Care for dolphins

South Africa

Watching whales from land under stormy weather
August 2013

Whale Watching Hotspots

whale trail

There are two easily accessible whale watching hotspots near Cape Town. If you have limited time, these two are good choices. The first one is the famous Hermanus, the top ten whale watching hotspot from land. It is about 2 hours' drive from Cape Town and you’ve got many chances to spot whales near to the shore along the coastal route. There are a lot of lookout points near to and at the town where whales can be seen from shore. Boat based tours are also available three times a day, weather permitting, for up-close encounters at Walker Bay (http://www.southernrightcharters.co.za, 650 Rand / Adult).

lookout point

hermanus

boat company

The other one is Simon's Town, which is roughly 1.5 hours' drive from Cape Town and you can view the African Penguins from the famous Boulders Beach nearby. The Simon's Town Boat Company (http://boatcompany.co.za, 850 Rand / Adult) offers whale watching tours twice a day, weather permitting, at the relatively sheltered False Bay.

Whale watching season

Winter (around July to October) but be prepared for bad weather days.

In fact, during the whale watching season from July to October, it is not uncommon to see whales anywhere near to the south-east coast of South Africa from Cape of Good Hope up to Plettenberg Bay, another whale watching hotspot with year round boat tours (http://oceanadventures.co.za, 650 Rand for Whale Season (May – December), 400 Rand for Dolphin Season). When you are on shore, watch out for blows, as those are the best indicators of the presence of a whale. Floating long seaweeds can be easily mistaken as whales from afar.

Frustrated by the wind and wave

As a locally organized tour with whale watching as the selling point seems to be able to meet our needs and I am travelling with family members this time, we took the risk to join an organized tour from Hong Kong knowing that there will only be one chance to go whale watching during our short stay at Cape Town. This trip turns out to be a big disappointment because the weather turned very bad on our two wildlife watching days.

bad weather at Hermanus

We only have 2.5 days at Cape Town (only half day on first day). On our second day, we went whale watching at Hermanus under the sea state of Beautfort Scale 3-4, with wind speed over ~20 km/hour and a lot of swells at sea. The whale watching trip was cancelled. We only managed to do some land based observation and saw a Southern Right Whale mother and calf pair at Walker Bay off Hermanus.

whale

Having studied the Whale Trail along the South African coast, I am quite familiar with the places where whale watching is available. Being unlucky at Hermanus, I tried to arrange another whale watching trip at Simon’s Town ourselves on the next day despite the unfriendly and unhelpful attitude of our local guide. But unfortunately, the weather was not on our side and it indeed turned even worse on the next day, with Beautfort Scale 4-5 or even 6 and wind speed over ~30 km/hour with a lot of white caps. The second whale watching trip was also cancelled. The following day when the wind started to die down, we had to leave. Two days after we left, a new born calf was encountered at Simon’s Town. A lot of whales are out there, the season was right and we were at the right place, just that we could not go out to the sea, which is so frustrating.

I must admit that I’ve learnt a big lesson in this trip. If you are eager to have a good look at whales or other wildlife like I do, DON’T join an organized tour (in particular those organized in Hong Kong). Organized tours tend to pack too many things in the itinerary and allow only very limited time for you to spend with wildlife. We only have roughly half an hour to spend with penguins under a dark sky and it started to rain cats and dogs. And we only have roughly half an hour to do land based observation at Hermanus even though the boat trip was cancelled. If I had not given up my dessert at lunch, I wouldn’t be able to photograph the mother and calf from land. And the refund for not being able to go for whale watching was only HK$250 (~300 Rand) while the boat tour fee shown on website is 650 Rand! Wildlife can only be found in the wild and there are too many factors in the environment that affect the quality of sightings. It will be a much better idea to organize it yourself in order to have the flexibility in the itinerary to be prepared for bad weather or poor sightings. Please remember that winter is a whale watching season at Cape Town, but it is also a rainy and windy season. The wind can pick up within one night and you can hear the wind and rain banning on the window all night even if you stay in an air-conditioned hotel.

What to do on shore days?

There are plenty of choices for land activities, namely African Penguin viewing at Boulders Beach of Simon's Town or Betty’s Bay, sightseeing tours to Table Mountain, as well as sightseeing and wildlife viewing at Cape of Good Hope. A short boat tour at Hout Bay will also bring you to a seal island on the Atlantic side. Although the chance is slim, sightings of Heaviside’s Dolphins had been recorded there. Here is the transportation / day tour company provided by the hotel. Although we had not used it as our whale watching trip was cancelled, I include it here for your reference: www.daytours.co.za