Coool! So we have seen whales!!! We came South to Hermanus, not really expecting to see anything, as the season has all but finished. But thought that as we were here, we may as well take a look out from one of the viewing points when we arrived.
Within a minute, I saw something that looked like a rock in the water, followed by a mighty tail fin out of the water as the magestic creature went on a dive! How awesome!

Well, we have spent the bulk of our afternoon scanning the waves, watching whales breaching and spouting water again and again. Apparently they reckon that there are four of them who have stayed behind, after most of the others have gone. (maybe it is the cooler weather than normal.. or the storms creating a higher than normal amount of food in the water, who knows). It was worth the drive just to see this event. We actually saw a mother and calf really close to the shore too… totally jaw-dropping.

Ok so I have bottled it and have still not dived these icy waters!!
In fairness to myself, I have not brought any kit with me, so was kind of not really planning to dive anyway. We have seen divers parked up at the side of the road, warming up in the sunshine before heading down the cliff (far too much like hard work) to take a dip in the Arctic. (I really am not exaggerating… apparently the waters here are fed directly from the Antarctic, so you’ll get my drift).

Having said that, I have heard that the diving here is amaayzing, with Kelp forests, and understandably plenty of cool wrecks, one of which is Jaques Cousteau’s recommended ones. Now much as I bear judgement on the way he behaved in his ignorance, I do agree with his recommendations… with Shark and Yolande reefs in Sharm remaining my #1 top dive site.

Anyway, I digress… I am embarrassed to say that at present I am unable to give you any tales of fantastic diving down here in this amazing country, as I have yet to sample it (head is hung, suitably shamed). I have dipped my toe in the warmer False Bay waters (nearly the Indian Ocean) and the Mossel Bay waters (definitely Indian Ocean.. fed by the warm Agulas current) and would possibly consider venturing in there as the water really is warmer on that side! So… we shall see… we still have another week here and our Garden Trip having been cancelled (that howling wind and rain of the other night, lasted for a few days, and sadly took a few lives) we have a few miles left in us to venture off a bit.

On a more lively note, we found a fantastic bar and restaurant on Sunday in the older part of the Cape, Kaulk Bay (really quaint yet funky town) Cape to Cuba. It was totally decked out in genuine Cubana style (we got our bill in a cigar box) with waiters wearing Che Guevara hats n T-shirts and waitresses in full, frilly skirts, chandelliers, giant victorian chairs, carved pillars the lot, it was amazing. If you are ever in this part of the world, you have to pop in there if only for the atmosphere alone. The food was simple and tasty.

Anyway, that is enough of the restaurant guide coming out in me… we have another week left, and after Robben Island today, and a wine tasting trip (ooops) tomorrow, we are heading south to Hermanus and the Whale coast in a few days. It may be there that I finally get to don a wet suit… who knows.

So here we are in sunny and stormy Cape Town!
So far it has been awesome, although I admit to not having gone underwater at any point just yet. In fact, I can’t see myself going underwater at any point either, well certainly not in the Atlantic water at any rate. It is FREEZING! Even on a lovely sunny, hot day, I went for a walk along the beach and the water was sooo cold, that as it lapped over my feet, they ached to the bones! Apparently the water on this part of the coast has just come straight from the Antarctic, so I really am not exaggerating when I say t feels Arctic.
Having said that, Cape Town is glorious, we have had roasting sunshine, bikini weather, followed by howling gales and rain (today… hence the time to update here in a cafe) but hopefully like the UK, it shouldn’t be long before the weather changes and we can once again sit out in the sunshine sipping our wine, watching the waves of icy water roll out onto the lovely creamy sand in Camps Bay.
Today was meant to be the start of our Garden Route trip, but after a night spent awake listening to the gales howling around our 10th floor apartment, we kind of felt that this was not the day to be driving out on those winding cliff-top roads!
So far though, we have done loads: sat atop Table Top Mountain, perched on the boulders with penguins, chilled out in Camps Bay eating fine food, drinking fine wine and even set out on a mini safari where we got up close and personal with quite a few of the residents… talk to George about his encounter with the lion (!!!).
The jury is still out on whether or not to do the famous cage diving with sharks. Having spent the last few years preaching about not feeding fish, not wanting to interfer with their natural behaviour etc, I am finding it hard to justify going out on a boat that is going to chuck a load of chum in the water in order to lure sharks for our cage encounter. Hmmmm. They do emphasise that they are all about eco friendliness and promotion of shark awareness etc, but I will have to have a bit more of a think about that one. We are also close coming to the end of the Shark season too, and the water is cold, so I may not even get the chance to make the decision for myself after all.

Another good week was had by all… I think!

So my last week of work before heading further down south (about as far south as you can go on this continent) was an open water course. And I think a good week was had by all. Well everyone seemed pretty enthusiastic and we had a 100% pass rate which was great. We finished off the advanced course yesterday with a lovely little night dive in which we saw a cuttle fish, tiny, pink sea slug, and loads of the usual shrimps and crabs that come out to play. It was a new moon too, and we saw some whispy stuff coming out of some of the soft coral, not sure if it was feeding tendrils or sperm, which would have been really cool.

On a totally different subject, the kitten crowd that live near us have realised that it is actually quite nice to be stroked, so now whenever I go outside, I am followed by all seven of them and the mother! Ooops, don’t think Boo, our cat is overly impressed at all.

November 4th, 2007 by divebunnie

DB Home

Well England turned out to be cold, wet and grey, in fact everything that we really do not miss about the place. But it was successful, the knee was fixed to a certain extent, and it turns out that diving is the best exercise that he can do.
So I came back early and did a week’s work which has been quite fun.

We have had a boat of relatively inexperienced divers, so all our dives have been 18M or less, and I can tell the difference! Even on a three dive day whilst I still feel sleepy in the evening, I don’t feel that complete physical tiredness that I do at the end of a normal week’s guiding where most of the dives have been deeper than 20M and some in the region of 30M. Interesting…

After a couple of days building up people’s confidence and abilities, we were still able to take them to some of the more spectacular dive sites, so hopefully they went home having learned something as well as having seen some pretty cool wildlife.
I certainly enjoyed myself, but I guess I always do enjoy those first few dives that little bit more when I have come back from a break. Another bonus was that the water appears to have warmed up again! Once more we are getting 28ºC on local sites and 26-7ºC on the deeper Tiran and Ras Mohammed sites.. not bad eh. This combined with my new super-duper wet-suit means the dry suit stays in its bag for a few more weeks. Now that is cool, as I am normally struggling by this time of year.