It’s swimming season, baby!
Notes from the best tidal pools (we have found) in South Africa
Saunder’s Rocks, Sea Point, Cape Town
You wouldn’t be surprised to come upon this rocky little gem of a pool in a much wilder place than a few steps down from the road in Sea Point, Cape Town. Alongside the last of the Sea Point beaches, Saunders’ Rocks Beach, this pool is at the end of the Promenade on the Bantry Bay side.
Ideal for a sneaky weekday dip when you might find yourself alone in the water, although there will usually be at least a few people sunning themselves on the rocks, reading a book, or yacking on their cellphones.
It is a different story on sunny summer Saturdays and Sundays, especially in The Season, when Saunder’s comes alive. It can get busy. At high tide, the pool is big enough to take a proper dip and even do some little-old-lady-breaststroke, but it is not for real swimming.
Protected from the wind, there is some beach for the sun-worshippers, rocks for the posers and even a little jump from the boulders into the waves for the more adventurous.
At Christmas time, everyone who is not in Plett is here.
It is popular with families with lots of shallow pools and rocky crevices for exploring and snorkelling, as well as proper swimming in the sea.
Charlie’s Pool, Thompson’s Bay
(Ballito/Chaka’s Rock), KwaZulu-Natal North Coast (The Best Tidal Pool Ever!)
Swimming in this gloriously deep pool feels a lot like you are swimming in the sea, with waves crashing around you, and a constant flow of water in and out.
At 90m long, the pool is ideal for laps. There is an abundance of sea life, including coral, so it is wonderful for snorkelling, too. This is the Indian Ocean so it is gloriously swimmable for most of the year, too!
Dalebrook Pool, between St James and Kalk Bay, Cape Town
The poster child of tidal pools, Dalebrook is the perfect place for a pre-work swim when it is still basking in sunlight (mountain shade in afternoon, which is a different kind of nice).
Getting back to Cape Town in rush hour for the worker-bees can be a bitch tho’. Avoiding the traffic into town on a weekday is not the only reason you will be pleased you stayed for breakfast at the wonderful Dalebrook Café across the road.
It is a gorgeous pool for a cooling (!) dip and some gentle circular laps. Olympian wannabees occasionally splash around and spoil the super-cool vibe before being put on their notice by a member of the eclectic, super-friendly community. Some of the old-timers in their cute, 1920s-style swimsuits look like they have been having a daily dip here since time began.
No matter how many times I swim at Dalebrook I am always struck by how lucky I am to swim in Cape Town’s iconic poster child of a tidal pool among those elegant old-timers.
Graaff’s Pool, Sea Point, Cape Town
The is more of a paddling pool than a swimming pool. At low tide, with the water level about waist-high, it is good for an emergency cooling dip, but not much more. Not to self: Visit at high tide only.
I wished I had my water shoes on to make my way through the seaweed to the edge. Next time, I will wear shoes and go and hang on the wall at the edge and look out to sea (if the courting teenage couples will have me there).
A nice pool for families especially those with small children, being small and shallow and very easy to access from the road (just a few minutes’ walk across the sand).
A little research shows that Graaff’s Pool has quite a chequered history; this from Wikipedia:
Graaff’s Pool is a public bathing area, tidal pool and notable landmark in the Cape Town neighbourhood of Sea Point, South Africa.
The pool was built by Pieter Marais in 1910.[1] Marais, a businessman in the wine trade, built the pool for his wife who was paralysed and was bathed in the ocean daily.
A tunnel was built from Marais’ manner house, Bordeaux, under the public road to the pool so that his wife might be brought to the pool unseen by the public.
The pool got its name when it was acquired by the businessman and politician Jacobus Arnoldus Graaff who bequeathed the pool to the City of Cape Town.[1][2]
For most of its history it was a men’s only nude swimming pool. In the late 1980s through to the early 2000s the pool was known as a popular hangout for the city’s gay community.[3] Due to concerns with the location becoming a crime hot spot in the 1990s it was closed at sunset every night.[1]
Prior to 2005, although publicly accessible, the pool was walled off with only its western side open to the ocean, thereby allowing bathers to swim in the nude. The high walls were demolished due to public concerns with the site being frequently used by prostitutes and their clients as well as for the sale of illicit street drugs.[1][4]
Not a tidal pool but worth a mention when thinking about glorious places to swim in Cape Town is the wonderful lake at Silvermine …
Wish I was there!!