VRBO in Blouberg, and Airbnb in Stellenbosch
Jan 1 – Jan 7 2026
I seem to have an uncanny ability to schedule wind sport lessons precisely when the wind decides to take a break. Over the years, I’ve made several earnest attempts to learn both kiteboarding and wing foiling. Every time, I reach that hopeful stage where I mostly understand what I’m supposed to do to actually kite or foil—and then the wind disappears, leaving me standing on a beach holding expensive fabric and feeling personally betrayed by the weather.
Blouberg is an interesting place. It sits across the bay from Cape Town, about a 40-minute drive from downtown, making it a bedroom community for the city. At the same time, it’s only about 15 minutes from a fairly major industrial area and happens to be a world-class wind-sports destination. We were there for the wind and the beach, which—on our weekend there did not disappoint.
When we arrived on Friday afternoon, it was windy, so I immediately headed for the local foil school. Unfortunately, it was closed for the weekend, so I booked a lesson for Monday afternoon instead. Naturally, Saturday and Sunday were wildly windy. And then Monday arrived with absolutely nothing. Drat.
How windy is “wildly windy”? The jump in the video starts at the 0:19 mark. As one of my kids later observed, “It’s nuts.”
The waterfront strip malls in Blouberg look like they’re straight out of the 1960s or 70s. I would expect redevelopment to happen sometime in the near future. Security still seems to be an issue. All the houses have walled yards and gated driveways, and our VRBO host mentioned that the neighborhood hires a security patrol car to drive around all night. I didn’t feel unsafe; instead, I felt uncomfortable living within walls. It would be strange to live in a community where you can’t see any of your neighbours behind them.
At the local grocery store mall, workers stood near the exit looking for jobs. Unlike the ones we saw farther south of Cape Town, these had tools with them—paint rollers, levels, drills—perhaps to signal the kind of work they could do.
Sarah is sure her prescription Maui Jim sunglasses were stolen from our hotel room in Cape Town. We returned one day to find the bed a mess, not at all the way we had left it. Everything else had been locked in the safe, so that’s all they took. One of the other OAT travelers also lost something minor from their room. Fortunately, these were Sarah’s old glasses. She has a replacement pair waiting at home that, luckily, wasn’t ready in time to bring on this trip. If we had to lose one thing, her old glasses were a good choice.
Time in Blouberg was spent watching the kiters, walking on the beach early in the morning, driving along the road beside roughly 30 km of beach, food shopping at malls that wouldn’t have been out of place in North America, and eating. We had a very pleasant beach picnic with the daughter of some very good friends. She and her husband were vacationing in Cape Town for two months while one was working remotely from his programming gig in London—kids these days really do know how to live.
The restaurant meals have been very good and very reasonably priced. We expected excellent wine, but the quality of the steaks was a surprise. I’ve been having steak whenever possible, starting with Drew’s in Johannesburg, and they’ve all been excellent. With apologies to Brent, our friend in the Alberta beef industry, this beef has been some of the best I’ve ever eaten, and relatively reasonably priced. For example, Sarah and I each had Chateaubriand with sides, dessert, and shared a very nice bottle of wine for under $100 CDN. It was an exceptionally good meal, and it was one of the most expensive ones we had, yet relatiely inexpensive for what we ordered.
Stellenbosch is one of the major wine regions in South Africa, and we have already had wine from that region at almost every dinner. We toured ten vineyards, and it was interesting to see their different focuses. At Beyerskloof (well known for Pinotage), the emphasis was clearly on producing wine for large-scale commercial sale; tastings felt like a sideline. Many others offered spectacular vistas, with wine tasting, restaurants, and olive oil sales as their main draw. One vineyard focused on being a garden first and foremost, with such a variety of plants that we spent nearly four hours there after paying an admission fee.
Remember when I mentioned an afternoon in Johannesburg with Drew and his family? The upshot is that we only know two adults in all of South Africa. We knew they were spending New Year’s in Cape Town, but nothing had been arranged to see them again. We ended up bumping into them at Babylonstoren, the very first vineyard we visited. It was an unbelievable coincidence—if anything in either of our schedules had changed, we would have missed each other. Even staying an extra ten seconds in the store—literally any small change. It boggles the mind but allowed us to spend a very pleasurable lunch with them.
I’m writing this from Heathrow as we wait for the flight home. It’s been a great vacation, but both Sarah and I are ready to go home. Thirty-five days is a lot. The safaris were great, though not quite as good as the first time. I could see coming back to Africa to see the gorillas in Rwanda or Uganda, but I don’t feel the need to do another safari. Morocco and Egypt are still on the list. Still, never say never.
I’m really happy with the camera equipment. The 100–400 mm lens (200–800 mm in 35 mm full-frame equivalent) was used for about 95% of the safari photos. To my mind, it’s the best balance of price, size, weight, and reach in the OM System lens lineup. It does require fairly bright conditions, and the lens hood doesn’t fit very well, but otherwise I was very pleased with it. It’s certainly a special-purpose lens, but I’ll continue to use it to photograph loons, herons, and ospreys at the cottage.
