Hermanus is a lovely seaside town about 80 miles southeast of Cape Town. We knew we were arriving later than prime season for whale watching, which typically runs from August to late October, but I thought we should give it our best shot. As you can see from the photo above, we made it. Unfortunately, we only saw one mother with her calf and she wasn’t in the mood for jumping while we were there and the youngster was never in a great position to get a good photo.
What was great was the town itself, especially the place we stayed. Our hosts Chris and Constance at Boutique Ocean Views – inc. Wendy’s couldn’t have been more accommodating. Their place is amazing. My wife, who tends to want to get back home as quickly as she can, made the comment (after three weeks away from home) that she could stay at Wendy’s for a month. Anytime I start planning a trip, she reminds me that the longest she is willing to travel is three weeks. Her willingness to stay so long was high praise, but she finished her compliment with “I think this is the best place we’ve ever stayed.” There would be plenty for me to do for a month and I just might hold her to her statement, but next time I would start a little earlier in Southern Right Whale season. I would like to spend more time trying to get a whale doing something a bit more exciting.
We spent our last day in South Africa in a wine region near Hermanus in the beautiful Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. We spent some time at three different wineries: Creation, Spookfontein, and Bouchard Finlayson Winery. We were treated well at all three places. Our only regret was that we didn’t have enough time to enjoy everything that the valley had to offer before we had to head to the airport for our long flight home.
For photos from Hermanus and Hemel-and-Aarde Valley click here.