Castle Rock, False Bay

The average Capetonian doesn’t even know of the existence of Castle Rock, which lies in a marine reserve just south of Millers Point as one leaves Simon’s Town on the Cape Peninsula. The advantage, of course, to venturing out this far along the cape is the dearth of crowds, traffic and noise that might accompany you elsewhere in Cape Town.

This part of the bay has some of the most magnificent views over False Bay, ones that are truly uninterrupted and will remain so because of the conservation area of which they are a part. There is a wild magic about the area where sea and sky appear to merge and all that is between one and the waves are pretty rock pools. One immediately feels remote from civilisation, despite the proximity to Simon’s Town.

Castle Rock is unsurprisingly also one of the best dive sites in False Bay with an incredible fish life. You are almost guaranteed to spend most of the dive in the company of red roman fish and sight stump nose and hottentots amid the jumble of rocks that teem with life. It is touted as an excellent night dive, if one can brave the waters here.

And you’re by no means sequestered in your private oasis, despite the obvious serenity, as there is plenty else to do. Boulder’s Beach penguin colony is but three kilometres away, where one can swim with penguins in the protected bay; Simon’s Town is moments away and other villages like Fish Hoek and Scarborough are only 15 minutes in either direction. And of course the Cape Point Nature Reserve is virtually on your doorstep.