CAPE ST FRANCIS RESORT From 154€ for 7 nigths

Situation

Cape St Francis with it's historic lighthouse and great surf spots is a tranquil eco-destination surrounded by nature reserves and the warm Indian ocean.
Cape St Francis Resort provides self catering  accommodation from Luxury beach villas to upmarket beach cottages, affordable Apartments and Backpacker private rooms.
All rooms, cottages and villas have adequate facilities to self cater.

Services Included

Villas (except Backpacker and Club Break)  have the following facilities :

• Lounge with DSTV
• Dining area
• Lock-up parking
• Barbecue
• Fridge/freezer
• Stove
• Dishwasher
• Swimming pool
• Tea/coffee making facilities
• Hair dryers
• Heaters
• Patio loungers and chairs
• Fully equipped for self-catering 
• Access to wi -fi
• All rooms in Sandpiper have a flat screen television set
• Seagulls Song, Wave Worrior and Sandpiper have a built in fireplace , a most welcome sight during the winter and early spring months

Services Included

• Wifi
• TV in Room
• Swimming Pool
• Spa & Wellness
• Laundry
• Parking
• Conference Facilities

Services non Included

• Spots transfers
• Spa & Wellness

Other Services

Hibiscus Center opened on 1 March 2013. They offer massages, manicures, pedicures, waxing and facials in a calm, peaceful environment at the Cape St Francis Resort.

Activities

The St Francis area also offers numerous other sport activities such as sand boarding, kite surfing, water-skiing, beach horse rides, tennis, golf as well as a good supply of sun and sea.
Other activities include whale or dolphin watching and hikes through coastal nature reserves.

Other Activities

• Fishing
• Bicycles
• Excursions
• Golf

Lodging

Beach Break :
Luxury Five Star accommodation consisting of four  separate villas set on the edge of the dunes, overlooking the pristine Cape St Francis beach between Seal Point and Shark Point Nature Reserves.

Village Break :
In the heart of the Resort and nestled in the dunes you will find cottages built in the traditional Cape Dutch style  and  vary in size from two to five-bedrooms each with  most bedrooms being en-suite. The cottages are comfortably equipped in a beach cottage decor and have a fully equipped kitchen for self-catering as well as a limited DSTV bouquet and a braai area. Cottages in Village Break are serviced daily.

Club Break :
Represents affordable but comfortable 3 Star accommodation.  It consists of a number of one or two-roomed apartments situated around a swimmimg  pool.

Backpacker :
Situated within the Cape St Francis Resort you will find 5 semi detached chalets built in the traditional Cape Dutch stlye with white walls and a thatched roof.
All in all there are 10 rooms of which 5 are double  rooms and the remainder being twin rooms.Our Backpacker rooms have a small but adequate kitchenette which allows for self catering  and offering a standalone small oven and plates as well as a small bar fridge.Cuttlery and crockery is also supplied.

Meal Plan

Accomodation are Self catering.
A bed and breakfast option breakfast is served either on the front lawn overlooking the sea or in the villa if the weather is unsuitable. This is a great time to meet the other guests.

Sport Services

Cape St Francis is suitable for either the beginner or the dedicated surfer and Jeffresybay is only 20 minutes away.We offer lessons and equipment hire on site.
We'll recommend you to surf school or surf shops for boards renting.
 

Packages

On application 

Best Period

The roaring forties reachable in a paddle bring extremely consistent S/W swells unrolling along the Southeast coast of South Africa from May to September (the austral winter).
Sometimes, tropical cyclones generate some nice swells from January to March. St Francis Bay offers a propitious playground on the spots where swell lines are filling out from Cape St Francis to Port Elisabeth.

In the Southwest, the Cape region is under cold water (14° to 17°C) on the Atlantic Ocean side and consistent swells. A few kilometres away on the other side of the peninsula of the Cape, this is the Indian Ocean and the water temperature rises 5 to 7 degrees more. That way, the inhabitants of the Cape have the spot choice according to the swell orientation on both oceans.
The East coast of South Africa, near Durban has a tropical influence, on the edge of Mozambique and the animal reservations of Kwazulu Natal. The water temperature does not go below 20°C in July and goes around 27°C in January.

Some wind in July and August, but a consistent swell from May to October. Very nice beachbreaks and serious spots around Durban, considered as the little African Huntington Beach. A nice surfing atmosphere, shops, factories and shaping work-shops with famous brands such as Spider Surfboards, Gotcha…
WINDS & TIDES
A strong offshore wind is ruling during the austral winter, sometimes cold, from NW seizing the opportunity to blow in every spot exposed E/SE, near J-Bay.
From November to March, the dominating wind is from the East, and brings an onshore breeze. Tides are rather important and change the spots. In Cape Town and J-Bay, the water is very chilly during the austral winter (15° to 19°C) and rises up to 21°C in January in J-Bay. On Durban’s side, the water is 20°C in July and 27°C in January.
This is a legendary country for the sharks’ ferociousness – be careful but not paranoid…avoid surfing in isolated zones during the migration period of sardines (July), during rainfalls and river’s mouths in late evenings…Beware of sharp mussels covering the reefs and of Kelp, heavy  and floating seaweed wreaths, sometimes big like buoys! Except that, surfing is excellent everywhere else !

Not too many people in the water except in J-Bay, especially when this world-class wave is in good shape…a region where surfing is at a high level and where you need to respect the law of the spots like anywhere else.

Spots

- JEFFREY’S BAY AREA -

Seal Point : a nice beachbreak in the West of Cape St Francis.

Shelly Beach : nice little and easy waves

Cap St Francis : The wave hero of Endless Summer, a very long and dreamy right for longboarders. Need an Eastern heavy swell to really work out (also called Bruce’s Beauties)

Leftovers : at the entrance of the Bay – Need a great Southern swell. A nice and long right.

Hullets Reef : Pleasant for beginners – an easy left -

Clapton’s Coil : Rare but with a good quality. A nice and powerful left.

Kitchen Windows : In the West of the Bay – easier than J-Bay’s sections.

Magnatubes : One of the 7 sections of J-Bay. Pretty cool, but you can feel the pressure increasing on this nice right…a quick idea of the beast…

J-Bay : a hell of 4 sections, for trained surfers. Beware of sharp-edged rocks when launching in the water. Delightful days, you can actually go through the whole Bay during a breathe-taking quick ride. Launching in Boneyyards, direct take-off and here we go! Next sections: Supertubes, Salad Bowl, Tubes and The point.

Albatross : Last J-Bay section. Cooler. You end up riding on the sandy beach in the middle of the dunes. You need to walk to come back to the peak, 600 meters higher…Enjoy the beautiful houses in the dunes (more particularly Derek Hind’s house, the most original pro surfer of the 1970’s, a misshapen Scottish-style mansion).

Van Staden’s Mouth : a cool beachbreak, on the way to Port Elisabeth, towards the East.

Noordbroock : a steady and delicate wave, on the foreland of Port Elisabeth.

Summerstrand : a pleasant beachbreak avoiding the strong winds.

Miller’s – The Fence : on the way to Cap Recife, in Port Elisabeth’s suburbs. Medium-quality waves but fun. Port Elisabeth has many urban, nice and good-quality spots. To explore.

Weather / Temperature

Air temperature : 28°C (Summer) / 17°C (Winter)

Water temperature : 20°C (Summer) / 16°C (Winter)

Ability Level

Wear a 4/3 or 3/2 mm wetsuit for Cape Town and J-Bay from May to September. A springsuit and spandex suit for Durban at the same period. From October to April, always wear a 3/2 mm for Cape Town and J-Bay (maybe a springsuit in January in J-Bay). Boardshort and spandex for Durban.

Boots for cold water and rocks. A hood if you are ready to charge the Antarctic swells in August near Crayfish Factory in the surroundings of Cape (you will see that the South African surfer likes the villous swell).
You also have the road from Cape Town to J-Bay (850 km to have fun) or the fun and tropical surfing on the East coast near Durban.

Surf Story

Legendary lands of the living God Shaun Thomson, several time world champion in the 1980’s. A great surfing nation practicing this sport from the cold water shores of Capetown to the tropical water of Durban, going through the mythic Jeffrey’s Bay due South.
A land made of uncountable secret spots and a population with anglo saxon spirit : kind, protectors of nature, beer drinkers, rugby and deep tubes fans.
For the wild space enthusiasts, 12 hour away without jet lag.

History

It is said that South Africa was discovered by Portuguese Bartolomeo Dia (Mossel Bay, 1487).
The Sans, the Khois, and later the Bantus lived there a long time before he came though !
The colonization by the Dutch Afrikaners (Boers) and the British leads to unceasing confrontations until 1909 when the victorious British gather the whole territory under the banner of Union of South Africa.
The Afrikaners however grapple with political power conquest and implement the apartheid by vote, in 1943.
On April 27, 1996, the great Nelson Mandela is elected President.

If the apartheid regime is abolished in 1991, the ANC (African National Congress, Mandela’s party) is appointed in power and creates the hope of a true improvement for the black people’s condition.

Geography

South Africa shares borders with Namibia in the West, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the Northeast.
In other way, two independent states, Lesotho and Swaziland are completely geographically surrounded by South Africa.
South Africa is spreading out nearly 2 000 km from North to South (from the Limpopo river to Cape Agulhas) and about 1 500 kms East to West (from Port Nolloth to Durban).
It can be divided in three large regions: the Highveld (an inside vast plateau), the Bushveld (the three coastal plains) and the Kalahari basin.
In the Eastern part of the country, the separation between the high and bushveld is marked by impressive spurs such as the Drakensberg Mountains.

Infos

FORMALITIES :
for the French nationals, passport is compulsory and has to be valid at least 6 months beyond your return to France.
It also must involve two blank pages in succession (left and right pages). The entry in the country is done by Cape Town for the South trips and Durban for the East coast. To go to J Bay, you have to arrive at Port Elisabeth.

LANGUAGE:
there are eleven official languages in South Africa. English and Afrikaans are the two most common.

HEALTH :
no specific vaccine is required. The treatment against malaria is strongly recommended if you plan on visiting the animal reservations.

TIME DIFFERENCES:
GMT +1 hour in winter, no time difference in winter.

WEATHER:
Seasons are reversed compared to the Northern hemisphere. From October to March nice warm weather (28° to 35°) on the KwaZuluNatal (Eastern region, near Durban), 21° to 25°C temperate and oceanic in Cape Town’s region (South-west region) and 26° to 30° in J-Bay.
In April and May, it is the fall season, intermediate and very pleasant, cool for surfing.From June to August, it is winter, serious season for waves, with a small temperature decrease especially during the night. Durban keeps 19° to 24°C, sometimes thunderstorms and a little windy. Cape Town: 15° to 20°C, more humid. Johannesburg: 13° to 18°C, chilly.
In September and October, a temperature increase, last rains on Cape Town, the austral spring is on its way.
The water temperatures distinguish several changes: Cape Town and the Atlantic Ocean go between 13° and 17°C on average. J-Bay goes through the same but can rise up to 19°C in January. Durban, on the side Indian Ocean’s side does not go under 20° in July and rise to 27°C in December-January.

DRIVING CONDITIONS :
Be careful ! The driving side is the left one. You have to pay gas in cash. Roads are in perfect conditions like in North America; add the exotic side to it…

ENVIRONMENT :
Respect the nature, the land and the sea. A beautiful wild country, a kind of African Australia. Breathe-taking animal reservations and an amazing marine biodiversity (the whale’s season near Durban in Mozambique’s channel)

WATER/ELECTRICITY :
the electrical alimentation in South Africa is 220-230 V. Outlets have three big connections adaptors. Think about buying one in every good supermarket.

CURRENCY :
the Rand (ZAR) that can be divided in 100 cents. 1 Rand = about 0.16 euro. Common credit cards – Visa, MasterCard, and American Express – are accepted.
South African life is cheap. The food is excellent (delicious red meat…). Try the Braii (local barbecue roasted meat very appreciated by the South Africans on the beaches). You can find everything just like in Europe.

EXTRA TIPS :
Do not travel constantly with your money and your identification papers but rather with copies of the first pages of your passport. Never go to the townships without anyone knowing the surroundings.Avoid Johannesburg, there is nothing to see and it is not safe.
In Cape Town and Durban, if you do not walk around in the dark streets at night, if you do not spread your opulence, if you are quiet and nice, you should be okay, even safer than in the world’s biggest cities at night.
In the countryside, there is no danger ! Black South Africans are cool and friendly. The problems are not about racism but because of the poverty in contrast with the astonishing wealth of the White South Africans.

Price from

154€ for 7 nigths

Price includes

Price Per person in a Chalets Backpacker for 2 persons

Rates & Packages

46 one and two roomed apartments situated around a communal exclusive use swimming pool and close to the Resort facilities such as the Resturant and Bar, Convenience shoo and Health and Beauty Studio.
A mere 6 minute walk to the beach.

Family styled cottages varying in size from two to four bedrooms with most bed rooms en suite.Settung is parklike with lovely trees and indigenous vegetation.
Very well appointed kitchen so ideal for self catering.

5 Luxury villas set on the edge of the dunes with breathtaking views of the ocean.All villas are fully equipped for self catering but meals can be arranged.
Each villa has adequate under cover parking, swimming pool and most have a private and direct beach access.

Enjoy a sea facing or standard room with breakfast included.

Users Booking Terms and Conditions

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