We don’t vacuum the floor, we hoover it. ‘Hoover up’ is a well used phrase in the English language. But Hoover is a brand name, its just been so successful that it has entered everyday language to describe a common activity- vacuuming.

Nutec has managed to do the same, and they (and in turn, you) have become a victim of their own success.

Nutec is a brand name for fiber cement board products produced by Everite Building Products. Its registered, and protected in South Africa, but has become the common term used to describe any structure made using fiber cement boards. Nobody calls them “fiber cement Wendy houses”, they are “Nutec Wendy houses”.

Everite are quite proud of this association, but in recent years it has caused a problem- not just for the company, but also for the end user. They have become victims of the same shoddy practices as the rest of the Wendy house industry. And they realize that there is no point in trying to stop anyone who isn’t using the genuine product from referring to it as such- its just become the generic name for a fiber cement Wendy house. Every single builder of Wendy houses in South Africa will refer to them as Nutec Wendy houses, even if they are really not.

Nutec is a proudly South African product- its made in the country, for use in the country. And it is made to very high quality standards by a company that has been doing it a very long time. Not only that, but they also guarantee their products, and do replace any that fail within that guarantee period, no matter the cost to Everite. There can’t be many companies that do that (and for some products that guarantee is up to 10 years- its a life time commitment to quality).

Unfortunately, in recent years imported boards have started flooding the market.

By Everite’s own admission, not all those products are bad, some are of a reasonable quality. Some of them are borderline unfit for purpose, and none of the imported boards carries the same guarantee as genuine Nutec.

The problem is that most of the imported stuff is cheaper than Nutec products (though not all- and not necessarily by the time those products reach your bill). In a very price sensitive Wendy house industry its very tempting for companies to cut costs by using cheaper alternatives to Nutec.

For the end user (you, the Wendy house owner) this can be a real issue. The company you are using is building you a Nutec house- its what you asked for. Quality fiber cement boards have a massive advantage over other building materials when used on Wendy houses, (click here to read about the benefits of Nutec), but it doesn’t matter whether those boards are the best or the cheapest, they will still be referred to by the builder as Nutec. It is sold to you as this wonder product, but if a cheaper alternative is used, all that advantage disappears, and you could be left with a Wendy house that will not last much longer than a traditional pine unit before needing major maintenance. You will still be paying a premium for the privilege though.

And what happens in five years when the fong-kong boards are falling to bits?

Chances are, your shoddy builder won’t still be in business. Even if they are, the guarantee they were giving has probably expired. And you have absolutely no recourse with the manufacturer of the boards. You could fly to the far east and knock on their door, but beyond that you will be paying for the repairs yourself on something that you thought was a once in a life-time investment.

So what can you do? It all just looks like gray boards, right?

Its really your choice but the price difference between using genuine Nutec and a cheap import is not that big, and may not cause any difference in the price of your Wendy house at all.

If you already have quotes for a Wendy house from a company, that you go back to insisting they use the genuine Nutec product, and this leads to a massive increase in price then you know they were using the cheapest products they could find. A Nutec wendy house is an investment, its supposed to be around for many years without causing any issues- is it really worth saving a few thousand rand when building it when you could be looking at a service life that is half what it should be?

Even if they are using a quality alternative, it is not going to be under any kind of guarantee other than the general one supplied by the builder.

There is currently no list of registered Nutec installers or suppliers that you can refer to, but all Nutec products are branded and printed with serial numbers for quality control purposes. And you can use those numbers to contact the company and ensure that your builder is using the genuine product. They also have a very approachable regional team in the Western Cape who would be happy to help you verify the integrity of your supplier.

It may cost you a little more up front (it may not) but you are getting:

• a long term guaranteed product
• to support a South African company
• a heck of a lot of peace of mind- is that imported product really asbestos free?
• environmental credentials (Nutec is already a low impact material, but not transporting it halfway around the world certainly improves those creds)
• a good indicator that you have a builder who genuinely cares about quality, and that you get a good Wendy house, not that he makes maximum profits!

Again, I have to point out, there are many fiber cement products on the market, and not all are bad products (most adhere to the building codes and SABS standards), but only one is the genuine Nutec product.

You can learn more about Everite by visiting their web site

The post Is all Nutec the same? appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

This is the nightmare scenario…

You find someone in a free ad who gives you a great price to build your Wendy house. Lets face it, times are tough and any saving on such a huge expense is a great thing. The guy looks legit, and he seems to have a catalogue of pretty decent past work. He talks the talk, so you hand over a 50% deposit- which seems fair. So what? The guy isn’t running some huge company, surely that is why he can be more competitive on price- no overheads!

There are four scenarios from this point on-

1. He builds your unit and its great- you win

2. He builds your unit and its not so great! Now you are fighting to get it sorted out, wasting your time and probably more money. At this point two things could happen: he honours the contract and sorts out the problems, or he fobs you off and you sit with a crap Wendy house for the rest of its short life.

3. He half builds the project then stops taking your calls

4. He gets your deposit and you never see the guy again.

In that last scenario you got scammed, and that was always the intention of the person you were talking to. But usually, in scenarios 2 and 3 the guy started out with all the best of intentions, they just had no clue what they were getting themselves into. They don’t have a legitimate business, and have no clue what it takes to run one.

So, what goes wrong?

A Wendy house company isn’t just about taking a deposit, buying the materials, and then finishing the project. It may not be a big company, but they still have the overheads, they just don’t have a plan for dealing with them. They end up having to spend some of the deposit money on paying wages, or putting petrol in the van etc. Then they can’t buy materials. So they either have to cut back on quality somewhere or wait until they finish another project (or take another deposit) so they can finish your Wendy house. Sooner rather than later they hit that project where the deposit is completely absorbed in finishing other things. They just run out of capital to continue- you get left holding the parcel- and its ticking!

Unfortunately, in some cases, in order to get their Wendy house finished, people hand over more money to these guys. I have heard from people who have half finished Wendy houses or Nutec homes and have already paid the full or nearly full amount to someone that no longer answers the phone.

They should have done some due diligence, but, like you, they were busy, they were conscious of price, and they just made a bad decision in a pressurized situation. If you think this couldn’t happen to you then remember, that’s also what they thought!

I write about due diligence processes else where, here we are just trying to arm you with the skills to spot a potential cowboy before you even respond to an ad.

How to analyze Wendy house company ads

So here are some things you should look for when assessing ads on Facebook and Gumtree:

1. The ad is written badly, seems really poor quality, but the images are professionally taken of stunning units.

This is always number one alarm bell for me. I spend a lot of time looking at images of Wendy houses, and a lot of time looking at these ads. There are some Wendy houses that have apparently been built by hundreds of different people. And if you do a Google image search you find out that the same unit has been built in at least three different countries!

When assessing these ads, if the projects look too good to be true then simply ask the person where they built those units. In my experience they get evasive and start asking for contact details rather than just answering your question. If they genuinely built the units then they will be happy to tell you all about them.

2. No website to link to

Bad companies have web sites, don’t get me wrong. Cowboy Wendy house builders rarely have any at all.

3. On Facebook, no business page

Facebook has a clear policy that if you run a business you need a business page to advertise it. They are good about it though, its free to set one up, and not that difficult to do. The really low level cowboys can’t even manage to do that. Some do- it will just be badly set up.

Someone posting their business services directly onto a Facebook group without liking to a business page is a bit of a red flag. (You have to post to groups using your personal profile, but the preferred method is to share content from your business page.)

4. Only got one cell phone number as a point of contact

Think about this… you hand tens of thousands of rands over to someone and the only link you have to them is a pay-as-you-go cell phone number! You don’t know how to find them, you couldn’t instruct a solicitor or anything if they just go to a supermarket and pay R1 for a new number!

5. Using some iffy gmail email address

This is only really a yellow flag- plenty of well established companies retain their gmail accounts. But there is a world of difference between acmewendyhouses@gmail.com and bob3454@gmail.com.

6. They give themselves away in the language they use

Copywriting ads is a difficult skill to acquire- and if you are good at it you know that a) language is powerful, b) the language the untrained use is a very good indicator of what they were thinking when they wrote it.

If someone refers to their own work as “cheap” then it probably is. Cheap isn’t a good thing. Yup, you have a budget to stick to, but we all know that something that is “cheap” is never going to be any good. When your roof is leaking the first time it rains on your new Wendy house you are going to wish you hadn’t been so “cheap”!

“We specialize in…” followed by a huge list of things in  a very broad scope is another indicator to walk away- “We specialize in everything” means they specialize in nothing but are willing to give it a go if it means money. Watching a Youtube video before you attempt something does not make you an expert.

7. You query something and the ad disappears

I have found this myself, especially on Facebook. You query something “where did you build those units?” and the conversation goes like this:

“Where did you build those units?”

-which one?

“The blue ones”

-send me you number

“I just want to know where you built the blue units.”

-we’re working in grassy park right now, what’s your number.

“Ok, but where did you build the blue units”

Eventually they realize they are found out and dump that ad so that your ‘negative’ comments are not seen by others.

But…

The same ad pops up again in other places, sometimes under a different name.

And that, my friends, is a big red light that you are looking at a possible scam.

There are other things, subtleties, but if you see the things above its a good idea to scroll on.

The post Wendy House and Nutec Home building cowboys- who are they and how to spot them appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

The first step in this is to understand the process and the players involved.

There  is:

• you, the buyer;
• the municipality, the regulator;
• the Wendy house company, the builder.

I will absolutely guarantee you that the regulator is the villain of your story, some horrible pantomime character who wants to add unnecessary time and cost to what should be a simple project- and our hero the builder has some advice that will help you defeat this evil tyrant, and get you your building on time and below budget.

Well, I’m going to set the record straight on that- the planning office is not the villain in this story, they are merely there to protect all parties. And that includes you! Any Wendy house manufacturer worth the spit will tell you that they comply to SABS standards, and comply to all regulations etc… but who is going to make sure they do? You? A building inspector, who will appear like magic once the project is  under way, does know these things, and will tell you, and the builder, if things are not as they should be. That doesn’t sound like a villain to me!

I had a garage built from vibracrete, for which I got all the necessary planning permission. As the job was completing the building inspector turned up and first thing he did was measure the thickness of the roof beams- it turns out that half the garages he sees half roof beams that are too thin for the purpose. I would not have known that until the roof collapsed on my car (the beams on my garage were to code but if they were not I would have not known to even check my self).

To the Wendy house industry, the first rule of planning permission is that you don’t talk about planning permission!

And this is industry wide, planning permission is that which shall not be named. I once brought this up in a meeting with the management of a very large manufacturer which had just changed hands, I proposed, having reviewed their web site, that the biggest issue out there was on planning permission, so why not include a guide on their web site? Some head nodding, and murmured assents from the new owners… until… the old hand in the room said, “That’s a really bad idea, we’d never get any more business.”

So here’s Rule number 1…

Rule #1

Never, ever take the advice of the Wendy house company for granted when it comes to planning permission. The reputable ones will at least give you an honest answer to a direct question, but they are not likely to volunteer information, and they might not fully understand the regulations themselves- its a complex issue. If you don’t believe me, try to read the by-laws for planning! Don’t get me wrong, they won’t mislead you, and they are experts at what they do, but what they do is build Wendy houses, not get planning permission.

But the disreputable ones might outright lie to you to get your money.

Here’s the truth, you don’t want to go through the horrible process of getting planning approval, and the Wendy house companies want your money as soon possible. They will build your structure for you, planning permission or no because they know that if they insist that permission is in place before they begin, then you will find a competitor who will do it without.

Which bring us to

Rule #2

At the end of the day, its your Wendy house, on your property, and its your responsibility to make sure its legal.

And its you who will have to face the consequences if it isn’t!

Those consequences could be severe, from a wrap on the wrist, to fines, to having to pull down the structure (at your expense), to actual jail time!

So what is the position regarding planning and Wendy houses?

Rule #3

The planning by-laws are very clearly laid out in a very legal document… which the average person is neither going to have the time nor the patience to read, and probably wouldn’t understand it even if they did.

You could ask a lawyer for help understanding them, but by far the easiest, cheapest way of getting clarification on if you need planning permission or not is to go to your local planning department and ask them. Or you might be able to get your local building inspector to come to site and go through with you what you want to do and what the planning implications are. They are not the enemy, they are there to help you!

Planning permission is a complex issue, you might not even need formal planning approval, but it is in your interest to have some form of documentation that you asked and were told you didn’t need it rather than assuming, or taking the advice of someone not from the planning department. But you cannot possibly base your decision on stuff you found on the internet- there are so many factors to do with size, location, usage, to name but a few.

Here are a few things that you can take from the by-laws:

• there is no mention of ‘wendy house’ in the by-laws; if you build a property to live in it then it doesn’t matter if its made out of gingerbread and is held up by mushrooms, its a residential dwelling.
• wendy houses are not classed as `temporary structures` just because they have no foundations.
• even if they are classed as temporary because of their use they are still subject to planning regulation.

Rule #4

Even if you get away with not having planning permission for years, if you come to sell the property that the illegal structure is on it will catch up with you. Either you won’t be able to sell it, or you will have to pull down the structure. You might get retrospective planning approval, but don’t count on it, and it is going to cost you.

Unwritten Rule #1

Not all parts of Cape Town are created equal!

I know of one manufacturer who won’t build a thing in some areas without planning because he knows that every project will be stalled as soon as the inspector passes by, if everything isn’t in place, but he will build in others without a second thought because nobody seems to care. In some areas the building inspector will be poking his nose in as soon as a van turns up on site to start work.

If you build something without planning permission in some neighbourhoods, the chances of your neighbour grassing you up are high. And don’t rely on the fact that your current neighbours are your best friends and they don’t mind- people move, new neighbours might not be so understanding, and they might look into whether the structure is legal, because some people think like that, and have the money to be able to find out.

Unwritten Rule #2

Even if its a neighbourhood where a big blind eye is being turned to planning you can’t rely on that lasting for ever- what if there is a crackdown? If its a garden shed you might not care so much, but what if you invested R200,000 in a small home? Not only are you out of pocket if they tell you to pull it down, you are also now homeless! All because you wanted to save some time and a few hundred rands?

Some structures are erected for business purposes- do you really want to jeopardize your business for sake of a little bit of time and money?

Unwritten Rule #3

You might be worrying over nothing- you might go to the planning office and be told all you need is to fill in a form so you can get some kind of clearance letter or something.

Unwritten Rule #4

90% of the people who have read this article are just going to ignore the advice anyway because the guy from Dodgy Wendys told them they will be fine without planning permission so why pay over the fees and go through all that waiting for approval?

There are so many variables that will make your project different from any other that it seems pointless even trying to make a list of what and when, simply make a quick trip to your planning office… or don’t, its your call, just as long as you are aware that its your responsibility to comply with the laws, and its you who will be liable if you choose to ignore them.

The post Do you need planning permission for a Wendy house in Cape Town? The truth! appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

There are few places in South Africa, and the world, more beautiful than the Cape Peninsula. This slice of heaven is the perfect place to stay in a holiday home. Incredible natural beauty and brilliant attractions will ensure an unforgettable holiday experience.

Comfort and style

A holiday home in the Cape Peninsula offers you all the comforts of home while situating you in a place of incredible beauty. Waking up on your first full day of holiday is often the best bit of the whole experience – you have the whole holiday ahead of you, so make it even better by waking up in genuine comfort in a holiday home. The self-catered nature of a holiday home gives you the option of eating cheaply when you want, just like the locals do.

Amazing animals

Cape Point Nature Reserve is located at the tip of the Cape Peninsula, 60km south-west of Cape Town. Here, you will find all manner of animals wandering about, enjoying the weather. The eland is the largest type of antelope in the reserve, weighing up to 800kg, and it held a special place in the hearts of the San people who lived in the area before Dutch settlers arrived. You can also see the Cape mountain zebra if you’re lucky – they are quite shy and so will tend to stay away from people. Also in the area are chacma baboons and beautiful snakes like the puff adder.

At the smaller end of the scale, you can see the angulate tortoise near the shore and the adorable Rooikat wild cat. There are also 250 different species of birds living in the reserve, so make sure that you bring your binoculars!

Unbeatable views

Sheer cliff faces, thick vegetation, beautiful blue waters and much more is just waiting to be snapped by you. In this age of social media, everyone wants the best holiday photos, and you would be hard-pressed to beat the photo opportunities available in the Cape Peninsula. Videos are also a great way of documenting your experience, so make sure that you use quality video editing software. Biteable offers great software – you can download their free video maker.

Beaches and bays

The area has some of the world’s most pristine beaches. Queen’s Beach is a relatively quiet beach with rock pools that hide all manner of sea creatures, including starfish. Danger Beach, named as such for its large waves, is a popular surfing location and offers warmer water due to it touching the Indian Ocean. For a wilder beach experience, Platboom (flat tree in Afrikaans) Beach is an unspoiled stretch of beach that boasts birds as well as the occasional ostrich or baboon. At False Bay, you can go cage diving with great white sharks, if you’re brave enough. Smitswinkel Bay is a beautiful picnic spot, and the waters boast five wrecks – perfect for diving and snorkeling trips.

Conclusion

The Cape Peninsula offers so much, whether you stay in a holiday home or any accommodation you choose. The comforts of a holiday home allow you to concentrate on and appreciate the beauty of the local area without spending too much.

The post Why you should stay in a holiday home in the Cape Peninsula appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

Recently we have had a spate of knife attacks in the peninsula area. Some have turned fatal, and whilst there is a big surge of outrage and media attention in the days following the crimes, that dies away pretty quickly, and we all soon forget. The investigations then grind to a halt as more cases are piled on top of them.

However, it seems, that the loudest voice wins, so if we can in some way maintain public pressure on those investigating, maybe, just maybe we can prevent them from dropping to the bottom of the paper work file, becoming just another statistic. This forum was involved some years ago in pressuring the authorities to upgrade safety on Kommetjie Road, in Fish Hoek, and maybe, we as a community can come together and do this again, this time with the stakes maybe that bit higher. And this may mean that the job is that much harder, but in the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, “we choose not to do this things because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

Anyway, the email :

Dear Ms Samuels,

Another sad, and tragically fatal, stabbing over theft of a personal item in the formerly quiet area of the South Peninsula of Cape Town. The latest incident which occurred this morning at the side of the Fish Hoek sports field has resulted in the death of an elderly gentleman, over the theft of a bicycle. This follows similarly fatal crimes on the mountains above Kalk Bay and on Longbeach in Kommetjie, as well as a seemingly endless stream of not fatal (though still harrowing) incidents involving knife attacks in the area.

As a community it seems that we are initially shocked by the incidents, and demand action is taken, and immediate response is usually positive, however, events are soon pushed from our minds, and often, though the incidents get media attention, the follow up is never reported (and sometimes, even arrests, and trials are never covered in the media).

And therefore, my question (or request) from you is this…

As members of the public, whom the police and other authorities supposedly serve, how can we get updated on the progress of investigations? How can we keep abreast of developments, how can we actually keep those investigating accountable, and not allow what are high profile incidents when they occur, peter out through public and private apathy? What are our rights within a framework of public knowledge balanced with the need to maintain the integrity of and investigation. Is there, in fact, any public forum, or process by which we can inform ourselves of such things?

As a community we are shocked and little numbed by these incidents, but it is clear through social media channels that there is a growing frustration at the feeling of impotency in dealing with what is starting to feel like a tidal wave. We are seeking to mobilize but have no clear idea of how to do this effectively (and I can tell you now, that it will not be long before ‘patrols’ are put forward as the answer- which will lead to some form of vigilantism, and all the problems that that will incur) and therefore any advice or direction that your department can provide us would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Russell Hepworth

Cape Point Chronicle.

The post Letter to the Department of Community Safety in the Western Cape Government appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

“If you are tired of the Cape Point Peninsula then you are tired of life!”

From the sprawling, affluent suburbs of Constantia and Rondebosch, all the way down to the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean at the very tip of Africa, the Cape Point Peninsula has it all.

The post Cape Point Chronicle Welcomes You appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

Ok, I’ll be honest here, this is a bit of an experiment. I am trying to see if I can get my page to rank well on local searches for plumbers cape town southern suburbs. In the process I hope to build a platform that will allow any local who is doing a search for plumbers cape town southern suburbs to see a list of recommended plumbers in the comments for this post.

Do you have a recommendation for plumbers cape town southern suburbs?

If you have a recommendation for plumbers cape town southern suburbs then just add a comment below with who you use and trust. Make sure that you give your name and area, the work that was done and a rough idea of costs, how satisfied you were with the work and of course the contact details of your plumber. If you are one of the many plumbers cape town southern suburbs then please be sure to put a comment, but be honest, don’t pretend to be a customer, use the comment as a sales pitch and tell us all why someone who is searching “plumbers cape town southern suburbs” should choose you.

Have the opposite to say about plumbers cape town southern suburbs?

Maybe one of the plumbers cape town southern suburbs listed did bad work for you, or you have had a very bad experience with a particular trades man. If so, then add that too, but remember that this isn’t Hello Peter, and I couldn’t care less if you need restitution. This is a resource to help people find a tradesman if they are searching ‘plumbers cape town southern suburbs’, not a consumer help desk.

Why am I doing this for plumbers cape town southern suburbs

I am currently planning on doing some work to the house and find the whole process of finding tradesmen tedious, time consuming and a bit hit and miss. It seems to me that there is not enough accountability in the area for a lot of small businesses, that quality is not necessarily rewarded and that the internet is a much underused resource. So I picked the search ‘plumbers cape town southern suburbs’ and started this page so that anyone making that search might be helped in someway. I also hope that good tradesmen (in this case plumbers cape town southern suburbs) will get more business and ultimately the bad ones will start to dissappear so that we, the consumer, are not as exposed to poor work practices.

So buck the trend and actually get behind something that can help us all in the long run and add a comment regarding your favourite plumbers cape town southern suburbs.

The post plumbers cape town southern suburbs appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

What I realized when I thought the subject through was that we were approaching it in the same way that a very religious person would approach a discussion with another religiously motivated person, but of a different faith. We had the same level of self-righteousness, and were willing to back up our belief in any way necessary. And what occurred to me when I re-evaluated was that neither of us was wrong, and neither of us was right.

It is probably the single most important decision that you take on, determining the future of your children. What a huge responsibility- and it comes with the requisite amount of stress. You not only have to find the right school (and lets not forget that budget plays a large part in this) but  now you also have to choose the correct educational model that will suit your child.

And I know that this is an important issue for the parents out there because with out a shadow of a doubt the articles on this site that get the most feedback and interaction are the ones that I wrote regarding our search for schools.

Having been involved with a number of local education facilities recently, and the discussions with friends, I have come to realize that there is vast number of different educational options open to the parents of the Cape Point Peninsula, and that variety is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, it is great to be able to cherry pick your child’s education, however, that level of choice also comes with its own associated stress in making the correct decision.

Whether its traditional schools, Montessori, or religious based institutions, you have to make a choice that fits both your expectations, budget, and beliefs. At the end of the day you and your children are going to have to live with the results.

For some it is an easy choice, maybe your child is going to the school you did, maybe you live close to a good school, or your budget dictates your choices. However, for others, the choice is harder, and possibly the more thought you give it the harder the decision becomes.

And lets not fall into the trap that once the choice is made the decision is set in stone!

We had a real issue with our daughters first nursery/pre school. For various reasons we moved her to another facility. It wasn’t a decision that we made lightly, but it proved to be the correct on.

Until now I have always kept this web site restricted to personal experience. The subject of education has been no different, although I have always encouraged others, through comments on the site, to challenge my findings- I find the debate healthy. Now, following my recent ‘discussions’ with other parents I have decided to build a better resource to allow people in the area to make better decisions about education, to find out more about the choices that are available, and to be exposed to different philosophies in child education.

You can view the guide to education southern peninsula by following the link.

It is part of a larger planned expansion to the Cape Point Chronicle which will hopefully build a more valuable resource for the people of the southern suburbs of Cape Town.

The post Education choices in the Cape Point Peninsula appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

Great White Sharks are present in False Bay throughout the year. Their behaviour and location is fairly regular and predictable, being mainly dictated by the habits and availability of prey. This level of predictability makes it easier to determine when are the best times to go and see these magnificent creatures doing what they do best- swimming around and eating stuff.

Although there are Great White Sharks present in False Bay all year round it is obviously easier to find them if they are all in one place. False Bay is a large expanse of water. To find something even as big as a Great White in that amount of water, if you don’t have a good idea of where they are, is going to be nigh on impossible.

For much of the year False Bay’s Great White Sharks are primarily found hanging out around Seal Island. Seal Island is approximately 14.5km east north east from Simon’s Town, and just over 6km directly off the beaches of Strandfontein.

Its a bit of grandiose to call it an Island, spit of rock sticking out of the sea does it more justice, but it is home to a very large colony of Cape Fur Seals. And if there is one thing that False Bay Great White Sharks like eating more than cape fur seals its juvenile cape fur seals (Great White Sharks don’t do much to help their image – baby seals? Come on guys, find something ugly to eat).

The combination of the seals leaving the rocks, the relatively deep drop off into the waters of the bay, and the shark’s preference for ambush hunting make False Bay a unique place to view great whites. The sharks lurk in the depths, the seals swim on the surface. Great white sharks can reach speeds of up to 40km/h in short bursts, and they weigh as much as a family car. The physics are the same which is why the sharks burst out of the water in pursuit of the seals.

Breaching is not unique to False Bay, though nowhere else is it seen as frequently, or the sharks use it as consistently to catch food. It is certainly what our great white sharks are famous for. And this type of predation only happens around Seal Island at certain times of the year.

For these reasons the great white shark watching and cage diving season only really gets going in February, and then only if sightings have been made at Seal Island.

The Great White Sharks Season in False Bay

In February and March the sharks will interact with boats. Great white sharks are inquisitive by nature (I guess if you are the 3000kg apex predator you don’t need to be too afraid of anything) and so do come and check out the boats, which is great if you want to get in the cage and see these creatures up close and personal. However, you are unlikely to see predation, particularly the iconic ‘air jaws’.

Late February into March are also among the times most likely to see perfect sea conditions. False Bay tends to be a bit bouncy in Summer because a strong south easterly wind called the Cape Doctor tends to blow most days. This tends to die away towards the end of summer, losing its strength, and early autumn is really too early for Atlantic storms, so really, if you don’t have the best sea legs then this can be a good time to get your Shark cage diving in.

By April and into May the shark activity at Seal Island is starting to pick up though breaching is still not happening with any great frequency. Some of the boat operators can induce the behaviour using decoys, but it is pretty much hit and miss, and you shouldn’t be thinking that you are going to see it in just one trip out to the island. Its going to be luck rather than anything else.

Although you will have some valuable interactions with Great White Sharks between February and June the main activity at Seal Island is in June, July and August, with the predation beginning to tail off in September.

This is when breaching is most likely to be seen. The years seal pups are taking to the water for the first time and have to run a gauntlet to get to open water. They are safe on the rocks, and they are relatively safe in open water, but the small area of ocean in between the two can be deadly for the new pups.

In a straight line sprint even adult seals cannot out-swim a great white shark, however, nature holds balance by making the seal more agile, and slightly more cunning, than the sharks. The sharks may be faster than the seal, but if the seal knows the shark is there it is a different story because the seals can swim rings around a great white for fun (and have been observed doing this). In the pursuit of speed the shark has had to sacrifice agility. So the trick for the shark is to not be seen!

Seals aren’t dumb though, they know the sharks are there, even the pups have an idea that something lurks in the depths. Knowing about them and being able to do something about it are two very different things. Unfortunately the odd pup doesn’t make it to the open water (or conversely back to the rock), and ends in a glorious explosion of power and grace as a 4.5m, 1000kg+ torpedo leaves the water. Sometimes they hit the seal, sometimes they don’t, either way its the same if you are stood on a boat watching.

Of course, the shark stands more chance if the visibility in the water is lower. Although they can cover in excess of 10m/s good visibility can give the seal the edge, so the sharks favour early mornings. The seals are clearly visible as silhouettes against the sky above, but the waters below are still gloomy.

You can continue to see great white sharks into September though by October natural predation is beginning to tail off. From October until January the great whites tend to disappear from the waters around Seal Island. The easy meals of seal pups is drying up and other food sources start to look more attractive to the sharks. Some start patrolling inshore waters, scaring the heeby jeebies out of swimmers, others just disappear into the blue yonder. It used to be thought that Great White Sharks were restricted to very small geographical areas, however, tagging has revealed that sharks tagged and released in False Bay have swam as far as Australia, and returned, within a single year.

Whilst the behaviour of the great white sharks in False Bay is seasonal and somewhat predictable there are times when they really surprise us. If you want to come and see these marvellous predators in their natural environment you need to bear in mind that it is the wild, and open ocean. Unlike safari parks who fence in the animals, fully in the knowledge that at least they are in there somewhere, the same cannot be said for the sharks. Sometimes, even when they are supposed to be at Seal Island, the boat operators cannot find a single shark. This has been known to go on for days. Usually there is no easy explanation for this, though it is likely that they have found something easier to eat than seals- such as a dead whale. The whale carcass can be miles away, but word of an easy meal like that gets around, and the sharks will stay with it until they have had their fill (or more likely the food source is gone).

The post Great White Sharks Season- the best time to go Cage Diving appeared first on Cape Point Chronicle.

We should have been terrified by the move, but we simply weren’t. For us it was a complete ‘no brainer’. We were convinced that Fish Hoek was the place.

What did we base that on? Not much actually- we were looking for somewhere around Cape Town that was closing enough so we could commute if need be, but not so close that we lived in a concrete jungle; had its own amenities such as schools and shops; suitable properties within our price range; and preferably near the sea (OK, the whole of Cape Town is ‘near the sea’ compared to Bloemfontein- lets just say that walking distance was a preference).

We should have also been looking at things like crime rates but it didn’t really bother us too much, we figured that if we saw an area and it looked dodgy we would make that decision at the time.

Gordon’s Bay was considered for a short while, but dismissed because it just too far from the city bowl.

After a ‘love at first site’ visit to the far south on a recce (a poetic moment in which I stopped on Ou Kaapse Weg and looked down the Fish Hoek valley, with False Bay glittering in the distance) the decision was made, we would concentrate on Fish Hoek as our primary target.

Now we are 10 years down the line. Our family has grown from 2 to 3 (not counting dogs and cats) with our daughter now in the school system, and it seems like a good time to reflect on the realities of our decision to move to Fish Hoek.

Living in Fish Hoek

1. The truth about crime

Lets talk about the elephant in the room first. Crime.

It seems that the world (and that includes South Africans) is obsessed with the violent crime levels in South Africa. Everybody we know overseas who has not been here is going to at some point ask us “but what about the crime?”

Yes, there are areas in Cape Town I would not venture into for any reason, there are others where I would not wish to break down, but I can say that about many big cities around the world (and I have been to a lot of them).

Since I avoid those areas, and can only go on third hand information, I am not in a position to say. However, here is our experience of a city that has the reputation of being one of the most violent and dangerous places to visit in the world.

My crime statistics for the last 10 years

Violent crime perpetrated against me: 0

Violent crime perpetrated against my family: 0

Violent crime perpetrated against someone I know personally: 0

Violent crime that I have witnessed being perpetrated against someone else: 0

Times that I have felt that my life was genuinely in threat from criminal activity: 0

Property crime perpetrated against us: 2 (both thefts from the house resulting from us leaving windows open while we were out, and one of those only resulted in a single wallet being taken)

Do I consider Fish Hoek to be a safe place to live: yes.

Do I consider Fish Hoek to have low crime: yes.

WHAT!?!?

It’s true, things happen, they happen every where in the world these days, and I am going to explain my reasoning.

My parents live in a small town in the north of England (its called Castleford- Google map it, former mining town, now home to one of the largest outlet parks in Europe). Basically, if it isn’t nailed down they will steal it- leaving your garage door open while you turn round will result in things going missing. Admittedly it is usually petty stuff, but in the time I have lived in Fish Hoek my parents, their friends, and neighbours have been the victims of crime on a regular basis.

For a period of about 6 months I didn’t even have a lock on my garage door, and it was full of tools- and at that time the garage was open to the street (we remodelled our front garden and now need a gate across). Our property also has two small flatlets that we are continually forgetting to lock. Nothing has ever been taken from these places. In fact, they don’t even show evidence of ever having being cased.

The perception presented to the outside world is that we live in constant fear, not daring to leave our houses, dashing to our cars, driving to secure mall parking, and scooting home hoping to not be hijacked along the way. It simply isn’t the case here in the far south, I walk around Fish Hoek without feeling threatened, or in any kind of danger. I cannot talk about other parts of the city, or the country, but I do know that right here feels safe, secure, and a good place to raise a family.

2. Commuting to Cape Town

When we first moved to Fish Hoek my partner was working in a city hotel, and therefore doing a commute 5 days a week. Her experience of that was not a positive one. A large proportion of the community do travel ‘over the mountain’ to work, and with only two viable roads in and out (one of which is currently under reconstruction) it can be a frustrating experience.

It is quite a drive into the city, especially in heavy rush hour traffic, however, one of the things that we learned living here is just how much industry and commerce happens to the south of the Cape Town city bowl.

I have always been based from home since moving here, however, my partner has had various positions requiring her to travel varying distances from a few kilometers all the way to the cbd. She currently works in Claremont as a travel agent, and uses the train.

Public transport is not the best in Cape Town. My partner is lucky in that her place of work is a short distance from a main line metro station, and it saves her a lot of time, money, and effort. Yes, the metro system is far from perfect, however the city and other stake holders seem to be very keen on addressing the lack in public transport infrastructure. Recent additions to the MyCity bus links, spending on new infrastructure on the metro rail and other upgrades show good signs for the Cape Town public transportation system.

3. Schools and amenities

This was one of the main reasons that we chose Fish Hoek, its schools have an amazing reputation. Our daughter is currently in Grade R at Fish Hoek Primary school. She will progress from there to Grade 1 at the same school and then finally move over to Fish Hoek High School where she will matriculate (hopefully). Both schools are within easy walking distance of our house (in fact I can see the primary school from the house) and Fish Hoek High School has one of the best matric results history in the country. What more could you ask for?

And we are truly blessed with our own municipal department where you can sort out rates issues and transport matters. A traffic opened up recently at the municipal office so that the only thing we are currently missing is our planning department, which was moved to Plumstead just after we moved here.

4. Sharks

We addressed the elephant, now lets talk about the shark in the room. This is the other favourite among foreign friends. They seem to think that if we dive into the sea to escape the dangerous gangs of criminals roaming the streets then we will instantly be devoured by man eating monsters.

Yes, there are massive great white sharks in False Bay, and yes, they do regularly patrol the waters just off Fish Hoek beach, and ok, yes, there have been a couple of fatal attacks during the time we have lived here.

However:

first, we have an excellent shark spotting program that alerts bathers of the presence of sharks in the area;

second, we now an exclusion net that is put out to create a safe corner of the beach during busy periods;

and third, you have to ignore all this, and other good advise, swim in areas with a higher likelihood of attacks (deep channels, river outflow areas etc) at dangerous times (in the evening, early morning, or when spotters are not on duty) and still be incredibly unlucky.

Seriously, its not even a consideration amongst locals.

5. Gods waiting room

At some point, some wag christened Fish Hoek “God’s waiting room” due to the high average age of the population. Its another favourite among detractors who have never set foot in the place.

And I have to say that it is again undeserved. It is my experience of Fish Hoek that it is a thriving community full of people of all ages. Yes, there are a few retirement communities, but it doesn’t feel like you are living in one.

6. Its a Dry Town

This one is actually true, due to a historical by-law, Fish Hoek is a dry town- with two bars and several licensed restaurants smack in the middle of the town. The only thing the town doesn’t have is a bottle store, and the supermarkets are also banned from stocking alcohol.

If you enjoy a tipple this isn’t a problem because the town line ends just to the east of Longbeach Shopping Mall, where there is a bottle store and supermarkets can stock alcohol.

Were we right to move to Fish Hoek?

When we first came to live in Fish Hoek we seemed to spend a lot more time going over the mountain for various things, however, over the years we have found that there is less and less reason to go. I can go for months without leaving the peninsula.

And I have to say I don’t want to leave the peninsula. If I do have to go somewhere else I feel relieved to be back. This is home now and I cannot see it any other way. Things change, but it is going to take something drastic to get me out of the far south peninsula.

I’m surrounded by nature, can take walks on the beach, live in a fantastic community, and feel as safe and secure as it seems possible in the world today. Is it perfect, probably not, but then, where is?

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