"Kalk Bay" a Kalkbaai Travel Page by mke1963

Kalk Bay - or Kalkbaai as it is sometimes known - has a fairly short but rich history. It is an attractive fishing village that has become an antiques village and home to a number of artists, and despite its tourist allure, it retains a strong local community. The town was founded originally around a lime kiln that was used to provide the lime whitewash for the houses around the cape, and its position was further strengthened by the creation of a harbour. The harbour was needed to transport building materials across False Bay to Simon?s Town where deeper water and shelter from the infamous south-easterly gales was identified as the most appropriate place for a harbour for big ships. As the cape mountains come right to the sea to the south of Kalk Bay (and at several other points near Fishhoek), it was decided to transport the materials by tracj as far as Kalk Bay and then across the water by boat.

Today the harbour is still a flourishing fishing harbour with more than 30 small boats based here. The breakwater is a popular place for line fishing, and on weekends there are hundreds of anglers sitting with their rods, hoping for that big catch.
As Kalk Bay faces east and has high mountains behind it, the town suffers from missing the last few hours of sunshine of each day, but this is easily forgiven by the glorious sunrise over the Hottentots-Holland mountain range to the east of False Bay.

One downside of Kalk Bay is the large numbers of homeless who patrol the streets during the day, constantly accosting people for money or cigarettes. They are attracted by the presence of a homeless shelter, just to the side of the railway station. Far from being critical of homeless people, I am more concerned at the lack of adequate care for them; some clearly suffer mental illnesses and should have daytime care, not just a bed for the night. The Kalk Bay community is remarkably tolerant of the large numbers of homeless who wander the streets of the town, but the begging is best described as aggressive and intimidating.