Hermanus

Rachel again!

Today we let ourselves sleep in, packed up and checked out of Ashanti Lodge (the adorable hostel we stayed at in Cape Town) and ventured into town for breakfast after we picked up laundry and Advil (we're still hurting from the Devil's Peak hike ...). We had a great breakfast and picked up some chocolate baklava for desert. We hopped in the car for a longish drive down the coast to Hermanus, a coastal resort town for Cape Tonians.

The drive down the coast was beautiful -- maybe even more beautiful than yesterday's drive to Simon's Town and the Cape. The rocks were red and orange, and the waves were crashing on the shore with such force that we could see rainbows in the spray. We pulled over and took some pictures before finishing up the drive through the adorable, tiny coastal towns until we got to Hermanus.

Hermanus was much more built up than we had expected -- we all remarked that we haven't seen a vacation community this nice anywhere in the states. We checked in at our hostel (Hermanus Backpackers, which is adorable) and headed down to the cliff path for some whale watching while we walked to lunch. Hermanus is known as one of the best whale watching points in South Africa, and it certainly delivered! Justin was the first to spot the whales on the walk down to lunch, but once we sat down at the restaurant, we started seeing whales everywhere -- we saw about ten whales breaching straight out of the water! It was fantastic, and I sat with my camera pointed at the ocean for almost the entire duration of lunch.
After lunch, we headed back down to the cliff path for dramatic views of the red rocks that ended at the ocean. We stopped at a few places to sit and take pictures, and climbed down to the water at one point when we saw a tidal pool. The view was breathtaking, and we saw more whale fins and tails.


As sunset approached, Justin found a great spot on the rocks out near the ocean, and we sat for about an hour while we watched whales swim in the ocean, flicking their tails and fins out of the water and blowing air out of their blowholes. All in all, it was a spectacular day.


We're back at the hostel now, about to go get a beer in the "honesty bar", where you take beer from the cooler and they trust you to record exactly what you took. Wonder if that would work in the US? ;)

Tomorrow, we're off for a wine tour in Stellenbosch. More to come!

Rach