Local characters

(Photo Nicole Ludolph)

A little village history

LIME BURNERS

The word kalk is Dutch for ‘chalk’ and comes from the community of lime burners who mined deposits of limestone in the area. They baked the stones in large kilns to form a powder that was added to sand to make mortar.

MANILA STEPS

In 2018, the steps leading from Boyes Drive to the old graveyard on Quarterdeck Road were renamed the Manila Steps, in honour of Kalk Bay’s Filipino community. People from the Philippines had started settling in Kalk Bay as far back as the 1830s. Some of their descendents still live there today.

WHALING STATION

Between 1806 and 1860, before the railway line opened Kalk Bay up as a commercial fishing hub, the village served as a whaling station. But with declining whale numbers in the bay, continued hunting became unviable. Now safe from harm, the whales return regularly, some coming as close as the harbour pier.

JUNE 2021 • GETAWAY.CO.ZA

Daewood drives this “piesang Surprise”, an old VW Passat, on the pier. ‘It’s not mine. I’m borrowing it. The owner’s had it for 25 years but he lets me use it, see, because the engine is mine: a 1300 Golf.’ Daewood’s engine has been powering this classic for 17 years. He’s here to do a spot of fishing for dinner. Any luck? ‘What? No, man. Only just arrived. Got to feed the kids.’

Sibusiso Matinyenya ,a seamstress from Zimbabwe, sells handmade clothing and bags, alongside her husband’s art, in between the Olympia building and Portuguese restaurant Beira Mar. Her husband was selling the items door-todoor in Simon’s Town when he met the owner of Beira Mar, who offered him the space to sell his goods. They have been selling there for six years.