About Three Anchor Bay Beach
Three Anchor Bay Beach is the first beach found at the northern end (or start) of the 5.5Km Sea Point Promenade, on the Atlantic Seaboard coastline. Officially this beach is not in Sea Point, itself, but located within the suburb of ‘Three Anchor Bay’, which strategically separates the suburb of Mouille Point from that of Sea Point.
Three Anchor Bay Beach is another small cove of a beach similar to that of Rocklands Beach found further along the Sea Point Promenade. Like Rocklands Beach, it is also surrounded by the sea wall, which makes up the Promenade and is accessible by staircases off the promenade or by venturing down the steep slipway onto the beach.
Under the Promenade, backing the beach, there are municipal storage houses or garages which are rented out to the locals, who keep their water sports craft and equipment, quite literally on the beach. This small little beach is used mainly by these water craft enthusiasts to get their boats or paddle craft into the water.
Due to the large boulders on either side of the cove, the water is pretty calm on most occasions, creating an almost lagoon effect, which makes it relatively easy to get out into the open water for a cruise or paddle.
The most popular attraction for tourists to Three Anchor Bay Beach, is the various Kayaking Activities/Tours, made available by the local Kayaking Adventure Companies. Kayaking Tours run most of the day, but early morning and evening sunset tours are the most popular (pending on conditions). Kayaking tours will either run along the Sea Point Promenade towards Clifton, or towards the V&A Waterfront, again, pending on sea/weather conditions. Other than seeing the overall beauty of Cape Town and it’s mountains, you will often see, Dolphins, Penguins, Seals and occasionally sunfish too…
Water quality here isn’t good and it’s not advisable to swim. The beach itself is usually strewn with broken mussel shells and drying out kelp, making it a little unpleasant to hang out here. So, come visit to see the beach, but if you’re not going out on a Kayak Tour, or on some other water-craft experience, it’s not a great beach for regular beach activities.
While there is a decent size parking area adjacent to the beach, parking is usually a challenge on most days, immaterial of day or season. This parking lot is also used by business people meeting/working nearby, visitors frequenting the many nearby restaurants or fitness enthusiasts, that make use of the Sea Point Promenade’s sport’s equipment and pathway for their walks/runs.
Beach Features
- Free Parking
- Public Toilets
- Boat launch and slipway
- Wheelchair Access
Beach Activities
- Kayaking
- Boat Launching
- Swimming (not recommended)
Additional Information
Originally, Three Anchor Bay was called Lion’s Cove (De Leeuwen Zantbaeiken, by Jan van Riebeeck), due to it’s proximity to what was then called Lion Mountain (which included both Lion’s Head & Signal Hill) by the Dutch. In 1795, during the British invasion, the Dutch placed three giant anchors fixed together with chains across the cove to prevent the British from landing here. The British bypassed Lion’s Cove and eventually landed in Muizenberg (False Bay) and eventually conquered the Dutch and took occupation of the Cape.
Three Anchor Bay gets it’s name from the three anchors that were placed in the bay during the war.
Source: https://www.capetown.gov.za/
