Fishing in Kassiesbaai
About 20 kilometres southeast of Bredasdorp lies Arniston. Centred around the 19th-century fishing hamlet of Kassiesbaai, it has an old-world charm that many of the rapidly developing coastal towns have lost. Each day, just as the one before, the fishermen of Kassiesbaai go out to catch their evening meal.
Townsfolk gather as the fish are unloaded from the craft, weighed, gutted and sold. It’s an ancient scene in the lee of a village of whitewashed cottages that put most later architectural attempts to shame.
In the evenings, the washing lines are often studded with glassy-eyed fish, hung out to dry in the sun. Kids play in the untarred streets and the old folk trundle around, chatting and cackling with their neighbours. All in all, it’s a wonderful place to visit, and the local craft centre will appreciate your custom.
Beyond the village lies tall white sand dunes that stretch to the horizon. Late afternoon it’s a good idea to wander through the fishing village, grab some pictures of the cottages, and then continue onto the dunes for a sundowner and watch dusk descend over Arniston’s thatched roofs and darkening sea.
By Justin Fox
Arniston is a small seaside town in the Overberg region on the Cape South coast, close to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. Afte...