by Richard Arderne
- Wonderful river, canals and sea: the 14km long Kromme river is peaceful most of the year, the water quality is good, and it hosts paddling and swimming events. In addition, the Geelhout tributary is navigable for a further 4km, winding and narrow, a very special place. The canals are the best in the country, and the sea boasts great surfing, fishing, boating, diving and much more.
- Supportive community: this is difficult to measure, but by way of example, the support at the start of lockdown for food parcels to Sea Vista was impressive, with R2m being donated in short time.
- Young families moving into town: the private junior school is full.
- Good quality of life … and good quality sea water & air: no traffic jams, no robots, no air or sea pollution.
- Relatively good municipality: Kouga is ranked the best municipality in the East Cape, and in the top ten in South Africa.
- Sporting mecca, many sports clubs: running, paddling, cycling, swimming, squash, bowls, golf x2, gyms, indoor pools, fishing, surfing, windsurfing, kiteboarding, soccer, tennis, walking trails, beach walks …
- Nature areas around town: wonderful walks in wonderful nature, plus beach walks, wildside walks, coastal walks to Oyster Bay and JBay, and the amazing dunefields.
- Strong civil society: excellent volunteers at Rotary, Property Owners Association, Ward Council, Kromme Enviro Trust, Animal Rescue, NSRI etc etc
- Good retail & hospitality facilities: many excellent restaurants, some where you can enjoy sea views while you sip. And a fine SuperSpar for almost all your shopping needs.
- Nice size. Plett is too big, Oyster Bay is too small: St Francis is big enough for a vibrant community.
- Low crime rate, safe: we are fortunate to have low crime, with almost all non-violent.
- Peaceful quiet town: apart from the three week silly season, it is a peaceful town. Many events (sporting and other) are on offer every few weeks, but the town remains peaceful unless you seek out the action.
- Good doctors and alternative healing: we can now choose from a selection of excellent doctors, dentists, physios, many alternative healing practitioners, Biokineticists and an optometrist … and many more options in Humansdorp and JBay.
- Port and fishing industry: the centre of South Africa’s calamari industry is right here at our Port, creating employment, and tasty delights at a few of our restaurants.
- Opportunities for new businesses: strong boat/yacht and home building and allied trades, but opportunities to establish new growth sectors.
- Strong property demand, and prices way lower than Plett: the demand for property in St Francis has been exceptional over the last few years, but nowhere near the high prices at Plett.
Why are we trying to make St Francis Bay bigger & bigger??? It is losing its charm. People drive like maniacs without respect for wildlife. The latter losing their habitat & incomers intolerant of their presence. Its all about money
I completely agree. The bush which is being cleared was part of the village charm, as well as being a wildlife habitat. We don’t have enough water or electricity, and some of the housing being built, particularly at Homestead Views, does not look like it would have passed a design committee. It is all about money.
When Leighton Hulett had two fishing cottages, and wanted to build a third, there was probably an outcry from the owners of the first two …
In my opinion, towns either grow … or decline. Obviously we would love all development to be tasteful, but some buyers value the size and finishes of a house, rather than the external aesthetics.