A couple of weeks ago we drove to Hermanus, a town east of Cape Town on the coast of the Atlantic (still not as far as Cape Agulhas, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet) that is famous for whale sightings. Our roommate Patrick, Jim and I made a fun party, which was good because the 2-hour drive there and back made for a long day!
We stopped for a couple of wine tastings on the way, and really enjoyed the winding drive along the coast. The weather was pretty miserable, though, spitting rain and cloudy all day (except for a few "sun breaks" when we saw the whales!) so we'll have to repeat the trip on a nice day as the views across False Bay and over to Cape Point should be incredible.
Standing on the shore on some cliffs above the bay, it was pretty impossible to miss the whales. They came within a few hundred yards of the shore, and were very active. We saw side fins and tail fins, blows and baby blows, and Jim even saw a breach (I missed it). We captured quite a few on camera with our long lens.
 |
| A rainbow above the bay |
 |
| Roadside baboons on the coastal drive. Babies!! |
 |
A view of some of the nearby vineyards
|
 |
| Jim and Patrick enjoying some wine tasting! |
 |
| Southern Right whale sightings begin |
 |
| The formidable Dossie, Jim's new favorite animal. They live in packs of 8 or more in the mountains, as well as the rocks on the coast (apparently). We've come across quite a few already. |
 |
| A whale incredibly close to shore |
 |
| "Just a bunch of blowholes." |
 |
| The hills and rock formations around Hermanus are really incredible. |
 |
| The two best shots - tail fin with the mountain behind. |
 |
| You can tell this is a Southern Right whale because the bottom of the tail is entirely black; Humpback whales have some white on their tail. |
 |
| The Old Harbor in Hermanus |
No comments:
Post a Comment