A Whale of a Time

my boyfriend behind me!

Before I fell for the rhinoceros, my favorite animal was the whale. (It may still be the whale, but sshh! don't tell the rhino!)  

Whale watching has always been one of my favorite activities. Some of my favorite spots have been in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine and Massachusetts, in the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii and Baja California and in the Arctic off the coasts of Alaska and Norway. And I do it whenever, wherever and however I can. In a kayak, on a ship, sailing in a catamaran or if I'm lucky like in Maui, right from the shore.

The whale and the rhinoceros have a lot in common when you think about it. Both are awe-inspiring creatures, masters of their respective universes. Seeing them in the wild requires timing, patience, perseverance, and a certain amount of luck. Sadly they also share the fact as well that they have both suffered at the hands of man. Both the whale and the rhino have been driven almost to the point of extinction several times by man. In fact, seven out of the 13 great whale species are still classified as endangered or vulnerable, even after decades of protection. And you all know about the rhino by now.

It is true that since I've moved to South Africa, it has been all about the rhino. But this weekend I cheated on my horny boyfriend and checked in with my old flame along the Whale Coast Route in the Western Cape. Thousands of whale watchers flock to it annually when the Southern Right Whale hugs the South African coast between August and November.

The Right Whale got its name during the time when they were hunted for their oil. The whalers referred to them as the "right" whales to kill. First of all, they have a large amount of oil (aka blubber) and baleen and secondly, their large amount of blubber causes them to float when dead thereby enabling the whalers to find them easily after harpooning them in the open ocean.

Right Whales are baleen whales who require enormous amounts of krill in order to maintain their massive physiques. So they migrate to colder waters to feed and then back again to warmer waters to give birth. The Southern Right Whale (E. australis) is the only one of three Right Whales species found in the Southern Hemisphere. The Southern Right spends its summers (December through May) in the cold polar regions of the Southern Ocean. In winter (June through November), they live around the shallow coastal waters of Southern Africa, South America and Australia. The North Atlantic (E. glacialis) Right migrates from the the Arctic Ocean down the eastern Canadian coast all the way to Florida and from Greenland and Norway along western Europe to North Africa. The North Pacific (E. japonica) Right Whale's range starts in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea from Alaska to California and from Russia to the Sea of Japan. The North Pacific are the rarest Right Whales of all.


All the guidebooks told me I would be able to see whales right from the shore along the route. The guesthouses we reserved for the weekend had promised I could see them right from our bedroom windows! I was excited! We started our trip in Cape Town and drove to nearby Hermanus, the beginning of the Whale Coast Route and the self-proclaimed Whale Capital of the World. It was the weekend of the annual Whale Festival and the town was decked out for it.




There was plenty of food and wine, crafts and music at the festival. There was even a vintage car parade and show for Vince. Whales and Wheels! (Vince checking the VIN to see if it is his old '65 Mustang. Ya neva know!)

There was also the local whale crier who blows on a kelp horn when a whale is spotted in the bay. He uses a code when he blows his horn to give the approximate location of the whale sightings. But we just looked wherever we saw everyone's binoculars pointed. They were everywhere in the bay!












The innkeepers were right. We saw several whales right from our Hermanus guesthouse balcony.

We saw them from the viewpoint in the center of town during the festival.

We were also told we could even watch them from our beds. But the only ones I saw from bed were the two on the tips of my needlepoint shoes!

Once the festival started to get really crowded, we set out on by car along the Whale Coast Route from Hermanus to Gansbaai and all the way to Cape Agulhas, the most southern point in Africa. We stopped at posted whale viewing turnouts along the way and they did not disappoint. At each and every stop we saw several whales frolicking in the aquamarine water below.

After an overnight in Agulhas at the lovely Art Ocean House (we saw whales from our balcony there too!), we finished our weekend off by spending the day at the De Hoop Nature Reserve. Hermanus may lay claim to the title of Whale Capital of the World, but De Hoop actually deserves it.

There is a 55 kilometer Whale Trail that runs all along its protected white beach coast. To hike the whole trail, you need a guide and five days and overnights at their very nicely appointed way station cottages. But we only had a day so we drove down to the beach at Koppie Allen, parked and hiked down to the beach front. We were amazed by what we saw! Dozens and dozens of Southern Right Whales just surfing and lolling, breaching and spyhopping. It was truly the most amazing whale watching experience we have ever had! We definitely want to do the entire Whale Trail next year.

the lid of my Nantucket lightship basket

About the only thing missing from our Whale of a Weekend was my favorite whale-watching accessory, my stowed-away-in-the-States Nantucket lightship basket purse.

Nantucket lightship baskets were originally crafted by the lightship crewmen stationed in their floating lighthouses as they guarded the treacherous shoals off the coast of Massachusetts' Nantucket island. To pass time the crewmen took to crafting honey-colored carryalls from cane to take to their wives and girlfriends back home. They would finish them with findings made from whalebone and decorate them with  carved scrimshaw and reliefs.

Nowadays, the baskets are produced by dedicated artists on Nantucket and sold for astronomical prices in gift shops and galleries. A reputable craftsman only uses whale ivory for the decorations and only ivory procured before 1972 when the international ban on whaling took effect. My purse, a gift from Vince for my 35th birthday, has a carved ivory humpback whale cow swimming with her two calves. The basket cane has taken on a luscious warm patina which I love.

Darlene + whales = true love 4 ever!