This holiday resort on the west coast, very popular among surfers, originated in 1936 when the Katz family bought the farm Yzerfontein (iron fountain) and began to subdivide the land into residential stands.  The name is derived from a spring rising on an ironstone formation.

Whales are seeking out the protected bay in increasing numbers to mate and calve.

* Dassen Island, 10km south west of Yzerfontein, is one of 34 submarine mountains along the west coast of which the summit protrudes above the surface.  Teh island is 4,5km long and 2km wide, with the highest point 10m above sea level.  The lighthouse is one of the main beacons in the seas of the Cape of Storms.  The name of the island is derived from the Dutch name for the large numbers of rock rabiits (dassies) found there by early explorers.  jan van Riebeeck also found many seals when he visited in 1654.  These have since been exterminated by hunters and today Dassen Island is the main breeding ground of the Cape or jackass penguin and also attracts large numbers of aquatic birds like cormorants and gannets.

* The little island of Meeurots (gull rock) in the bay is home to large numbers of gulls and cormorants.

* The two beehive shaped lime kilns on the road to Yzerfontein were built in the 1940s to produce building lime from sea shells in much the same way as Jan van Riebeeck had done in 1653 when he built the first building lime kiln near the Castle in Table Bay.  These kilns, both proclaimed national monuments in 1980, produced some 300 bags of lime a day from the shells of black mussels which abounded on this coast.

* Near Yzerfontein are the ruins of an illfated fish-canning factory built after the Second World War.  The 150m jetty is a popular vantage point for anglers.

Accommodation in and around Yzerfontein