St Helena Bay and Stompneus Bay

 While Saldanha lies at the southern end of a massive peninsula, within thirty kilometres of the town you'll find some of South Africa's most celebrated and romantic fishing villages, namely Jacobsbaai, Paternoster, St Helena Bay and Stompneus Bay. Over the years these fisning villages have all become must-see destinations for any visitor to the West Coast.

St Helena Bay is one of only three natural bays on the world´s mainland coastlines where one can view both a sunrise and a sunset over the sea, and is recognised as one of the calmest bays in the world. The Bay is sheltered from West Coast winds and fish stocks are increased due to the cold, north-flowing Benguela Current.

As popular destinations for whale watching, birding and other equally leisurely pursuits.St Helena Bay and Stompneus Bay have developed along the south westerly shores of St Helena Bay, a large bay that is also home to Velddrif on it's opposite shore. Arrival in the town offers a spectacle of white rocks and a cobalt sea adorned with fishing nets and bright yellow floats greet your arrival. The town is situated about 150km from Cape Town, 25km from Vredenburg and about 37km from Saldanha.

In 1497, during the time of the GrigriQua people´s occupation, Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese seafarer, docked in the bay and set about restoring sails, scrubbing down ships, stocking up on water, firewood, fresh fruit, vegetables and meat.

Here one will find the highest concentration of fish processing factories in South Africa with eleven factories situated within the region. These factories process over half of the anchovies and other shoals of pelagic fish. produced in South Africa annually. The factories are situated on the south-western coastline and include Stompneusbaai, West Point, Sandy Point, and Steenberg´s Cove. A variety of canned fish as well as lobster products are produced here and exported all over the world and the crayfishing industry at St Helena Bay was set up in 1915. Stompneus Bay is also home to a mussel farm.

Both villages developed around the fishing industry and fFishing has been directly responsible for the economic development of the region, although dwindling fish numbers have in recent years forced government to enforce stringent fishing quotas - and this has affected the back pocket of many fishermen. many of them have turned to tourism as an alternate means of income and they appreciate Your support.

A row of hills form the backdrop to St Helena Bay and ensures a slightly higher rainfall for the area. Tthe long stretch of coastline where housing developments flow into each other almost unnoticeably, is part of it's undeniable charm, is. Luxury homes and fishermen's cottages blend together with patches of empty land, factories, churches, hills and beaches with breathtaking results.

Sandy Point harbour is a must see for visitors. In snoek season the harbour is alive with activity when the boats come in heavily laden with snoek. Willing hands are waiting to clean ("vlek") your snoek for you while sea gulls fight loudly over whatever they can get.