Visch Hoek (the old Dutch original spelling, meaning ‘Fish Corner’) was a popular fishing spot back in the 1600’s. Simon van der Stel, then Governor of Cape Town, used to come here to fish and even built a house for the fishermen to stay in. By 1725 Visch Baai (Fish Bay) had become a regular post for the Dutch East India Company.

Getting from Kalk Bay to Simon’s Town was a bit daunting back then with the Silvermine river being in the way (not to mention some quicksand too). People had to go inland first and then turn back towards Visch Baai. Click on the old map to see the river.

When the English took over the Cape and Lord Charles Somerset was Governor, a road was finally built across Visch Baai, making life a lot easier for travelers. In 1818 Andries Bruyns received a grant for the farm with some conditions attached:

• Fishing rights were free for everyone
• The beach was to remain open to everyone
• No public winehouse was allowed

This last condition was to prevent the delay of wagon deliveries to Simon’s Town due to stopovers for thirsty drivers. Drinking and driving was obviously frowned upon even back then. Rightly so!

The land was sold several times after that and Visch Hoek was even used as a whaling station (thankfully that stopped too – now the whales are a great attraction when they come into the bay to have their calves). Fish Hoek Farm, as it was then, was later divided into 3 sections:

• Lot A: The Great Whalery – the stretch from Sunnycove to Fish Hoek beach corner
• Lot B: The Haring Fishery – from the shore inland towards Noordhoek (‘haring’ is Dutch for herring)
• Lot C: Kleintuin – (little garden) the area now known as Clovelly

In 1883 the land was bought by spinster (at 51) Hester de Kock, who married local Noordhoek farmer Jacob Isaac de Villiers in 1901. Hester realized that Fish Hoek was becoming a popular beach and started to rent out rooms to visitors. Today there are many accommodation facilities in Fish Hoek and the beach is still one of the most popular beaches of the Cape Peninsula. Both Hester and Jacob are buried in the graveyard next to the NG Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) on Kommetjie Road in Fish Hoek.

By1940 there were enough people living in Fish Hoek for it to be declared a municipality, but today it falls under the City of Cape Town. These days you can also buy a drink (of the alcoholic variety) in restaurants and pubs, but there is still no bottle store in the town. And Fish Hoek’s traffic police like to check on the drinking and driving with random road blocks, so driving drunk is still not allowed.

We met at The Meeting Place in St George’s Street (the main road through Simonstown), a place that is a coffee shop, lunch restaurant and knick-knack shop all in one. We sat upstairs overlooking the Simon’s Town yacht basin and just enjoyed the scenery, the coffee and the breakfast. I love coffee, and I’m glad to say it was really good and very importantly, hot. I had French toast with bacon and maple syrup for breakfast – not something I’d normally have at home – and would recommend it.

The shop downstairs is just a delight to browse through and I asked permission to take some photographs – the Christmas decorations on sale were too cute to walk past!

I decided to walk through Simonstown and gather some information from local restaurants and art galleries for the False Bay Accommodation website, but just ambled around the town enjoying it along the way. Simonstown Waterfront is always pleasant and Bertha’s has outside tables right at the water’s edge, perfect for a day like this. The Harbour View coffee shop is upstairs with tables inside and outside, although no-one was sitting inside (surprised? Not…).

The small boats make perfect subjects for artists to paint, and there’s fishing off the pier, an option to take the Water Taxi to Fish Hoek or do a tour of the SAS Assegaai submarine. Didn’t see any of the kayaks at the pier though, so I presume they were all out on the water.

Walking up on the sea side just below St George’s Street, I passed the Heritage Museum, where you can find out more about the Cape Malay history. They are closed on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays though. Back up to St George’s Rd where you can visit the Simon’s Town Warrior Toy Museum and Collector’s Shop – loads of little cars and models and toys! The 2 elderly ladies at the entrance I enquired from as to whether they had a website or email address, were adamant that they were not in the slightest bit interested in computers and had no intention of going that route either!

Further up is the NG Kerk, a lovely old church (with a Roman date I still need to work out!) and opposite on the other side of St George’s Street is the Catholic church. Back down past the library which I had never been in before but which I think must be the nicest library I’ve been in with it’s stone walls and models of old ships.

The Simon’s Bay Fine Art Exhibition was on this weekend in the library hall, so I stopped in there. The exhibition is on at specific dates and I will get more details on these from the organizers, with whom I ended up having an at least 20 min chat. The artists exhibiting there are all local, and one of the artists could not only paint, but was musically gifted too – he was playing the keyboard as background music to the exhibition!

By this time I had blisters on my feet – that’s what you get if you wear the wrong shoes. I stopped in at Larijworks where you can buy nautical art pieces (upstairs, entrance in a side alley), Dixon-Reid art gallery, Ryno Swart Fine Art gallery and Heather Auer Art & Sculpture (the latter being in of the Waterfront shops, the others all on St George’s Street).

My feet being sore by now it was time to go home – 5 hours well spent in a really lovely part of Cape Town. What pleased me most is the friendliness of the people I chatted to, which is what I believe one should always be anyway, but even more so when you’re dealing with visitors to your town. Next time I want to go and have lunch at the Salty Sea Dog – super friendly!

False Bay: Simonstown (the railway track is not really this curved, just the panorama photo!)

Below is a gallery of some of the photographs from my walk.

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 He was successful in his endeavours and as a result South Africa now has a floating submarine museum in Simon’s Town. For those of us that have no idea of what life on a submarine is like, it is a fascinating visit. (Note: Not if you are claustrophobic however – then it’s better if you wait on the pier or enjoy a drink at Bertha’s while the rest of your family/friends go and explore!)

I don’t know if you have any idea of the size of a submarine or what to expect when you descend into one, but it was nothing like I imagined.  It is a large hunk of black metal on the outside (see pics), and inside is basically more metal (grey thankfully, not black) and an array of electronics and dials and switches and screens. Pardon my lack of knowledge on the technical terms for these gadgets!

 How they knew what was for what I don’t know, but I suppose you could say the same for the pilot of a jumbo jet. A degree of some sorts I presume is required, or perhaps you learn to handle 5 knobs and dials first time around, then progress to 10 and so on. Either way, the SAS Assegaai is now old technology. It would be interesting to go inside a modern submarine now though, so I could compare, but I doubt whether that is possible. Anyone?

From the technology of how to work the submarine to to the plain old daily personal living on one… from a female perspective it must be a nightmare. Privacy aspect: zero. Maybe men aren’t bothered so much by a lack of privacy, but it would’ve driven me nuts. I wonder if there were any female sailors on board, and if there are any today?

Never mind sleeping next to a set of missiles. How well do you sleep with bomb under your bed? Ok, so the missiles weren’t under the beds, but 3m away isn’t far off! No thanks.  How these navals guys cope I don’t know, but I admire their willingness to do so for the sake of serving their country.

Masterchef contestants would’ve had a hard time creating meals in this kitchen (see gallery below)! Duck ‘le Orange anyone? Or Bangers and Mash? Certainly no room for more than 1 chef!

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The damage to the railway line was caused by stormy seas breaking up the sea walls that hold up the tracks, making the foundations too weak to carry the weight of the trains. The rock that was needed to do the repairs was sourced in Somerset West and railed through. It was a rather big and lengthy task, but early 2011 the line was reopened.

The train has also had a name change since – driving along the coast from Kalk Bay to Fish Hoek one Sunday I saw it again and noticed that the name had changed from City of Cape Town to Jenny. Less formal I suppose.

The train is made up of wooden vintage coaches dating from 1922 to 1938, with a lounge car with a full cash bar service. The locomotive, a steam locomotive Class 24, was built in 1949. For details on times and cost of riding the steam train, see Atlantic Rail.

Don’t know why, but I just find these trains fascinating. Like vintage cars. And submarines (article to follow on this). Living in Fish Hoek I hear the familiar whistle of the train as it comes around the corner from Kalk Bay into Fish Hoek, and then back again later in the afternoon.

The trip is worth it as the railway track is right against the coastline from Muizenberg to Simon’s Town. If you are wanting to do something different with your family, or you are a steam train enthusiast, or making a movie, take a trip on Cape Town’s only privately operated steam train.

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© Photographs by InSteph Photography

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