Hermanus Whale Festival

Needing a full break from lately's nine-hour days in the office, Lindsey and I went down to Hermanus for a night this weekend with Vincent. About 200 Southern Right Whales come to visit the harbor for six months every winter/spring, and the high, rocky shore allows for some of the best land-based whale watching on the planet (that's pretty much a direct quote from the brochure, but true nonetheless). The weather was perfect, and the state-fairish revelry on shore didn't seem to bother them a bit...we were actually pretty sure they knew we were having a party for them, because they sat fifty yards offshore the whole time waving to us, somersaulting sideways, and breaching. These are a good bit larger than the humpbacks in Buzzard's Bay...the adults being 12-17 meters long and weighing 40-60 tons (!!), so seeing them fly out of the water and flop down was an incredible sight. When the music wasn't playing, and especially when we went kayaking among them on Sunday, you could hear everywhere the sound of someone blowing on an empty bottle. Overall, I think spending the weekend with whales was one of the coolest things I'll ever do.