Atlantic Seaboard at a glance
The Atlantic Seaboard is a beautiful stretch of the Cape Town coast that supplies a fantastic scenic drive. Situated underneath Lions Head and the Twelve Apostles overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, starting from De Waterkant down to Hout Bay. The area is host to an array of different styles, from large family homes, villas, apartments, guest houses and self-catering accommodation. The area also supplies affluent enmities making this area extremely sought after by those with affluent taste.
The Atlantic Seaboard suburbs are De Waterkant, Mouille Point, Green Point, Sea Point, Fresnaye, Bantry Bay, Clifton, Camps Bay, Bakoven, Llandudno and Hout Bay.
People are drawn to the area for its beautiful beaches, affluent, laid back lifestyle. Highlights are such as the V& A Waterfront, Clifton Beach, Camps Bay Beach, mountains with hiking trails. Including an assortment of renowned restaurants & bars Hudsons the Burger Joint, Vida Café, Café Royal, Café Caprice, Beluga, tourist attractions. Locals and international foreigners alike like to enjoy the splendors of a Cape Town sunset from almost any point in these areas, generally overlooking the glistening beaches.
The Atlantic Seaboard is the perfect place for those who enjoy the work hard play hard lifestyle, while keeping a family safe environment as a priority.
The first residents of Camps Bay were the San (Hunter Gatherers) and the Goringqhaique, Khoi pastorates. When Jan van Riebeek established a refreshment station for the VOC (Dutch East India Company), the 12 Apostles were covered in forests with lion, leopard and antelope.
In competition with the more recent settlers, the Gringqhaique lost their grazing lands on the south east slopes of Table Mountain and in 1657 were restricted to Camps Bay.
By 1713 the number of Gringqhaique population had been reduced by measles and smallpox. All that was left of their settlement was an old kraal (Oudekraal)
The area was then granted to John Lodewyk Wernich and passed from father to son. Johan Wernich married Anna Koekemoer, who on his death in 1778, married Fredrick Ernst von Kamptz, a sailor and the area became known as "Die Baai van von Kamptz".
For most of the 1800's Camps Bay was undeveloped. Lord Charles Somerset used the area for hunting and used the Roundhouse as his lodge. Kloof Road was built in 1848 and in 1884 Thomas Bain was commissioned to build a road from Sea Point to Camps Bay using convict labour.
The road was completed in 1887 and named Victoria road to honour Queen Victoria's jubilee in 1888. The road allowed people to cycle out to Camps Bay which had gained popularity as a picnic site. This led to the development, in 1901 of a Tram services to bring people out for the day and with it the development of the tidal pools, the Rotunda (now the Bay Hotel) and a pavilion for concerts and shows.
In 1913 Camps Bay was incorporated into Cape Town although it was still seen as a recreational area rather than a residential area.
Oudekraal is made up of a collection of tiny beaches sheltered amongst the boulders and a well-established picnic area with lawns, Braais, covered seating areas with tables benches and public toilets. There is a small admittance fee.
Lui Bay (also known as Witsand) a popular dive site, in 1977 two scrap vessels (The Antipolis And Romelia) were being towed around the cape when their tow line broke in a storm. This caused the Antipolis to run aground near Oudekraal while the Romelia floundered further south between Llandudno and Sandy Bay. The hull of the Antipolis is now visible at low tide.
Koeel Bay has an African open-air curio market, that sells hand crafted items from all over Africa.
Bakoven gets its name because of a large rock just off-shore with what appears as oven door in its side. There are several sheltered coves located in Bakoven. There is a Sea rescue base stationed here and a popular swimming beach is off Beta Close.
Camps Bay Beach awarded blue flag status in 2008 is the largest white sand beach in Camps Bay. There is a seasonal life guard station and toilets at the west end of the beach.
There are many beach front cafes and umbrellas and loungers available.
Sea Point is a suburb of Cape Town which is situated on a narrow stretch of land between Cape Town's well-known Table Mountain in the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean in the northwest. It is a high-density suburb where space is at a premium due to its prime oceanside location. Houses are built closely together towards the northern mountainside while many apartment buildings are more common from its center and towards the beachfront.
An important communal space is the beachfront promenade, a paved walkway along the beachfront used by residents and tourists for walking, jogging or socializing.
Looking upwards from the promenade towards Lion's Head and Signal Hill on either side of Table Mountain the suburb shows its more exclusive areas against the upper mountainside within the so-called "Avenues", connecting roads which lead towards the upper edge of the suburb.
All along the oceanside of the Sea Point promenade the coastline has different characteristics. Some parts are rocky and almost inaccessible, other parts have open beaches. Sea Point beach adjoins an Olympic sized seawater swimming pool, another beach further towards the city is known as Rocklands.
Adjoining Sea Point is Three Anchor Bay. Sea Point's beaches are generally covered with washed up mussels from the oceanside, unlike the beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay. The rocks off the beaches are Basaltic, with extensive beds of kelp seaweed offshore. Unlike the Indian Ocean side of the peninsula, the water is colder (11C - 16C).
Further along the coast going towards Clifton, there is a plaque overlooking the rocks which commemorates Charles Darwin's observation of a unique junction where igneous rock has joined and flowed into granitic rock.
Mouille Point is an affluent suburb of Cape Town, situated between the V&A Waterfront to the North, Sea Point to the South and Green Point to the east. The suburb hugs the coastline and consists primarily of high-end apartment blocks.
It is a very small suburb, having only two major roads (Beach Road and Bay Road).
It is also home to the Mouille Point promenade; a paved promenade on the coast that is used daily by thousands of Capetonians.
Behind it lies the Green Point Common, where numerous playing fields and a golf course are situated.
The name comes from the French word for anchoring ground. In the early 18th century, wrecks were common in Table Bay and the then governor decided that a breakwater (Mouille in French) was needed to protect vessels. Work began in 1743. All farmers who delivered their goods to the city were required to load up their wagons with stones, drive out to Mouille Point and offload. Slaves and convicts were also used to build the breakwater, but after three years of labour and high seas, just 100m had been built and the project was abandoned. In 1781 the French arrived and built a battery near the unfinished Mouille, naming it Mouille Point Battery.
The Mouille Point lighthouse is prominently located here, but despite this, on 1 July 1966, during a fierce winter storm, a cargo ship, the S. A. Seafarer ran aground between Mouille Point and Three Anchor Bay. Everybody on board was rescued by helicopters of 17 squadron from AFB Ysterplaat.
For many years, opposite the lighthouse was a drive-in roadhouse, 'The Doll's House', where many people used to go for a snack and coffee during the day, or after a movie at night. The local seagulls were wise to this, and many a patron lost their sandwiches from the tray clipped to their window, to a robber gull that had landed on their car roof.
Higgovale situated just below Camps Bay Drive and is bordered by the suburb of Camps Bay to the west and Oranjezicht to the east with Lions Head to its immediate north west.