Surprise!

I'm awake at five. I manage to stay in bed until six but by then, I'm hot footing it to the bathroom window to check for whales without waking Rich up.

Nothing!

Although I do see a beautiful malachite sunbird.

I know I said we weren't expecting to see them, particularly when we heard the males had already left and the females with calves wouldn't be far behind. But we are still secretly hopeful.

I've managed to subtly wake Rich, make him tea and we're out of the door for a walk. We find a bench that's so high our feet dangle and we feel like excited children.

Our attention diverts from the sea to the bushes as we spot numerous new birds. We've been there about ten minutes when a couple walk by and ask if we've seen the whale. The whale, not a whale.

WAY-ULL!

It's there coming out of a patch of sea reflecting the sunlight. It's a southern right whale which we've read has no dorsal fun and is quite nobbly.

We look again and there's two. No, three! 

FOUR!  We're as surprised as this cormorant! 

We skip along the path keeping up with them as they brush the surface of the water and blow their V-shaped breath.

It's such a treat!

I was a but worried yesterday that our boat trip today doesn't set off until midday. But this is perfect, we find whales from the shore just a few metres out and the boat trip is now a bonus. 

It's back to that safari feeling of two days in one as we head along the coast for the whale spotting trip. There are exquisite iridescent juvenile southern double collared sunbirds drinking from a bird feeder as well as a four-striped grass mouse scuttling by. 

We're in our element!

I recognise a lovely broad Yorkshire accent from one of the volunteers as we depart for the boat and it turns out he's from Selby, pleased he can speak normally here!

We're only five minutes into the boat ride before the engine cuts out and the guide tells us to look out for the mother and calf Southern right whales. Southern because they are in the Southern Hemisphere and right... Because they're the right ones to kill.  

Shocking. A whale named after it being the perfect creature to slaughter - Plenty of blubber so it floats on being killed, slow moving, spends much of its time on the surface and cruises by the coastline so easy to tow in when it's dead. Thankfully, they were one of the first whales to be protected. 

The males have indeed left the bay but we still see plenty of activity as this year compared to last has seen a tenfold increase in the number of calves being born with 550 recorded during an aerial count. The mothers are still with their calves, waiting for them to be strong enough to make their migration journey.  

We watch two mothers with calves (one with an additional orphan) close by the boat but then move on to watch cage divers in the hope of seeing sharks. We were very tempted by this (masks are in the suitcase) but I'm not a fan of them chumming the water despite the fact they claim it's not feeding them - it feels too contrived for me. On top of that, we discover it's 14°C water temperatures; it's too chilly for the sharks to be really active right now (and doesn't appeal in a wetsuit either!) Also, eighteen months ago there was a surprise visit from a pod of orcas that killed some great whites and spooked the rest of the species out of the bay. So the type we'd actually want to see aren't here anyway. A good choice in the end and I did catch one of the boats with two shark fins briefly approaching the divers. But that was it. 

We go on to see thousands of Cape fur seals on Dyer Island and frolicking in the water along with a lone African penguin on land looking forlorn in the midst of its predators. 

Four out of the Marine Five ain't bad! 

Just time for a little snooze before waking up to Rich coming back from a massage and spotting a whale and calf from the hotel window.

Another extraordinary day.