Blog | Kite 2013 | a site about kitesurfing and some other stuff

Seco Island

February 11, 2016

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Last weekend I went with a group of other kiters to a remote island called Seco Island. The trip itself to get there was exhausting. First thing was to meet at 05:45 a.m. for transportation to the boat that goes between Boracay and the main land Caticlan. After a short boat trip a bus was waiting on the other side. Packed to breaking point a three hour long bus trip waited ahead of us. Then the last part was a 2 hour long boat trip on a small wooden boat. In total the trip took about 8 hours including breaks here and there for provisioning etc.

Despite the horrible trip going to Seco Island was still probably worth the hazzle. Seco Island is small. There are three palm trees and bushes on the island that you can go around in 10 minutes. The island is surrounded by a reef which means perfect kitesurfing conditions since the water is so flat! Other than kitesurfing and snorkling there is however not much to do on this island. Facilities such as toilet, beds, internet is of course out of the question on a small remote island like Seco. Still some fishermen live here, but I guess they go back to the main land once in a while when it gets to boring...

Sunset and kitesurfing is a good combo

The luxury wooden boat with which we crossed the ocean to get to the island

The whole island seen from the boat

Sunrise photo. More of them below...

I know this photo isn't very impressive. Still I did my best to capture the sky at night with my camera... Star gazing at night on a remote island is of course something special! Can you see Orions belt?

Some photos

February 4, 2016

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Here are some photos that I intended to add to my previous post, but the poor internet connection didn't allow me at the time. As for now I manage to upload the photos, but I can't see them myself part from two of them. So unfortunately I can't give you descriptions to them, not at this time at least.

view from my balcony

This is the area where the family hang around

Reporting from Boracay

January 30, 2016

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A week has been spent in Boracay and some of you have requested a report over the things I´ve been up to so far. Truth is that I don't really have any "big" news. A couple of days have been spent just to acclimatize myself. It´s been very windy so I had a few kitesurfing sessions, then I ate something bad so I didn't feel to well over the past few days. I´m about to recover now though, so don't worry! I also remember that I got sick last time I was here, four years ago. Apperantly almost all foreigners that come here get sick from food at least once. To have an upset stomach for a few days is something you just have to take into account if you go here.

Else, this island hasn't changed so much since my last visit. Frency resort, the place where I stay, is the same as before and the woman called "anti Trini" still works here. However, I have upgraded to a better room this time. Frency was fully booked for some time so I had to move somewhere else and it turned out that Trini's neighbour had a fully equipped room for rent in the house nextdoor. This room has it´s own balcony, air condition, kitchen, bathroom. Gas and electricity is included and the price is 18.000 php (approximately $377 or 3200 sek) for a month.

The internet connection on Boracay is in general very poor. I´m doing an attempt to upload some photos here which really requires some patience.

I give up uploading photos for now. I´ll try later when the connection perhaps is better.
For the one interested you can check my current internet connection here: https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5041249151. Besides someone is making a fire 10 meters from here and it´s not very pleasant to sit here inhaling toxic smoke.

Magkita tayo mamaya!

Red Bull King of The Air 2015

February 17, 2015

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These photos are all taken during the Red Bull King of The Air competition the 11th of February. 24 of the best riders in the world participated in this great competition. Unfortunately I missed day 2 of this competition, but who knows... I might go back another year to see this awesome competition once again!

Cape Point & Gansbaai

February 7, 2015

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The house where I stay has been fully booked for a few days. Forced to change accommodation I took the opportunity to go and see something else. The first thing to check off on the To-Do list was Cape Point. Cape Point is the most south-westerly tip of Africa. To get there you have to enter a gate to get inside a big nature reserve in which you can drive around and, unlike Cape Point, find non tourist crowed spots within the nature reserve. Instead of heading straight to Cape Point I went to a place called Olifantsbos which turned out to be a beautiful area where I also found the main attraction that the whole nature reserve has to offer - baboons 🙂

Eventually I checked out the cape of Good Hope, Cape Point and some other spots in this nature reserve. Here are some more photos I took during my visit in this nature reserve.

After Cape Point I went straight to Gansbaai where I arrived 8:30 p.m. The whole town was completely black due to the fact that the power was shut off. Africa has big problems when it comes to electricity supply, so occasionally they just turn off the power. This causes of course all kind of problems. For instance when you want to find out where your backpacker place is located... Fortunately a friendly guy I met in the dark helped me locate my stay for the night. The house in Gansbaai where I stayed for the night seemed to be a cosy place with candle lights. Some other Germans stayed there as well and we were all going shark diving early the morning after. So I went to bed quite early to get some hours of sleep but I woke up in the middle of the night from something that was crawling on my back... It turned out that my room mate for the night was a big fat rat, so I woke up far from rested the next day... The shark dive did however made up the lack of sleep 🙂Early morning in Gansbaai

Shark bait...

Back in the harbor I spotted this rare bird. It's a Black Oystercatcher.

After Gansbaai I went straight back to Blouberg but I pasted this wine district called Franschhoek on my way. I think this place also was worth a photo.

Hout Bay

February 1, 2015

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I made a trip to Hout Bay to check out some seals. Hout Bay is located south from Cape Town and the bus ride itself goes along the coast from Cape Town to Houts Bay with some spectacular views here and there. Either way, once in Houts Bay I met up with the organizer called "Seal Snorkling". The water in Hout Bay were only 12 degrees, so first of all we got handed thick wetsuits before we went for a short boat ride to the place where the seals dwell. I didn't bring my camera but only my GoPro, so the photos are so so, but well, here you go 🙂 The seals showed their teeth if you were too intrusive...

After the trip I met this poor man in the harbor. He was eating chips that he probably had found in the garbage bin. I gave him two of my fish cakes that he gratefully received. Later we fed some seagulls with prawn shells and chips 🙂

A windy day

January 27, 2015

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After a couple of calm days the wind finally came back today. Me myself and many other "amateurs" took the opportunity to go kiting during mid day before the wind really picked up! The worlds kitesurfing elite is gathered here in Cape Town right now for the upcoming Red Bull King of the Air which will soon take place in Big Bay, so it's great fun just watch these guys when they are out practicing in these extreme conditions. I took some photos just before sunset and as you can see the ocean is quite vivid! The other day when there was no wind I went to the Water Front which is an area in the harbor of Cape Town. Checked out an aquarium and found a little food market with all kind of delicious food and great coffee! I realized that I'm better of getting a better blender when I'm back home so I can make smoothies as perfect as those Dr Juice served me 😛
The Water Front is a beautiful harbor packed with nice boats, cafes, restaurants and tons of tourists...

Table Mountain

January 22, 2015

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The table mountain is the famous mountain that more or less is the Cape Towns "trademark". I've already posted several photos on this blog where this mountain is seen in the background. The table mountain is a big attraction for tourists and it's been on my to do list to go to the top of that mountain at least once during my trip here. There was no wind here yesterday so I took the opportunity to go by the local bus all the way to the base of the mountain where I began the climb. To reach the top you can either go with a cabin like the lazy people do, or you can follow a route with a slight incline that slowly but surely takes you all the way to the top. To go by the cabin not an option in my case. The photos below have been taken in chronological order during the climb that took nearly 3 hours.

Sharks Bay

January 19, 2015

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Sharks Bay is a part of the Langebaan lagoon. This bay is located about 2 kilometers south from the main beach in Langebaan and is a great flat water spot. So this is the place you go when you don't wanna surf in the waves. Sharks Bay has its name from the sand shark that swims around in this water. I havn't seen one myself yet, but it´s apperantly a very small and harmless shark. Nevertheless, me and John went to Sharks Bay the other day for a quick but great kite session.This is the view over Sharks Bay from the the road where you park your car No sharks in sight...From the beachMe kitesurfingSlightly different conditions in Big bay in Blouberg...

Langebaan

January 15, 2015

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There is a place called Langebaan, about an hour drive north from Blouberg. Langebaan is well known among kitesurfers since there is a huge lagoon there which is great for kitesurfing and you don't have to watch out for 3-4 meter high waves as you have to do battle in Blouberg.

Here are some photos from Langebaan

Kids helping Sebastian to rig his kite.

Fishermen and seagulls are also claiming their right to the water and air.
We had a nice meal at a restaurant next to the beach. As you can see the place is quite crowded with kitesurfers.

The landscape along the road between Langebaan and Blouberg is not that exciting. What you see is mostly open spaces with bushes and sometimes a few lonely trees can be seen.

My little blog

Seco Island

Some photos

Reporting from Boracay

Red Bull King of The Air 2015

Cape Point & Gansbaai

Hout Bay

A windy day

Table Mountain

Sharks Bay

Langebaan

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