The area around Plettenberg bay is full of water based activities, from Whale watching to snorkelling with seals, kayaking to diving with sharks. As the weather was calm we decided to go out Whale watching again, this time with Ocean Blue Adventure.
After launching off Central Beach in Plettenberg we headed out in to the middle of the bay looking for whales.
It wasn’t long before we encountered 6 Southern Right Whales. The Southern Right Whales come to this area to mate and calf. The group we saw were rolling around, rubbing up against each other so could possibly have been 1 female and several males.
Southern Right Whales are very curious and at one stage, during the 1.5 hour boat trip, one of the whales swam up to our boat and nudged the boat before swimming along side and back off to join the group.
The guides on the boat were really good at explaining what the whales were doing and a little about the area and why the whales visit.
Behind the group of whales a couple of Humpback dolphins played in the surf. Humpback dolphins are South Africa’s most endangered dolphin Their shallow water habitat is under threat from human activities particularly around built up area with lots of boat traffic.
The trip ended with an exciting James Bond style exit. Lining up the boat, pointing straight at the shore, the skipper revved the engine and drove the boat right up on to the sand, before a tractor came to pull the boat further up on to the beach.
V-shaped
SR Whale
Southern Right Whale just off shore
Humpback dolphin
White-necked Raven
It is not necessary to go out on a boat to see the whales, we found a excellent cafe called Moby’s right on the beach where we spent the evenings watching the moon rise while a female whale with her few day old calf swam in the bay.
Full moon over Plettenberg bay
Whale watching until the moon came up
Appleton Wildlife Diary by Alex White 