PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A TERRAIN 5 CACHE
THE ISLAND IS A BIRD SANCTUARY
IT IS FORBIDDEN TO CLIMB ONTO THE ISLAND!
THE CACHE CAN BE REACHED FROM THE WATERS EDGE
DO NOT CLIMB ONTO THE ISLAND.
THE CANALS CAN BE VERY BUSY IN HOLIDAY SEASON. RATHER ATTEMPT THE CACHE OUT OF SEASON OR VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING.THE CACHE IS IN A VERY EXPOSED AREA, ADAPT YOUR BEHAVIOR ACCORDINGLY.
BRING YOUR OWN PEN
HAVE FUN!!!
Thanks to NaviMate for assisting with maintenance!
St Francis Bay was first sighted by Portuguese sailors in 1575 and is named after the Patron Saint of Sailors, St Francis
The village of St Francis Bay was built on land bought in 1954 by Leighton HULETT, of the prominent Natal sugar cane family, who moved from Zululand with his wife, Anne, and children. Leighton was a WWII flying ace. They had seen an advertisement in the Farmers Weekly offering 273 morgen of fishing land along the coast. They arrived in an old ox-wagon. Leighton built a fishing camp with seven rondavels, a bathing block and a kitchen.
In 1956 fifty-one plots were laid out and was known as Cape St Francis. Leighton insisted on maintaining conformity of style in the buildings - thatch or black roofs and white walls. In 1960 the area was named Sea Vista. The village was proclaimed in 1965. In the early years St Francis Bay was remote, with gravel roads and 10 cattle grids to be crossed from Humansdorp. At times the causeways were impossible to cross with the river in flood and no electricity or telephones. In 1976 there were about 200 houses. On 7 May 1979, after a public referendum, the village was officially named St Francis Bay. Eskom power came in 1981 and by 1984 there were about 400 houses. St Francis Bay became a fully-fledged municipality in 1993 with Jean CHAPUT as the first Mayor. Around 50% of the village is constructed around man-made canals and waterways, giving it the nickname "Little Venice".
Leighton's next project was Marina Glades. He exchanged a house and a plot, acquiring 179 morgen with 2,8km of river frontage. The pumping and digging of the first canal started in 1967, creating the first marina in South Africa. Soon there was a small trading store, hotel, bottle store, and tennis club. In 1974 there were 161 houses in the village. A new development, known as Santereme and named after the town in which PERESTRELLO was born, saw a change in architectural style - from white walls and thatch to Mediterranean-style houses with terracotta-tiled roofs and earth tones for exterior walls. The HULETTs built a golf course as a private facility, that later became a golf club. An airfield was also laid out. In 1977 the Kromme River bridge was built.