Sea Point

Sea Point
—  Neighborhood  —
Aerial View of Sea Point
Sea Point Location of Sea Point in Cape Town
Coordinates: 33°54′55″S 18°23′33″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Wards	54
Government
• Councillor	Jean-Pierre Smith (DA)
Population (2001)
• Total	13,390
Ethnic groups
• Black African	12.23%
• Coloured	9.89%
• Indian or Asian	1.83%
• White	76.06%
Languages
• English	76.95%
• Afrikaans	11.05%
• Xhosa	6.00%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Postal code

Sea Point (Afrikaans: Seepunt) is one of Cape Town's most affluent and densely populated suburbs, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). Moving from Sea Point to the CBD, one passes through first the small suburb of Three Anchor Bay, then Green Point. Seaward from Green Point is the area known as Mouille Point (pronounced MOO-lee), where the local lighthouse is situated.

Sea Point is the only sea-side suburb of Cape Town with significant high-rise development and this, along with other factors, has made it a very popular residential area, or for investing in first or second homes and apartments. Before the most recent surge in property values, the suburb used to be regarded as a dangerous area, in part because some apartment blocks had been neglected by absentee landlords. Many foreign and local investors now see it as a place of urban rejuvenation and there are many Dutch, German and British owners.

Demographics

There is a diverse community consisting mainly of whites; the area was historically white and during the apartheid era was reserved for the white race. In the late 1990s, more foreigners and local coloured people began to buy property. Today Sea Point is home to many ethnic, social and religious groups such as Jews, gays and Nigerians.

Layout and lifestyle

Sea Point Beach Front with Lion's Head as a backdrop

Sea Point is a suburb of Cape Town and is situated on a narrow stretch of land between Cape Town's well known Table Mountain in the south-east, and the Atlantic ocean in the north-west. It is a high density area where space is at a premium due to its prime ocean-side location. Houses are built closely together towards the northern mountainside, while apartment buildings are more common from the central area and toward the beach-front. An important communal space is the beach-front promenade, a paved walkway along the beach-front used by residents and tourists for walking, jogging or socialising. Looking upwards from the promenade towards Lion's Head and Signal Hill, on either side of Table Mountain, the suburb's more exclusive areas lie against the upper mountainside along the so-called "Avenues"—connecting roads which lead towards the upper edge of the suburb.

All along the ocean-side of the Sea Point promenade, the coastline has different characteristics. Some parts are rocky and almost inaccessible, other parts have open beaches. Sea Point beach adjoins an Olympic sized seawater swimming pool, another beach further towards the city is known as Rocklands.

The Sea Point Pavilion Swimming Pool

Adjoining Sea Point is Three Anchor Bay. Sea Point's beaches are generally covered with washed up mussels from the ocean, unlike the beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay. The rocks off the beaches are basaltic, with extensive beds of kelp offshore. Unlike the Indian Ocean side of the peninsula, the water is colder (11°C - 16°C).

Sea Point Beach with the Beach Front Promenade

Further along the coast going towards Clifton, there is a plaque overlooking the rocks which commemorates Charles Darwin's observation of a unique junction where igneous rock has joined and flowed into granitic rock.

Local Schools

Some of the schools to be found in the area include Sea Point Primary and Herzlia Weizmann Primary. The high school is Sea Point High (formerly Sea Point Boys' High school). The school song went,

On the sunny shores of Africa,

Beneath the lion bold,

There stands a school not old in years,

Nor famed in verse of song,

Loudly our voices raise,

Her name and fame to praise,

Sea Point Boys' of our youthful days,

Sea Point! Sea Point! Sea Point!

History

Ships entering the harbour in Table Bay from the east coast of Africa have to round the coast at Sea Point and over the years many of them have been wrecked on the reefs just off-shore. In May 1954, during a great storm, the Basuto Coast (246 tonnes) ended up on the rocks within a few metres of the concrete wall of the promenade. A fireman who came to the assistance of the crew was swept off the wall of the swimming pool adjacent to the promenade by waves and was never seen again. The vessel was soon thereafter salvaged for scrap. In July 1966 a large cargo ship, the S.A. Seafarer, was stranded on the rocks only a couple of hundred metres from the Three Anchor Bay beach. The stranding was the cause of one of Cape Town's earliest great environmental scares, owing to the cargo including drums of tetramethyl lead and tetraethyl lead, volatile and highly toxic compounds that in those days were added to motor fuels as an anti-knocking agent. The ship was gradually destroyed by the huge swells that habitually roll in from the south Atlantic. Salvage from the ship can still be found in local antique shops.

Famous people from Sea Point

• Anthony Sher, actor and writer.
• Sally Little, professional golfer.

External links

• The Wreck of the 'S.A. Seafarer'