Simonstown

Simon's Town Simonstad
View of Simon's Town
Simon's Town Show map of Western Cape Simon's Town Show map of South Africa Simon's Town Show map of Africa  Simon's Town shown within Western Cape
Location within Cape Town  Simon's Town
Coordinates: 34°11′36″S 18°26′00″E / 34.19333°S 18.43333°E / -34.19333; 18.43333Coordinates: 34°11′36″S 18°26′00″E / 34.19333°S 18.43333°E / -34.19333; 18.43333
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Established	1680
Named for	Simon van der Stel
Government
• Councillor	Simon Liell-Cock (DA)
Area
• Total	19.81 km2 (7.65 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	6,569
• Density	330/km2 (860/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	24.5%
• Coloured	12.7%
• Indian/Asian	4.4%
• White	56.4%
• Other	2.0%
First languages (2011)
• English	68.0%
• Afrikaans	18.5%
• Xhosa	3.6%
• Zulu	2.4%
• Other	7.5%
Postal code (street)	7975
PO box	7995

Simon's Town (Afrikaans: Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town near Cape Town, South Africa, which is home to the South African Navy. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been an important naval base and harbour (first for the Royal Navy and now the South African Navy). The town is named after Simon van der Stel, an early governor of the Cape Colony.

The land rises steeply from near the water's edge and the picturesque village is boxed in along the shoreline by the heights above. The small harbour itself is not a particularly good natural harbour and is protected from swells by a breakwater that was built with thousands of huge blocks of sandstone quarried out of the face of the mountain above. Simon's Town is now in effect a suburb of greater Cape Town. The Simon's Town railway station is the terminus of the Southern Line, a railway line that runs south from the central business district of Cape Town. In places the railway line hugs the steep eastern shore of False Bay quite spectacularly and in bad weather waves and foam from some heavy swells will fly up and wet the trains.

Boulders Beach is located a few kilometres to the south of Simon's Town, in the direction of Miller's Point. Here small coves with white sandy beaches and calm shallow water are interspersed between boulders of Cape granite. There has been a colony of African penguins at Boulders Beach since 1985. There is no record of the birds having lived here prior to that date, so their decision to settle in an area already well-utilized by humans is remarkable. There are only three penguin populations on the mainland in southern Africa; the others are close to Hermanus at Stoney Point and Betty's Bay.