Hermanus South Africa: Sharks & Whales

Helga Hauck and her son spent a few days in Gansbaai and Hermanus South Africa during their December holiday 2006. I had a telephone conversation with her to find out more ...

Sharks & Whales: Questions Accommodation Operator Time spent on the boat Whale species Tips for whale watching Weather Great white shark experience Hermanus South Africa: Rating

Where did you stay and what was the accommodation like?

We were away for four days and stayed with Shark Lady Adventures (enquire about shark diving with this operator) in their self-catering cottage the entire time.

It was R300 a night and could sleep four. It's very neat.

The cottage is in Hermanus South Africa.

You will also find self catering accommodation in Stanford village which is is even closer to Gansbaai. Make a Stanford accommodation enquiry for B's cottage...

Kim is family, a distant relation of ours.

How did they perform?

We didn't use them for the Hermanus whale watching; that was done independently.

With the shark cage diving (not in Hermanus South Africa but nearby in Gansbaai), they were very organised. Before you leave you get coffee and snacks and a toasted cheese or something to eat. When you get back they give you food and a hot coffee again.

That's what makes it so pleasant, it's not just an "in and out" experience.

They have a lady on the boat that takes a video of you while you're busy. It's nice to have the video with nice music of yourself on the trip.

More whale watching tours or diving with sharks travel reports and reviews.

We didn't go on a boat for the whale watching - we were just watching from the shore around the Hermanus area, because they get so close.

For the shark diving we were out at sea from Gansbaai for about 4 hours, I think. They only do 2 trips a day to give the people more time and that everybody can be in the cage for at least 20-40 minutes, depending on the number of people on the boat.

Here's how to prevent sea sickness on boat trips.

Southern right whale. I think we saw a mother and a child if I'm not mistaken. We didn't see any breaching or other exciting whale behaviour, but it was nice to see the baby.

Just be patient.

It's nice to have binocularsand good sunglasses. If you have polarised sunglasses it takes that glare off the sea, your vision improves tremendously.

We were lucky, the weather in both Gansbaai and Hermanus South Africa was very good, nice and hot.

No, I'm too scared - I don't even put my head under the bath water! But my son had gone.

Kim and them (Shark Lady Adventures) have a new cage, I think it's called the "Bubble". It's a - not glass - extremely strong plastic cage so there's no restraint with bars around you. There's only bars above and below you. And it's like a round cylinder, the only one I think in the world.

So you have a far better vision of the sharks. My son said it was incredible to see a shark like that because you can turn around in the cage and have an unobstructed view. It's tied to the boat so you have three sides [180°] view into the ocean.

There were two great white sharks around the boat at a time. In fact, at one stage there were three: a small one, and two bigger ones. That was an incredible thing.

He would do it again tomorrow; the adrenalin really flows at that moment.

Yes. I saw a lot from the top, it was incredible stuff.

For the great white shark adventure I'd definitely give it a 10.

The whales - because you're not on the boat - it's lovelier, but you know what, to me, it was a 10 out of 10 experience.

Everything played a role… the weather was good, you have good company and you actually see some wildlife.