Known for its wild coastline, shipwrecks, surfing, seals and sandy dune beaches, Cape St Francis is a melting pot for nature lovers and fishermen, sun seekers and those enchanted by rugged beauty. It’s even inspired a cult movie.
A long, slender beam of light sweeps over the rooftops in rhythmic intervals, like an outstretched arm caressing the village of Cape St Francis. From dusk until dawn, every night since 1878, the lighthouse on Seal Point has kept watch over this rugged coastline. The round, white tower of the lighthouse also represents the tallest masonry lighthouse along our seaboard.
Over 20 shipwrecks dot the immediate coast flanking Cape St Francis, bearing silent testimony to the harshness of this stretch of Indian Ocean coastline. Many street names in the village commemorate these shipwrecks, such as Queen of the West, Osprey, Bender and Panaghia. It is said that Seal Point, where the lighthouse is, is one of the “corners” of the South African coastline where ships have to alter course, so they often choose to come close inshore to save time… And sometimes they come just a little too close.
Even since the lighthouse was lit, ships have still come to grief here, more recently the yacht, **Genesis**, which struck rock and sank off Cape St Francis point in the early nineties (sadly, three lives were lost). Now a flashing beacon marks this Cape. More comedic was the 20 ton fishing boat **Barcelona** that simply drifted onto the beach one quiet night. The sea was so calm, the crew had no idea they were no longer afloat until they were woken by an amused angler the following morning. It’s said a good party was to blame.
“Weather is part of the allure of Cape St Francis,” says long-time local John Hay, who has lived in and around Cape St Francis for over 20 years. “We are so far south that we get all the bad weather,” he says, “but when the weather is good here, there’s nowhere better. Even one good day a month is worth it for me, because when it’s calm, it’s absolutely perfect.”
John owns a landscaping business and also runs a successful taxidermy operation specialising in fish mounts. “”People have woken up to the catch and release way of fishing,” says John, “so they match what they catch as closely as possible to the selection of moulds I have. But John has also created a fish species of his own. His Croconoster is renowned in fishing circles and is a grab bag of fish parts, combining bits of four different fish species into one. “The funny thing,” he laughs, “is that some people see the Croconoster and claim to have caught one.”
What is definitely caught in abundance off Cape St Francis is calamari, or “chokka” in local lingo. “Some nights it looks like a floating city out to sea, there are so many chokka boats,” says fisherman turned entrepreneur, Wayne Stanley. He’s also lived in St Francis for around 20 years and owns the successful Seal Point Lures. Wayne’s handcrafted lures can be found from Australia to the Gulf of Oman and he says that some of the lures are called “GT Ice-creams”, “because they’re white and game fish eat them like ice-cream”.
Cape St Francis is also legendary amongst the international surfing fraternity. It’s said to have the longest wave in the world, and in ideal weather conditions a single wave can span the entire width of the bay. Not surprising, then, that Cape St Francis acquired international surfing acclaim after featuring in the movie **Endless Summer**. But the cult status of St Francis amongst surfers is really as old as the waves. They fondly call this spot “Seals”.
It’s paradise too for nature and outdoor lovers. The Irma Booysen Flora Reserve is an area of magnificent coastal **fynbos**, and a walk along the wide sandy beach between Seal Point and Cape St Francis Point winds past ancient shell middens. An amble along the Wild Side, or Rocky Coast Farm, is again a completely different perspective of the area – it’s unspoiled and rugged. The fisherman’s path here hugs the coastline for miles, and the scenery of high rocks and deep Indian Ocean is just beautiful.
Along the entire coastline of St Francis, birdlife is prolific, with terns and Cape gannets diving for fish, while gulls, cormorants, and oyster catchers are also in abundance. Offshore, frolicking Southern Right whales are plentiful in winter and huge schools of dolphins surf the waves throughout the year. And then, of course, there’s the lighthouse… And those who live under its beam simply never want to be anywhere else in the world.
Contacts
St Francis Tourism – Tel: +27 42 294 0076;
email: info@stfrancistourism.co.za
John Hay’s fish taxidermy and landscaping – Tel: +27 84 513 4913;
email: rustic@mtnloaded.co.za
Seal Point Lures – Tel: +27 42 298 0003;
email: sealpointlures@yahoo.com
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