We departed Stellenbosch on June 22nd for a scenic 3 1/2 drive to Hermanus where we were hoping to do a Great White shark dive from nearby Gansbaai.
We booked the dive when we were in Cape Town and due to rough seas we had four dates cancelled up to and including the day of our arrival in Hermaus. The day we arrived was windy, cold and miserable and with two nights booked we really weren’t sure what we would do with our time there but lo and behold we woke up the next morning to calmer seas and a beautiful sunny day and an email informing us our dive was a go for the next day.
Hermanus is a small tourist/surfer town with all the usual curio shops, galleries and funky restaurants but the highlight of our day was hiking the cliff trail which covers 11 km along wild coastline with giant crashing waves, kelp and mussel strewn beaches and awe-inspiring views all located in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve. Hermanus is best known as among the best whale watching towns in the world where Southern Right whales come to birth during the winter months. There was a mother and calf spotted in the bay but we didn’t have any luck seeing them. We hiked about 9 kms and it took us almost four hours because we had to stop and detour down every path and viewing area we came across to take in and absorb one spectacular sight after another. Hopefully our video will capture the magnitude of this area.
