Other than flight delays (which are almost the rule now, followed closely by flight cancellations), our journey to South Africa was uneventful. After nearly 23 hours in the air, several hours in various airports, and a few hours stretching our legs along the Thames in London, we arrived in Cape Town. Almost there . . .
We rented a car and drove another two hours to Hermanus, a scenic town known for its whales. We checked into the Aloe Guest House, making this our home for a couple of days. This is a great guest house on the main road through Hermanus, with the center of town easily walkable. John and Lesley were great hosts, always helpful and extremely friendly. Our true destination, though, was Gansbaai, a not-so-scenic town 45 kilometers further around on the other side of the bay, known for its Great White Sharks. As a life-long fan of sharks and an avid watcher of Shark Week every year on the Discovery Channel, Alex was in his element. Gansbaai, Dyer Island, and Shark Alley are featured regularly as this is one of the best places on the planet to see white sharks, and other species as well. Our upcoming safari–the reason for our trip to Africa–will be in Zimbabwe and Botswana. The sole reason for our stop in South Africa was to see white sharks.
Diving with Great Whites is weather-dependant, and 4-meter swells canceled our planned dive the next day. Thus the stay in Hermanus. Most people make a day trip from Cape Town to cage-dive with the sharks: a very long day trip when you include 5 hours of driving time. Adding in the unpredictability of the seas, it could have been two VERY long day trips. Hermanus is a great town with plenty of good restaurants and a spectacular coastal trail called the Cliff Walk. Walking along this path, watching monstrous waves crash against the cliff, we were not nearly as disappointed that our dive had been canceled. We did manage to see white sharks despite the ocean conditions, though.
Hermanus is known for its southern right whales which were just starting to return from Antarctica, but the rough seas were keeping them too far from shore to see from the Cliff Walk. We opted to go flight-seeing as whale-watching boats also were not going out due to the high seas. We made arrangements to fly with African Wings out of the neighboring town, Stanford. The pilot, Dave, was waiting for us at his hanger with a Cessna 182 out front. After quick introductions, Alex, Maile, and I were in the plane, taxiing down a bumpy dirt strip for takeoff. Early in the flight, he took us over Kleinbaai, where the shark operations are and we could see Great White sharks swimming in the bay below us. Next, he flew us out over Shark Alley and Dyer Island. We could see the seal colony that brings in the predators. Cruising out over the bay we saw several southern right whales and one humpback. After 45 minutes in the air, we returned to the airstrip and Dave brought us in for a landing smoother than some commercial flights despite the rutted, uneven terrain of the dirt runway. He did a quick turnaround and took Maile back up with Stacy so she could see the whales. After the flight, we received good news: the weather was expected to improve and the shark boats were going out the following day.
Cage diving with white sharks, Gansbaai, South Africa