Seeing a whale in its natural environment is a truly amazing experience. Whale watching from the Cape Point Route shoreline provides great viewing and regular sightings but heading out on a boat into the great blue yonder of False Bay provides a smorgasbord of mammoth sea creatures.
Chris Spengler, owner of Afton Grove Country Retreat in Noordhoek, gushes about a recent day’s fishing in False Bay. He set off by boat at first light from Simon’s Town harbour for Seal Island on a perfectly calm sea. The water visibility was a glorious 15 metres and snow capped peaks provided a magnificent backdrop. Seal Island is home to 64 000 Cape Fur Seals and one of the few places on the planet where the chance of seeing a Great White Shark breaching occurs reliably during May to September. Picture 3000kg of muscle leaping clear of the water just metres in front of you. As the rays of sun appeared Chris witnessed a jaw dropping demonstration of a Great White Shark attempting to kill a young seal returning from a nights hunting – an adrenalin wow factor!
Catching fish was the objective however, so the crew headed towards Cape Point in search of snoek. En route they encountered a school of about 300 Dusky Dolphins "herding" the small boat like a sheep dog with his flock. In this extraordinary show Chris could quite literally see layers of dolphins swimming beneath his boat and porpoising in the wake of the bow. The dolphins’ playful nature had Chris grinning and the smile just would not go as a Bryde’s Whale surfaced 50 metres from the boat. Southern Right and Humpback whales are seen more frequently in False Bay so a Bryde’s whale is a rare sighting.
Settling in to catch snoek for the family braai turned into a competition between man and seal. The seals decided it was far easier to steal the fish from the end of a fishing line! Nature however has a way to even the playing fields and through the crystal clear waters, Chris observed a 2 metre Bronze Whaler shark giving the seals a run for their money...err snoek I mean!
"Another tough day in Africa", commented Chris of his spectacular day, "I am certainly not packing for Perth, no sir there is just too much to give up on and I am grateful to have the privilege of actually living here".
An encounter with just one gargantuan whale in its’ natural element is enough to capture our imagination but Cape Fur Seals, a Bronze Whaler shark, a breaching Great White, 300 Dusky Dolphins and a Bryde’s whale in a single day is nothing short of awe inspiring. Imagine what 3 or more days on the Cape Point Route would serve up for main course?
For more information on the Cape Point Route, contact us 021 782 9356 or visit our website www.capepointroute.co.za
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