False Bay (Afrikaans Valsbaai) is a body of water defined by the Cape Peninsula (the finger-like projection on the right in the accompanying satellite image) and Cape Hangklip (Dutch/Afrikaans for “Hang-stone”) to the left (east). The rugged Hangklip is shown in the photograph to the left and below. Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope are very close to each other on the other side of the bay, at the extreme southern tip (top) of the Cape Peninsula.
The eastern and western shores of the bay are very rocky and even mountainous; in places large cliffs plunge into deep water. The northern shore, however, is defined by a very long, curving, sandy beach. This sandy, northern perimeter of the bay is the start of the area known as the Cape Flats; one can see the large expanses of wind-blown sand in the photograph. The bay is 30 kilometres wide at its widest point.
Some 20 kilometres across the Cape Flats one can see a smaller, C-shaped bay - Table Bay - with Robben Island guarding its entrance. The central districts of Cape Town lie around Table Bay; one can see the dark, semi-circular amphitheatre created by Devil’s Peak, Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. Suburbs of Greater Cape Town now stretch (inter alia) right across the Cape Flats to the shores of False Bay and down the eastern flank of the Cape Peninsula for many kilometres.
Diaz in 1488 first referred to the bay as “the gulf between the mountains” (Schirmer, 1980). The name “False Bay” was applied early on (at least three hundred years ago) by sailors who confused the bay with Table Bay to the north. According to Schirmer, the confusion arose because sailors returning from the east (The Dutch East Indies) initially confounded Cape Point and Cape Hangklip, which are somewhat similar in form.
Fishing is good in False Bay and at times there are large schools of snoek, an oily, barracuda-like fish that is much sought after locally. Angling from the rocky shores to either side of the bay is very popular but dangerous. The shape of the bay creates interference patterns in the swells that come in from the Southern Ocean and these patterns occasionally combine to cause “killer waves” to rise up without warning and to sweep the sandstone ledges well above the high tide mark. Scores of fishermen have been swept away and drowned over the years but this seems to have done little to dampen enthusiasm for the sport.
Sailing is also a popular recreational activity in False Bay. The “killer waves” mentioned earlier can wreak havoc with moored sailboats, especially if the moorings are chain based and on the leeward side when the south-easterly winds are howling up the bay. The sailing clubs in False Bay include False Bay Yacht Club in Simon’s Town, Fish Hoek Beach Sailing Club at the main beach in Fish Hoek, Gordon’s Bay Yacht Club in the Gordon’s Bay Harbour, and Hottentots Holland Beach Sailing Club in Strand.
There is a small granite island in the bay (not discernible in the image above) called Seal Island, which is one of the main breeding sites for the Cape Fur Seal. (Seal Island can be seen in a scan in the article on The Cape Flats). The seals attract many Great White Sharks and some of the biggest sharks ever seen have been spotted in these waters (see “The Submarine”). These sharks are famous for the manner in which they breach the surface of the water while attacking seals, sometimes jumping entirely out of the ocean. Despite this, swimming, surfing, yachting, SCUBA diving and so on are popular pastimes around the bay, at centres such as Muizenberg, Kalk Bay , Smitswinkel Bay , Strand and Gordon’s Bay. Shark attacks are not common but are by no means unknown.
The famous naval base of Simon’s Town is situated on the Bay, about half way down the length of the Cape Peninsula. During the Second World War many heavy guns were dug into concrete bunkers at various points along the mountainous shores of False Bay in order to deter attacks on Simon’s Town. The firepower and defensive situation of these weapons were formidable and no attack was ever mounted. The guns were removed decades ago but the decaying bunkers remain.
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