True or False?

False Bay, at the southern end of the Cape Peninsula, has always played a supporting role to flashier Table Bay which has iconic Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town on its shore. But there's a wild charm to False Bay, and a vastness to make you catch your breath. Roughly shaped like a square with one side open, False Bay is about as long as it's wide, some 30km by 30km. Its open side is marked by Cape Point to the west and Cape Hangklip in the east, a rearing peak just obscured by the rising sun in the photo.  

Once upon a time in the distant past, the sea level dropped, the Peninsula was reduced to islands and False Bay became a strait. These days the waters are home to seals, penguins, dolphins, sharks and whales, quite apart from myriad fish. The bay was first swum in 1989 and, although it's about the same distance as an English Channel swim, it's a tougher, rougher challenge as evidenced by the fact that it has only been swum five times. The potential for being nibbled by a shark must also play on the mind!

And the name? There are several theories about that, depending on your position. Early seaman in sailing ships approaching the Peninsula from the east sometimes mistook Cape Hangklip for Cape Point and turned north, expecting to round the Cape and be on their way towards Cape Town, only to find themselves marooned against False Bay's northern shore. Another story is that sailors approaching from the west thought they'd rounded the southern tip of Africa and could therefore turn north east towards the Indian Ocean and the Far East only to find themselves stuck in a huge bay... A false bay, indeed.  

And for me? It's where I love to swim. Sometimes I see penguins shoot past underwater. False Bay is is their world and I'm lucky enough to experience a part of it from time to time.