False Bay
Wrong bayFind out more about this gem in our mini guide to False Bay.
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The False Bay (Afrikaans Valsbaai) is a lake and lake in Cape Hangklip (Dutch/African for "Hang(ing)-rock") and the Cape Peninsula in the far southwest of Africa. About 20 kilometers across the Cape Flats in the northern part is a smaller, C-shaped bay - Table Bay - with Robben Island as a passage.
Cape Town's main boroughs are located around Table Bay. Devil's Peak, Table Mountain, Lion's Head and Signal Hill make up an amphitheater on the west side of the Cape Flats. The outskirts of Greater Cape Town now extend over the Cape Flats of Table Bay to the banks of False Bay and along the east side of the Cape Peninsula for many kilometers.
False Bay was used early (at least three hundred years ago) by yachtsmen who mistook the bay for Table Bay in the south. Schirmer says the disorientation was caused because the yachtsmen who returned from the eastern (Dutch-Eastern India ) first mixed up Cape Point and Cape Hangklip, which are somewhat similar in shape.
The early portugese sailors knew Hangklip as Cabo Falso or False Cape, and the name of the bay is taken from the CAP. The False Bay is subject to southeast wind in hot Agulhas currents in southeastern direction and its water is about 6°C hotter than Table Bay.
False Bay is good for good catching and sometimes there are large fishing grounds at False Bay, an oil-rich, barracuda-like game. It is very common but perilous to go fishin' on the rocks on both sides of the bay. Cruising is also a favourite pastime in False Bay.
False Bay yacht club includes the False Bay Yacht Club in Simon's Town, the Fish Hoek Bay surfing club on the Fish Hoek coast, the Gordon's Bay Yacht Club in Gordon's Bay Harbour and the Hottentots Holland Bay surfing club in Strand - to protect the bay. Simon's Town's renowned marine stronghold is located on the bay, about half way along the Cape Peninsula.
Throughout World War II, many heavier artillery was buried in cement shelters at various points along the hilly banks of False Bay to prevent attack on Simon's Town. Even though the city' s coastal developments along some parts of False Bay are intensive, much of the coastline is relatively untouched and intact.
Nitroglycerin exploded twice in the second half of the twentieth c. and sent huge shock waves across the bay, smashing the far banks' sashes. Palse Bay is remarkablely impoverished in pristine ports. Nearly the entire shelter for navigation and boats was provided by synthetic means (e.g. in Kalkbaai, Simon's Town and Gordon's Bay).