Camps Bay

Camps Bay is the beach the mountain looms over: the Twelve Apostles, the buttresses running south from Table Mountain, stand directly behind the suburb, and in late afternoon the light comes off the Atlantic onto the rock face. The beach is wide, white and backed by a palm-lined strip of bars and restaurants that faces west, so the sunset is the whole point of the timing. What nobody mentions until you are in the water is the temperature - this is the Atlantic side, cooled by the Benguela upwelling, and it runs around twelve to sixteen degrees in summer. People swim for about ninety seconds. There are small tidal pools at the southern end for children. Parking on Victoria Road is the main practical problem in season, and the south-easter can make the beach unusable on a hot day.

History

The first recorded residents were San hunter-gatherers and Goringhaikona Khoi herders. The land later passed to the Wernich family, and after Johan Wernich died in 1778 his widow married the sailor Fredrick Ernst von Kamptz, after whom the bay was named; Kloof Nek Road was built in 1848, Victoria Road was completed in 1887, a tramway reached the bay in 1901, and Camps Bay became part of Cape Town in 1913 (Wikipedia, Camps Bay).

What's there

• The Twelve Apostles - the ridge standing directly behind the beach.
• The sunset strip - west-facing bars and restaurants along Victoria Road.
• Cold Atlantic water - roughly twelve to sixteen degrees even in midsummer.
• The tidal pools - small sheltered basins at the southern end.

When to go

November to March. Half a day, ending at sunset. Mornings are calmest before the wind.

Good to know

The water is genuinely too cold for most people to swim in. The south-easter blows sand hard and can end the day. Parking is scarce and expensive in season. The restaurant strip is priced well above the city.

Nearby

Clifton beaches are north; Table Mountain's cableway is over Kloof Nek.