Retired & Roaming

Coral Beds in Kalk Bay on the Cape Peninsula is on the first floor of a two-storey block of six apartments called Mare Video and only about fifty metres from the sea. The building is late fifties vintage, but No.3, the Coral Beds apartment, was completely renovated in 2007. In the photos on the right, Mare Video is the building to the left of the one with the blue roof. In the photo of Mare Video on the Coral Beds website (see below), Coral Beds is the lower left apartment of the four shown; the other two overlook the main road at the left end of the photo.

Although the block faces onto the side road of Rouxville, apartments 3-6 are accessed through a gate next to the shop called ‘Kalk Bay Quarter’ on Main Road.

Apartment details
The apartment comprises a small entrance hall with bathroom on the left and kitchen on the right. The small bathroom has a shower, loo and washbasin. The kitchen is fitted out as shown in the photo on the website. What is not clear on the photo is that as well as the toaster and kettle there is a large fridge and a small electric oven with two hobs above. There are more than enough pots, pans etc.

The living room is quite large and in addition to the furniture shown on the website, there is a TV, a folding table and four dining chairs. A small balcony leads off the living room, but its usefulness has been severely reduced by the presence of a satellite dish that occupies more than half the available space. The bedroom is also large with a window that looks over the balcony onto the street.

Sandra Pearce, who owns the apartment, is a delightful lady, full of fun and keen to ensure that your stay is comfortable. She is very receptive to any requests and suggestions. She also calls weekly to collect the dirty linen and replace it; there is no washing machine in the apartment but there is a very inexpensive launderette down the road where you can do your personal laundry.

Being situated in the heart of the village, you can walk out the gate straight into the colonnaded streets that have a variety of clothes shops, art shops and restaurants – see the post ‘Kalk Bay, A Walk through the Town’ for further details.

Kalk Bay is a busy place in the summer season, especially at weekends. The very busy Main Road passes in front of the block, although not directly in front of the apartment which faces onto Rouxville and the Kalk Bay Theatre opposite. However, Main Road is close enough for the traffic noise to be a bit bothersome at times, especially the minibuses with very loud stereo systems. In cooler weather with the doors and windows shut, the noise isn’t a problem, but when it’s hot, those windows have to be open.

Sitting by the window of the living room, the sea view is great – the photo to the right of the shot of the block on the website is the actual view, although the seemingly ever-present surfers are missing on this occasion.

There is no internet provided, but in South Africa, the best option is to buy a usb modem (~€90) which can be topped up with gigabytes at the providers’ outlets (vodacom and MTN are two providers). The reception for these, as for all mobiles, is variable, but in the Coral Beds apartment the signal was strong and the internet speed acceptable at most times.

A big advantage of Coral Beds is that there is off-street, secure parking in a lock-up garage set behind a remote-control-operated gate. At weekends, when parking is at a premium, this is worth a lot.

The price quoted on the website is ‘from 250 Rand’. This is the low season price, but the high season price is very negotiable for a long let, making Coral Beds a very good choice for a long and comfortable stay.

The photo to the right shows Rouxville, with Mare Video on the left and the Kalk Bay Theatre on the right (it started life as a church).

Kalk Bay
Kalk Bay has a reputation for being a bohemian town. For that, read retro, but it’s a great place: friendly and lively. There is an abundance of restaurants of varying quality, the two best being the renowned Olympia Cafe, a wild, noisy place with great food, and F SH (that’s not a typo), which has excellent sushi and very fresh seafood. A close third is Harbour House on the harbour. For total weirdness, the Cape to Cuba bar and restaurant is a must, with all the staff dressed like Che Guevara with dreadlocks. They have a cool selection of cocktails. There will be a more detailed post of the Kalk Bay restaurants in the near future.

The Metrorail runs along the waterfront as well, the line running from Simon’s Town all the way into Cape Town. A lot of people are shy of using the train for security reasons. However, we used it a lot – Kalk Bay station is just down the road from Coral Beds -  and found it to be fine. It is well-policed!

Between the railway line and the sea is a footpath that runs most of the way between Kalk Bay and Muizenberg about two miles away. It’s a popular walking and jogging track and one we used almost daily. I miss it.

The Coral Beds website can be found here.

For four other good accommodation reviews in and around Cape Town (together with this one), there is an excellent guide available here for a small fee.