Saint Helena Bay ( af, St. Helenabaai) is a settlement in

West Coast District Municipality The West Coast District Municipality is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC1. Moorreesburg is the seat of the district. As of 2011 it had a total population of 391,766. Geograp ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Nicknamed by locals as ''Agterbaai'',''St Helena Bay.'' CapeWestCoast.org. http://www.capewestcoast.org/regions/town.php?town_id=29 the town is located on the shore of the bay, from which it derives its name and is approximately 150 km north of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa. It surrounds the towns of

Vredenburg Vredenburg is a town of the Cape West Coast in the Western Cape province of South Africa. "Vrede" is Afrikaans for peace. It is the transportation and commercial hub of the West Coast area and administrative centre of the Saldanha Bay Local Muni ...

and Paternoster, and is located across the bay from

Laaiplek Velddrif (the name of the town) or Velddrift (the name of the farm on which the town was established), is a coastal fishing town in the Bergrivier Local Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. The town had a population 7800 in 2007 and is located ...

History

Historically, Saint Helena Bay is the location where

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

, first set foot in South Africa. The date of this event was recorded as 7 November, 1497. The bay was named ''Bahia de Santa Helena'' (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

for its current name) after

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

a devout, influential

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

and mother of

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

. During this time the Portuguese explorers and the local

Khoikhoi Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also ''Hottentot (racial term), Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 ...

became involved in a skirmish wounding Da Gama in the thigh. The

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

established an outpost at St Helena Bay in the 17th century, the

Free Burghers Free Burghers (Dutch: ''Vrijburgher'', Afrikaans: ''Vryburger'') were early European settlers at the Cape of Good Hope in the 18th century. The introduction of Free Burghers to the Cape is regarded as the beginning of a permanent settlement of ...

fished there and ships from the settlement at the Cape frequently traveled to the area in search of resources to sustain the settlement. In 1673 during the 2nd Khoikhoi War the Cochoquas under leadership of

Gonnema Gonnema was a Khoekhoe chieftain of the Cochoqua people in 17th century South Africa. He was the primary antagonist of the Dutch East India Company in the Second Khoikhoi–Dutch War. Despite the Company's opposition to war with the Khoekhoe, ind ...

attacked the outpost resulting in an escalation during the war.History of South Africa, 1486 – 1691, G.M Theal, London 1888.

Agriculture

Saint Helena Bay is a major fishing town. It is home to Sandy Point Harbor – one of two ports to the bay, (the other being in

) on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

of South Africa. In winter it is host to many fishing activities, where snoek is found in its waters, as well as an endangered species of

rock lobster "Rock Lobster" is a song written by Fred Schneider and Ricky Wilson, two members of the B-52's. It was twice recorded and released as a single, first by DB Records as their debut release in April 1978, and again the following year for the ban ...

and

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

. The bay has a high number of

pelagic fish Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters—being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore—in contrast with demersal fish that do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral reef ...

, and consist of eleven fish processing factories.''Alternative To Immigration.'' Mypropetry.co.za http://www.myproperty.co.za/news/131/alternative-to-immigration.aspx

Geographic

Saint Helena Bay is the only area along the South African West Coast where the sun rises across the bay. The reason for this is its unique location, where by the town itself faces north east and almost north. It is described as "calm and tranquil" as quoted from the

explorer,

. The region of Saint Helena Bay is sub-divided into various

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

, namely (from east to west): Laingville, West Point, Steenberg's Cove, Hannasbaai, Britanica Heights, Harbour Lights, Sandy Point, Blueberry Hill, Columbine, Mid-West and it incorporates the neighboring towns of Stompneusbaai and Britannia Bay. It includes a total of eighteen smaller bays.

Tourism and events

On the actual site of

's arrival is a monument. Other attractions include dolphin and whale watching as well as sightseeing. Saint Helena Bay is regular host to the ''St Helenabaai Seefees'', (

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

, translated as St Helena Bay Sea Festival). This event is hosted by the town's Tourism association and takes place annually in December during the South African summer season. Its surrounding areas include attractions such as the Cape Columbine Lighthouse (19.7 km from St Helena Bay).

Sport

To the west of Saint Helena Bay, is a secure

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

ing estate known as Shelley Point.

Popular figures

Saint Helena Bay is noted as a popular destination for former

South African Rugby Union The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board a ...

player, Kobus Wiese, who owns property in the region. In February 2012, South African TV personality and soap opera star, Hildegardt Whites (who plays the role of Bonita Meintjies in

7de Laan ''7de Laan'' is a South African Afrikaans soap opera created by Danie Odendaal and produced by Danie Odendaal Productions. The series focuses on the lives of residents staying in and around the community of 7de Laan (7th Avenue), in the suburb ...

) married Polish-born musician Kuba Silkiewicz in Shelly Point, St Helena Bay.''Kuba & Hildegardt: 4 February 2012.'' blankcanvasblogs. http://blankcanvasblogs.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/kuba-hildegardt-4-february-2012/ Whites grew up in the

during her teen years.

External links

capewestcoastpeninsula.co.za , st helena bay

CapeWestCoast.org , St Helena Bay

References

{{West Coast District Municipality Populated places in the Saldanha Bay Local Municipality