The Winner Is…
Thursday, November 6th, 2008Day 222
Jordana and I crawled out of bed thinking we were going to catch a 7am bus. The only problem was we had no idea where the bus actually left from. We were about to learn that South Africa isn’t the easiest place to get around in. Well at least they don’t have bus stations and the buses only stop in main cities and in small town they deposit you on the side of a highway. We wanted to get to Swellendam about 150km east of Stellenbosch. Since it was 8am we missed the bus. Vik and Andy, the Brits staying at the hostel were driving their rental car to Hermanus, east of here and on the sea but nowhere near Swellendam. They offered us a ride a ride there, since it was a free ride and a new place we accepted.
We arrived in Hermanus around 10:30am. We checked into the Moby Backpackers and set out for breakfast. The thing to do here in Hermanus is whale watch. The locals claim its the best shore based whale watching in the world. Whoa, that’s a tall claim. Have these folks been to Puerto Madryn, Argentina? We were just there a month ago and I’d like to think that Jordana and I now have the authority to decide which spot is truly the worlds best shore based whale watching. Yes we are spoiled.
After breakfast we walked through the small town to the rocky shoreline. The coast is beautiful with mountains plunging into the water and a 5km trail the follows along the rocky shore out of town. Hermanus definitely is more picturesque than Puerto Madryn is. However what about the whales? We quickly saw a baby breaching a few times in the distance. An impressive sight. We spotted another whales blow hole spouting not far from shore. Then we saw two whales swim by extremely close to shore, closer than anything we saw in Puerto Madryn. Although all the did was swim by. We spent quite a bit of time hanging out on the waterfront. The final decision…sorry Hermanus your claim is bogus. Puerto Madryn was non-stop whale tail slapping, breaching and head bobbing. It just isn’t close. In our eyes Puerto Madryn is the greatest shore based whale watching in the world.
So we were done with the whales, the rest of the day we spent on the internet and walking the small town. Then as night fell so did the rain, tons of it. We ran over to a seafood restaurant, “The Fishermans Cottage”. A very cosy place with a very maritime feel, a very east coast Canadian feel. We had some of the best seafood we’ve ever eaten, just amazing. So in the end even if the whale watching wasn’t the best, the fish sure was.
Michael Coroneos