About Pearly Beach

Pearly Beach, Cape Overberg

Not even 20 km from Gansbaai, Pearly Beach has been described as the longest undisturbed sand beach in the Western Cape, and even if this is a little grandiose a description, the beach nevertheless seems endless.

Pearly Beach is known for its wild beauty and serenity. Pearly Beach was, until recently, regarded as a remote seaside hamlet with no more than a few holiday homes and few permanent residents. The beach is uncultivated and scenic, with initial rocky outcrops and pools - where local fishermen can usually be spotted - that soon peter out to become pure sand.

Long walks and solitude are the order of the day here, so if it’s bright lights you’re after, this isn’t the part of the world for you. The village is on the migratory whale route and one of the highest concentrations of whales can be spotted off the beach. The proximity to Gansbaai and De Kelders mean that you are not far from the Danger Point Peninsula where both Southern Right Whales and Great White Sharks are a major draw card.

About 5 km off the coast from Pearly Beach is Dyer Island, the easternmost of the chain of seabird islands of the Western Cape that is home to a colony of African Penguins whose population has, unfortunately, plummeted since the 1970s when the island supported about 25 000 pairs of penguins. The island forms a pair with Geyser Rock, with some 60 000 resident Cape fur seals.

The attraction of the two islands for the Great White has meant that the passage between the two has become known as ‘shark alley’ and cage diving is a major tourist attraction. Humpback and Bottlenose Dolphins are also frequent visitors to this part of the world. Pearly Beach Village is surrounded by gorgeous examples of indigenous fynbos, and wildlife such as tortoises, small buck and an abundance of birds.

The Black Oyster Catcher nests on the beach. Walks and hikes in the nature reserve, on private farms and on the beaches, as well as swimming, fishing and crayfish diving, are just some of the ways in which to amuse yourself whilst at Pearly Beach, but it is the sleepy, mellowness of the town, allowing you to completely unwind, that is its main attraction.