Families flock to Cape Town’s historic tidal pools, despite sewage, otters and pricey taxis

Children swim at Glencairn tidal pool between Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks)

By Ashraf Hendricks

18 Jan 2023

Some people who came as children, and are now bringing their own families, reflect on what’s changed over the years.

It is a hot, Friday afternoon and Heather Solomon and her husband David are spending the last days of their summer holiday at the Milton tidal pool in Sea Point, with their eight-year-old grandson and some friends.

They chose this pool because Saunders Rock, another tidal pool about 1.5km down the street, was too busy. Married for more than 50 years and in their early seventies, they have been coming to the sea here for decades.

Heather grew up in Schotsche Kloof near the mountains. As a child she walked to the beach at Bakoven because that was the beach designated by the apartheid regime for coloured people. Sea Point was all white, she says.

David grew up in Silvertown, Athlone. In the early 1960s, he spent his youth in Kalk Bay. He remembers paying 2½ cents (a “tickey”) to ride a boat around the bay. When he was a child, David says, the family spent the entire day at Kalk Bay and slept underneath the bridge. They camped out with “four poles and blankets”.

Back then “the atmosphere was totally different”, he says, and there were families everywhere. David says at Easter, everyone shared their pickled fish and at Christmas, and they would share watermelon. “We used to camp under the tunnels,” he says.

Today, they live in Bonteheuwel, far from the mountains and the ocean. It cost the three of them R84 for a bus and taxi to get to the pool.

“It’s pricey… and you must still have something to eat,” says David.

They prefer the tidal pools because it’s safer for children. “You can see where they are. You can see what they’re doing,” he says.

Milton tidal pool in Sea Point. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks)

This summer many of the tidal pools on the Cape Town coastline had to be closed at various times because of pollution from sewerage failures. According to the City of Cape Town, electricity blackouts at the pump stations are mostly to blame.

Saunders Rocks in Sea Point. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks)

On the other side of the peninsula, Umar Ebrahim and Aqeel McKnight are deliberating over whether to get into the water at the Dalebrook tidal pool in St James. It is late afternoon, a chill wind is up, and waves are battering the outer walls of the pool. A bright yellow sign erected by the City of Cape Town reads: “WARNING: polluted water, unfit for swimming, playing or drinking.” But there are swimmers in the water who have either not read the warning or have ignored it.

Another sign, “Advisory on otters”, offers advice: keep a distance and do not touch or feed the otter. In all the years they have been coming to the pool, neither of the men have seen an otter.

Swimmers were in the water in spite of a warning sign at Dalebrook tidal pool in St James. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks)

Children swim at Glencairn tidal pool between Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks)

Ebrahim says he first came to swim at Dalebrook with his father when he was a child. Now 42 and a father of four, he brings his own children.

“They basically learnt to swim in this pool,” he says. “The waves are not so harsh. This is more relaxing”.

Sometimes Ebrahim snorkels at the pool. He says he has seen octopus and crab, and found coins and rings. He says he feels connected to the pool — “joined at the hip”. DM

First published by GroundUp.

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