2,5 km only to then turn around the shipping lane buoy (the same one I had dived at earlier) and head straight back. Well at least that’s the theory, swimming straight ain’t what happens, you must find your way through swell and currents to the bell buoy, and then rinse and repeat to find your way back to land. Buoys and buildings move when you swim, so it’s fun and games, and why it’s the open water swim that stands out above the rest. But, apologies, I know I’m gushing again, what a mind-blowing experience, and its why GQ is my place to get active outdoors. Hanging out in the middle of the ocean, with the bell buoy gently clanging (it has a bell, thus the name), and the swell lifting you up and down, puts you in a different universe.
So… GQ you rock, thanks Mosiac for the tuk tuk rides, thanks to the PE peeps for the warm welcome, and thank you Nelson Mandela Bay for being the coolest outdoor place on my activity bucket list.
* Based on a story that could be true, as all the characters, companies, places, and events are real, do what they say they do, and deliver as promised.
**You could swop out the Bell Buoy challenge for a number of other iconic Z-Sports, or Iron Man, or Herald tour, or, or…
