We have been so busy the last few weeks’ time is flying by and I can hardly believe it is already October. Only two and half months to Christmas! We gave ourselves an early Christmas present recently and visited Hermanus, about 120kms from Cape Town. It was with our P&L Book Club ladies – our book club that has been going for over 15 years now. Some of us decided we wanted to see whales, others decided they wanted to explore the many delicious wine farms enroute. It was a cold, misty and mizzy Saturday morning when we loaded up the car and set off towards the Sir Lowry’s Pass. Clouds hung low and Table Mountain seemed to slumber, enveloped in a bank of thick fog.
Up we drove, zig zagging up the pass, looking back onto a False Bay smooth as glass and shrouded in mist. The beauty about this country is the scenic diversity. One minute you’re looking down on the sea, the next you are heading over the rugged Hottentot Hollands Mountains and into the lush green rolling hills of the Elgin Valley.
Finally we reached our destination, the New Harbour in Hermanus. There we met the Southern Right Whale Charters, eagerly climbing aboard their Miroshca boat and made our way to the top deck (for the best view). Off we took, gliding smoothly out of the protected harbour and leaping through the waves as we made our way across the bay towards Gansbaai. The wind playfully whipped dark blue waves and whisked the cirrus clouds overhead.
Hermanus (originally called Hermanuspietersfontein but the name was too long for the postal service) watches over Walker Bay. Walker Bay is popular destination for whales in winter and early spring. And we saw whales. I have been fortunate enough to have seen whales before. But not as close as this. It was awesome. At this time of year the mums and calves (baby whales not cows) are in the bay playing. We watched a mum and baby lob tail (slap their tales on the sea surface) and we watched a young whale playing rolling-over—mum-in-the-sea for what seems liked ages.
We were also so fortunate to see the shy and elusive Bryde’s whale too. All in all, the experience was something I will always remember and I would highly recommend. I will be eternally grateful we were on top of the Morishca boat, the catamaran that Southern Right Whale Adventures use, because the wind changed as we were returning to harbour. This meant the swells were sometimes 3 metres (doesn’t sound like much but when you’re at the top of one of them looking down to where you’re headed it is HIGH) and the wind was about 20 knots. Perhaps this doesn’t sound fast, but when you’re on top deck and whacking through the huge waves, it means there’s a very good chance you WILL be soaked with salty spray.
We had such fun and definitely would recommend to anyone who wants to see whales. But you’ll have to hurry, they are only in the area until about end of October then they go on their way to their feeding grounds, until next year when they return for about 6 months.
The house we stayed in overnight was gorgeous. 100 years of history, lovely wooden floors, huge rooms with high ceilings, steeped in history and the view was stunning. How lucky to sit on a stoep watching whales blowing in the distance (it is not water they spout, it is air they blow out of their blowholes. And the spray you see is condensation).
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