Why You HAVE To Visit Mossel Bay – Another Episode In Our Delightful Travel Series – Notes From The Editor

by | Jul 29, 2025 | Notes From The Editor, St Francis

Why You Should Definitely Visit Mossel Bay This Winter

Looking for the perfect winter holiday spot where coastal charm meets light industry and a hint of doubtful optimism? Welcome to Mossel Bay, the seaside town that somehow manages to be overbuilt and underwhelming, all at once. It’s where old people thrive, great white sharks cruise the lineup, and nobody’s quite sure if that was fog or just refinery exhaust.

Here are 11 compelling reasons why Mossel Bay should be at the top of your winter travel list.

1. Concrete. The Real Coastal Aesthetic.

Sure, other towns flaunt forests, mountains, and quaint markets, but Mossel Bay knows better. Here, the real attractions are retaining walls, security gates, and tasteful beige paintwork. If you’ve ever wanted to holiday in a place that feels like a secure complex with mild sea views, Mossel Bay delivers, in slabs.

2. There Is a Cool Casino

Forget boring retail therapy, Mossel Bay cuts straight to the action. The Garden Route Casino is your one-stop shop for flashing lights, questionable life choices, and that weird sticky carpet smell that says, “one day I will rue.” You might not win big, in fact, you won’t win, so there’s that.

3. It Has the Oldest Newspaper and a Post Office That’s Literally a Tree

History is alive and well in Mossel Bay, mostly in print. The Mossel Bay Advertiser has been faithfully documenting missing pets, flower competitions, and municipal outrage since the early 1900s, making it one of South Africa’s oldest continuously published newspapers. Think of it as a time capsule, with a classifieds section.

And then there’s the original post office, which is a tree. Back in 1500, sailors left letters in an old shoe under a milkwood for passing ships to collect. It worked about as well as you’d imagine. Today, it’s the town’s most photographed attraction and solid proof that Mossel Bay invented Dropbox 500 years ago.

4. Plenty Of Sharks and Shark Sightings.

Mossel Bay is basically a gated community for great white sharks. They like it here. The water’s warm, and the seals are plump. Bonus: You can go cage diving and stare your own mortality in the face, for a small fee and a bigger panic attack.

A man swimming at Mossel Bay, yesterday

5. The Traffic Is a Spiritual Test

Despite only having a handful of roads, Mossel Bay has somehow mastered the art of total gridlock without growth. School runs, holiday bottlenecks, and end-of-the-day rush to the pub all combine to create a marvellous daily logjam. It is best to determine your optimal travel times.

6. That Deliciously Industrial Scent

Ah, breathe it in. That’s not sea air, friend. That’s the sweet perfume of fishmeal, diesel, and economic development. The scent clings to your car, your dreams, and your Woollies rotisserie chicken. Locals call it progress. You’ll call it something else.

7. Climate So Good It Attracts Absolutely Everyone

Yes, Mossel Bay has one of the world’s most moderate climates, and no, they won’t let you forget it. The weather’s lovely. All the time. They will tell you. Which is why there are a lot of people living there, or thereabouts.

The beautidul climate, that everyone knows about.

8. The Great WhatsApp Web of Mossel Bay

There are hundreds of WhatsApp groups, each more cryptic and exclusive than the last. Want to know why the water’s brown today? Too bad. You’re not on the “Hartenbos North-East Sewer Watchtower B-group” thread. And good luck getting added, as the admins vote at the pub, amidts raucous laughter, on whether newbies are added or not.

9. Everything’s Being Built, Just Not for You

Want to live here? So do a lot of people. Which is why property developers are erecting tasteful estates with names containing ‘fynbos’, ‘lighthouse’, and ‘breakers’ on land where fynbos no longer exists, there are no lighthouse views, and the breakers are 8 km away as the crow flies, and 45 minutes in traffic. You’ll pay coastal prices for distant mountain glimpses or a house in a roadside valley that actually only gets direct sunlight for 30 minutes a day in winter. There is no chance of solar there, but Mossel Bayians don’t need solar (see point 11). Anyway, these houses are built with bigger fireplaces, so there. We did see a house called ‘DankieMaDankiePa,’ which was pretty cool.

10. You’ll Never Run Out of Things to Complain About

Is it the parking at Inner Pool? The price of a cappuccino? The guy doing donuts with his bakkie at midnight outside the boxy flat you’re renting for R2,900 a night? Mossel Bay offers endless opportunities for righteous indignation, which makes it perfect for people who think Cape Town is too pretentious.

11. The Place Where the Lights Never Go Out

Mossel Bay doesn’t get loadshedding. Apparently, it never has. While the rest of the country is braaiing toast in the dark, you’ll be charging your electric toothbrush and streaming vintage rugby uninterrupted. Why? Because Mossgas is right there, and it needs to stay on. It’s not pretty, but it’s reliable.

Lights on at Inner Pool

So this winter, ditch the overhyped tourist traps. Come to Mossel Bay, the town where the surf’s a little sharky, the air’s a little fishy, the Spur is quite lekker, and the electricity’s always on. It’s not perfect, but it’s honest.

 

Initial Reader Comments

BrendaFourie77

We came for a quiet coastal break. My husband loved the casino. He also loved Mandy at the blackjack table. We’re separating.

⭐☆☆☆☆

Koos_69

Not a single power cut the whole time. I charged every device I own, including my neighbour’s. Ate a Gatsby bigger than my head from the garage at 2 am and saw a man riding a horse down the main street. Five stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ShazFromBenoni

The ocean smells funny, and the beach sand got in my vape. I asked where the beach club was, and someone pointed me to the Pick n Pay.

⭐⭐☆☆☆

VisVisser1972

Good weather, confusing energy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lolla

The dog beach is not properly fenced. Our Pomeranian ran into the waves chasing a seagull, and we had to coax her out using a large Vienna sausage. Also, strong fish smell. My husband thought it was me. Arsehole. Tense drive home.

⭐⭐☆☆☆

Braam_vanB

Nice place, but weird vibes. Got added to a WhatsApp group without asking. Thought it was about municipal updates, but they just keep talking about ‘the gate’ and someone named Alta who ‘knows too much.’

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Alta

I know nothing about the gate. Please delete that comment.

⭐☆☆☆☆

Poepie

We were told the topless bar was behind the Spar. It isn’t. What is behind the Spar is a very scruffy man called Frikkie who sells homemade vape juice.

⭐☆☆☆☆

PrettySureThatWasntHer

Saw a man staring out to sea, watching the surfers, whispering, ‘She’s still down there.’ No one else seemed concerned.

⭐☆☆☆☆

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See also: Oh, Dear, we have to go to Durban – notes from the editor

Further reading: Cheap Bus Tickets from Mossel Bay to Durban

Further info: Cheap flights from Mossel Bay to absolutely anywhere else in the world

 

 

White Rabbit: A Bizarre Tradition with Mysterious Origins- notes from the editor

by | Jun 30, 2025 | Notes From The Editor, St Francis

It’s the first of the month, and like clockwork, half of St Francis mumbles “rabbit rabbit” (or the more theatrical “white rabbit”) into the morning chill before the kettle’s even thought about boiling. Some say it’s for luck. Others do it because their gran told them to. Before 8 a.m., muscle memory often prevails over common sense.

But where did this weird little jol come from?

The truth is that nobody is really sure. One theory points to early 1900s Britain, where children were taught to say “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” as soon as they woke up on the first of the month, presumably before they’d even reached for the coal scuttle or the chimney brush. The idea was that it brought good fortune, or at least a slight upgrade from whatever disaster the previous month had served up.

A Bizarre Tradition

Folklore also played its part. In old European superstition, animals that popped up uninvited (hares, foxes, owls) were seen as omens. Good or bad? Who knows. Depends on what they were doing. A rabbit hopping through your garden might mean luck. A fox eyeing your chickens, less so.

Lewis Carroll didn’t help matters. His jittery, watch-checking rabbit in Alice in Wonderland turned an ordinary woodland creature into a time-obsessed anxiety mascot, the sort of character who’d definitely panic-buy gas bottles and forget to feed the cat. And somehow, that became the mascot for a new month.

RAF Pilots

During World War II, RAF pilots reportedly muttered “white rabbit” before takeoff for luck, which feels oddly reassuring, considering what they were flying into. It’s a superstition with legs (possibly buck teeth), passed down through generations like a family recipe with no ingredients, no method, and absolutely fkall logic.

But that could be the charm. It’s not about sense, it’s about hope. A mumble into the big void that simply says: “Go easy on us this month, please, because it’s going to be cold and grey, and there’s a huge rain forecast,” or something like that.

Read more: St Francis Animal Rescue Holds Successful Pawtest to Advocate for Rescue Dogs

RIP Stephen Bibb – Notes From The Editor

RIP Stephen Bibb – Notes From The Editor

by | Jun 23, 2025 | Notes From The Editor

There is a quiet sadness at St. Francis Today remote office after the unexpected passing of dear friend Stephen Bibb. I had known Stephen for over 40 years. From Pinelands in Cape Town to JBay to the St Francis Market. We worked on many projects together. A familiar surfer in the JBay lineup and a well-known artist in the area. Stephen died last week while surfing, something he was devoted to.

Unmoored

His death has left many feeling unmoored. Stephen had a calm presence. He was someone who moved effortlessly between the sea and his art, drawing inspiration from both. He didn’t chase attention, but people noticed him. For his kindness, his talent, and the way he seemed most himself with salt on his skin and a board under his arm.

That he left this world doing what he loved feels strangely fitting. Though it doesn’t make the loss any easier.

These are the words of Derek Hynd. Derek is an Australian surfer, raconteur, and former JBay resident who called Stephen a friend. (I have lifted these words, slightly edited, from Derek’s Facebook page)

“Stephen Bibb. A nicer person in any sea of darkness, I shall never have the pleasure of knowing. If 30 people would be raising bluster and havoc at Supers, come an hour post-dawn, every dawn, every season, every year, every decade, ‘Bibb’ would already be readying to leave the water having finished his surf at Boneyards alone.

It was the mark of this beautiful human being. He never raised a qualm. At times, I’d be out there with him, knee high or telegraph pole, with that wry fatalistic humour, all the greater, the bigger the sets, never changing. Somehow, he’d deflect the suggestive power of a brutal looming wave with a quip as the first wave of a set from deep sea started to pitch.

Bibb Dolphins

I was lucky enough to have him spray the pods in my cottage. To be surrounded within them by a sea of Bibb dolphins was out of this world.

Stephen Bibb offered anyone fortunate enough to cross his path a type of spiritual shelter without a word needing to be said. Simply, he was drenched in calming aura. People like these, hard if not highly unlikely to ever replace.”

RIP Stephen

 

 

 

 

 

A Short Pause – But Not Signing Off (estimated reading time: only 1 min 15 sec)

A Short Pause – But Not Signing Off (estimated reading time: only 1 min 15 sec)

by | Jun 9, 2025 | Notes From The Editor

After many months of consistent updates from St Francis Today, we will be stepping away for a few weeks. Life calls elsewhere for a short while, and this means the SFT regular postings on the website and newsletter will be somewhat limited during this time. It’s just a short pause, however, a brief break, so please continue reading for more information.

Let’s be clear: We’re not switching off completely. While SFT may not be able to publish the usual (fairly) consistent flow of news, stories, and images, we will still be keeping an eye on things and quietly tracking what’s happening in and around St Francis Bay.

You’ll still find SFT on social media from time to time, chiming in with the odd post, a quick note, a tongue-in-cheek travel piece or a shared update. So if you have something important or interesting to share, feel free to tag or message us there. SFT may not always reply immediately, but we’ll be listening and monitoring, either on Facebook or Instagram, even though those two platforms give us the heebie-jeebies at times.

A short pause for breath

This is not a farewell, just a short pause for breath. SFT will be back soon, refreshed and ready, just in time for the rigours of full-blown EC winter, and with ice-cold focus and plenty to say. The heart of St Francis Today has always been about staying connected to our quirky little village and warmly eccentric community. That commitment doesn’t stop, even if we’re not physically in town for a little bit.

In the meantime, thank you for your continued support, for reading, sharing, and engaging with what we publish.

Editor – St Francis Today

Further reading/looking: Baviaanskloof Night Skies – Wild Photo Of The Day by Clive Wright Photography

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