Make a meal of it in Ocean View....

Dressed in vibrant orange, Cheryl Wyngaard welcomes us into her home in Ocean View near Kommetjie with a wide smile. She waves warmly as she ushers her visitors through to the dining-room, where a seafood extravaganza awaits us.

Cheryl is part of the Ocean View fishing community and lives on the west coast of the Cape Point Route, between Kommetjie and Fish Hoek. Cheryl’s family has been fishing on the peninsula for hundreds of years – it’s part of her heritage and not surprisingly, seafood is her speciality. The fish she serves in her home-based restaurant is freshly caught from Atlantic waters by the experienced fishermen of the community. Cheryl supports the industry by buying only from vendors in the neighbourhood.

Cheryl’s exuberance matches her culinary skills and she is one of the most engaging storytellers you’ll ever meet. Tales roll off her tongue as we tuck into the mussels and crayfish. Various family members flurry around, serving rooibos tea and making sure we are comfortable. Cheryl’s adult son Melshaw sits in and shares some stories of his own. He’s a registered tour guide and his calm, relaxed manner complements Cheryl’s matriarchal narrative as she tells of her family’s forced removal to Ocean View in the mid-1960’s.

Melshaw shares the community history, dating from Ocean View’s inception. The district was created from farmland and fynbos terrain and starkly prepared for the residents, the majority of whom were re-housed after government removals from the prescribed ‘white’ suburbs of Simon’s Town, Fish Hoek and Noordhoek. A decade after South Africa’s liberation, Ocean View remains a largely mixed-race community of some 25 000 people. The inhabitants are both Christian and Muslim and most are heavily dependent on the seasonal fishing industry. There is unemployment and poverty in the area, but the community pulsates with energy, music and a great deal of humour and resilience.

The Wyngaard family personifies this heritage. Melshaw can take you on a walking tour of Ocean View – a good idea both to get a grip on the history and to work off Cheryl’s generous meal. Melshaw will reveal the pot pourri of cultural influences, point out interesting scenery an untrained eye may miss, and take you on visits to community upliftment projects, many of which are driven by the Wyngaards. Melshaw’s outstanding work in Ocean View is one of the reasons he was the recipient of the 2008 MEC Award for Service Excellence at the recent Provincial Tourism Award. On the side, he’s a talented singer too, who’s more than happy to oblige.

Ocean View is just one community on the Cape Point Route with legacies, traditions and lives that have been built up along two coastlines over the decades. For information on real people, history, heritage and places to eat and stay when visiting the Cape Point Route, contact us on 021 782 9356 or visit our website www.capepointroute.co.za.