Sea Point
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Sea Point (Afrikaans: Seepunt) is Cape Town's most densely populated suburb, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's CBD. Moving from Sea Point to the CBD, one passes through first the small Three Anchor Bay suburb, then Green Point. Seaward from Green Point is the area known as Mouille (pronunced MOO-lee) Point, where the local lighthouse is situated.
Sea Point is regarded by some as a dangerous area and prone to more criminal activity than other less integrated "white" suburbs such as Rondebosch or Constantia. Conversely, many foreigners see it as a place of urban rejuvenation and there are many Dutch, German and British owned properties.
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[edit] Demographics
During the apartheid era, especially in the late 1970s and 1980s, many black and coloured South Africans defied the Group Areas Act to live in Sea Point. As a result Sea Point is now home to many ethnic and religious groups, such as Jews, Coloureds, black South Africans and Nigerians. There is also visible gay community in the area.
[edit] Layout and lifestyle
Sea Point is situated on a small stretch of land between a mountain and the sea. As a result, space is at a premium and, unlike other "white" suburbs in Cape Town, houses are built closely together, there are many blocks of flats built along the beachfront, where there are public spaces. The most important communal space is the beachfront Promenade. This a paved walkway along the beachfront used by residents and tourists for walking, jogging or just socialising. As one moves up the slopes of Lion's Head and Signal Hill from the Main Road, there are found expensive houses, especially in the so-called "Avenues".
Apart from Sea Point beach, which lies next to the salt water baths, there is another sheltered beach called Rocklands. Further towards the city then lies Three Anchor Bay. All of these beaches are carpeted with broken mussel shells, unlike the beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay. The rocks off these beaches are Basaltic, with extensive beds of kelp seaweed offshore. Unlike the Indian Ocean side of the peninsula, the water is cold (12C - 16C)
[edit] Local Schools
Some of the schools to be found in the area include Sea Point Primary and Herzlia Weizmann Primary, a Jewish day school.
[edit] History
Ships entering the harbour in Table Bay from the east coast of Africa have to round the coast at Sea Point and over the years many of them have come to grief on the reefs just off shore. In May 1954, during a great storm, the "Basuto Coast" (246 tonnes) ended up on the rocks within a few metres of the concrete wall of the promenade. (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/2216/text/MARITIME.TXT). A fireman who came to the assistance of the crew was swept off the wall of the swimming pool adjacent to the promenade by waves and was never seen again. The vessel was soon cut up and carried away for scrap. In July 1966 a large cargo ship, the "S.A. Seafarer", was stranded on the rocks only a couple of hundred metres from the Three Anchor Bay beach. The stranding was the cause of one of Cape Town's earliest great environmental scares, because the cargo included drums of tetramethyl lead and tetraethyl lead, volatile and highly toxic compounds that were in those days added as a lubricant to motor fuels. The ship was gradually destroyed by the huge swells that habitually roll in from the south Atlantic. Salvage from the ship can still be found in local antique shops.
[edit] Famous people from Sea Point
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