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Karoo by the sea at Shelley Point
Vasco da Gama was the first Portuguese explorer and navigator to establish a direct sea route between Europe via the Cape to India. During this voyage, he called at Saint Helena Bay on 7 November 1497. A diarist noted about that voyage: "Now disembarking in the spacious bay to see the wonders of the savage shore, etc." 519 years later, the shore is still as savage. Glancing at the jagged rocks and the razor-sharp mussel shells that make up the bunkers at the beach at St Helena's Shelley Point it is not hard to imagine what it must have been like when Da Gama and his crew rowed from their ship to the shore in the buffeting waves.
“Shelley Point is one of the few places in South Africa where you can see the sun rise and set over the ocean”, Bon Hotel’s Shelley Point GM Petrus Munro tells me explaining that their location on a peninsula also gives Shelley Point its own climate. “Mornings are fresh with a mist over the sea but most days, even wintery ones, are dry, bright and warm”, he says, “with about ten percent of the rain that Cape Town receives.”
Taking the 90-minute journey from Cape Town to Shelley Point is a mostly direct route along the R27 towards Vredenburg and then onwards to St Helena Bay. Pretty soon after leaving the urban sprawl, the landscape changes dramatically to an almost Karoo-like aridness. It is a masculine and rugged environment.
Arriving at Shelley Point with its manicured 9-hole golf course and gleaming white-washed homes is a dramatic contrast and the 84-roomed hotel, initially designed as Club House facilities for the development, seems better placed among the chichi thatched mansions of Hermanus than the fishing industry around which St Helena is built. The Bon Hotel Shelley Point has three meeting rooms that can accommodate 90 people and is a popular conferencing and wedding location.
Although graded three-stars, our A-block ground floor room was extremely comfortable and more suited to a four-star hotel. If stars were awarded for staff friendliness this property would achieve a top rating. Our very large bathroom had a soaking tub and a walk-in shower along with double basins.
A delicious breakfast is served on the first floor, floor-to-ceiling windowed São Gabrielle, while lunch and dinner are served in the wood-fired São Antonio. Both locations have views over the rim-flow pool, golf course and onwards to the sea. Sunsets are especially spectacular. Perhaps because the GM’s background is in kitchens or because the executive chef worked at the fabulous 12 Apostles before coming to Shelley Point, the cuisine is of a high standard. It was especially delicious to taste a traditional West Coast curried fish, a recipe from chef Andy’s mom.
Other than golf, things to do include: a bowling green, two tennis courts, running trails, beach walks, sunset picnics and a fully equipped gym.
