December is the month the map flips. Storms out in the Indian Ocean start sending swell onto the KwaZulu-Natal coast, and from now until February those swells turn Durban's sand-bottom points into the best waves South Africa has. They need an offshore to shape up, and when they get one the results are the reason this coast has its own reputation.
Jeffreys Bay, meanwhile, is in the middle of its quiet half: two to four feet, warm water at 20°C, and a point that is fun rather than famous. Cape Town is doing what it always does, which is having something somewhere for anyone prepared to drive.
