Lamberts Bay was not on our itinerary, however our booked pelagic boat trip off Simonstown was cancelled due to high winds. This gave us an extra day on the wonderful West Coast of South Africa.

We decided to spend it in this quaint tiny fishing village and visit the roosting Cape Gannets at the same time.

Lamberts Bay attracts many tourists and locals from Cape Town. It’s a perfect ‘weekend away town’ offering much. The beach is breathtakingly beautiful – long and white with the lake-like azure sea lapping on the shore. We didn’t have time to swim and it was a relatively cool day, but I can well imagine it being very popular during the summer season.

The harbour itself is appealing with colourful fishing boats moored, gulls and cormorants making themselves at home on rooftops and boat masts.

The atmosphere is slow and relaxed.

Bird Island a short walk from the harbor on a wide concrete breakwater wall is the biggest attraction.   This is where thousands of Cape Gannets are seen roosting and visitors are able to get up close to them in a bird hide built nearby.

Click here to go to my blog ‘Cape Gannet Colony on Bird Island – A Spectacle not to be Missed’.

There are good eating places around Lamberts Bay

There are a number of good eating places in and around Lamberts Bay, but we decided to stay where we were and eat at Isabella’s. This restaurant is at the waterfront overlooking the harbor and Bird Island. I felt reserved about going, as normally places situated in the hub of a tourist area are “tourist traps”.

This is not the case for Isabella’s.

With the walls draped with fishing nets, the décor gave us the feeling of being in a tiny fishing village somewhere on the West Coast. (Those who love the West Coast know that warm fuzzy feeling we get).

The food and service was excellent.   The menu offered a wide variety of choices, from simple fish and chips to seafood platters. I settled on calamari and mussels, delicious. Janine our waitress was warm and friendly and certainly made our visit most enjoyable.