Simons Town, Cape Town

1 more image

Just around the corner from Simon’s Town visit Boulders Beach Penguin Colony where you can view these flightless birds at close range. For a more intimate experience, head to Boulders Beach where you can swim with the Penguins!

1 more image

The area known as the "Historic Mile”, is the heart of the town, boasting a great variety of architecturally interesting buildings, good restaurants (seafood is the speciality), antique shops and fine walks.

While at Simontown's waterfront area you may find yourself contemplating the statue of a large dog. The explanation will make for an interesting dinner table anecdote.

In 1814 the English colonial governors of the Cape turned Simonstown into a Naval Base and it has remained one ever since. In 1940, when the sailors' favourite Great Dane dog created a nuisance of himself on the trains, a request was sent to the British parliament asking for him to be enlisted in the Navy. Permission was granted and the dog was brought to the Recruiting Officer, who inquired: "Name?"

"Nuisance, Sir", the sailor replied.

"First name?"

"Just Nuisance, Sir," the sailor stated.

Able Seaman Just Nuisance was the only dog ever to hold rank in the Royal Navy and he became a legend in his own lifetime. He died prematurely after a boisterous leap from a moving vehicle but is immortalised in the life-sized statue in Simonstown's Jubilee Square.

1 more image

Simonstown (Afrikaans: Simonstad) is a village and a naval base in South Africa, near Cape Town. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been an important naval base and harbour (first for the Royal Navy and now the South African Navy). The town is named after Simon van der Stel, an early governor of the Cape Colony. The small harbour itself is not a particularly good natural harbour and is protected from swells by a breakwater that was built with thousands of huge blocks of sandstone quarried out of the face of the mountain above. Simon's Town is now in effect a suburb of greater Cape Town. It is the terminus of a railway line that runs south from the central business district of Cape Town. In places the railway line hugs the steep eastern shore of False Bay quite spectacularly and in bad weather foam from some heavy swells will fly up and wet the trains.

2 more images

The town is named after Simon van der Stel, an early governor of the Cape Colony. The land rises steeply from near the water's edge and the picturesque village is boxed in along the shoreline by the heights above. The small harbour itself is not a particularly good natural harbour and is protected from swells by a breakwater that was built with thousands of huge blocks of sandstone quarried out of the face of the mountain above.

Heard about the story of the dog that helped drunk sailors to get back home after a wanton night of boozing and womanizing. This happened in Simons Town!

Passed through this Simons Town on my way to the Cape Point.

For many years this was a British Royal Naval Base. It is still home to South Africa's navy, and has regained much of its historic splendour and character.

Many of the buildings here are national monuments, beautifully preserved.

I always take time to walk along the street, visiting the second hand furniture shops and the art galleries, sitting down for some coffee at the local coffee shop or having some fish and chips at the harbour.

1 more image

They everywhere on the beach, on the rocks on their eggs. The best part was walking around on the outside from the swimming beach to the other side. There were many penquin's on their eggs between the bushes. They are very tame and inquisitive.
Entry fee is around R20 per person. Seems to be a very popular area. A lot of people around on a weekday.

Jackass Penguins are the only species of penguin that
colonise on the African continent. 100 years ago there were still many of them on the Cape West Coast with its cold waters.

Since penguin meat is apparently edible, they were mercilessly hunted. Later the overfishing of the sea and the loss of breeding spots resulted in near extinction of the species. The present stock is still threatened although the colony in Simon's Town has grown, in a few years, from 1500 to 3500 individuals. The colony's growth is already causing trouble with the human residents in the vicinity.