Saint Helena Bay () is a settlement in West Coast District Municipality in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. 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 is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa. It surrounds the towns of Vredenburg and Paternoster, and is located across the bay from Laaiplek.

History

Historically, Saint Helena Bay is the location where

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

, 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 for its current name) after

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

a devout, influential

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and mother of

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

. During this time the Portuguese explorers and the local

Khoikhoi Khoikhoi (Help:IPA/English, /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally Nomad, nomadic pastoralist Indigenous peoples, indigenous population of South Africa. They ...

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

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

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

Free Burghers Free Burghers (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Vrijburger'', Afrikaans: ''Vryburger'') were early primarily Dutch people, Dutch Settler colonialism, colonists in the 18th century who had been released of their service contracts to the Dutch East India ...

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 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 Laaiplek) on the West Coast 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 and

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

. 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 live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral reefs. ...

, 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 Portuguese 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. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

, 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 languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, 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 Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

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 ...

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) married Polish-born musician Kuba Silkiewicz in Shelly Point, St Helena Bay. Whites grew up in the West Coast during her teen years.

External links

capewestcoastpeninsula.co.za st helena bay
*

References

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