Thar She Blows!

All the students from my study abroad program went on an excursion this weekend to the city of Hermanus, which is east of Cape Town on Walker Bay. The coolest thing about Hermanus is the prevalence of Southern Rightn Whales, who migrate to this location for mating and calving this time every year.

We arrived on Friday night and had a barbecue, then went to bed early. On Saturday morning, we awoke at 6:00 a.m. and were on the boat by 7:00 for a whale-watching tour. During the first hour we failed to see any whales, but we did see some dolphins. Dolphins are friendly, playful animals and they were following the boat and enjoying playing in its wake. They seemed so quick and graceful! Then, after nearly an hour and a half of getting covered with cold salt water and searching the waves unsuccessfully, we managed to spot two whales. They swam up within 50 meters of the boat and swam around us curiously. It was amazing to see such huge creatures that are still so peaceful. Animals with such size and power would be expected to be violent, but they were slow and docile.

After we returned from our journey, we went back to our hostel to change, then went our separate ways. I relaxed with four other girls and we simply walked along the coast and sat to watch the whales intermittently. All afternoon, the whales played in the bay within view of the visitors. They breached, which is the term for leaping headfirst out of the water and flopping on their sides. They spyhopped (stuck their heads up to look around), flapped their tales, and blew water out their blowholes. I was impressed by the playfulness of such enormous creatures. I always think of playing as something that young, small animals do, but even adult whales, some of the largest creatures on earth, play as well!

The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping in the craft market in the center of town. I'm not very good at haggling, but I still enjoy the color and noise of an open-air market.

We had an amazing dinner on Saturday night at a restaurant called Bientang's Cave, which is actually in a cave in the cliff overlooking the bay. It was a beautiful night with a nearly-full moon and the fish and seafood were amazing.

I went to church on Sunday with Sam and Joyce, then we joined Jenny and spent the afternoon whale-watching and relaxing. Despite being sunburned and tired, I had a GREAT time this weekend. Hermanus was beautiful, the whales were magnificent, and I got to relax with some really nice girls.