Its Whale Season, and what better place to watch them than from the Two Oceans Restaurant.

False Bay, South Africa is an awesome place for whale-watching. Our waters are rich in resident cetaceans as well as large numbers of visitors during the whale migrations.

The most well known of the cetacean species seen off the South African coast is the southern right whale, which swims up from Antarctica, usually arriving some time in June. They spend the winter in quiet bays (like Fish Hoek) between the West Coast and Port Elizabeth , mating, calving and generally having some quality time with their families.

They usually hang around until October, with the stragglers leaving towards the end of November. It’s not a definite, but out of season sightings suggest that some individuals have worked out that there is enough krill off the West Coast to support a very small population so they seem to be staying almost all year.

Whales are large, magnificent, intelligent, aquatic mammals. They have sleek, streamlined bodies that move easily through the water. They are the only mammals, other than manatees (seacows), that live their entire lives in the water, and the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans.

From Namibia on the West Coast, right around the Cape of Good Hope to Mozambique on the Eastern coast , there is the possibility of viewing any number of a huge selection of these magnificent creatures.

There are two groups of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), the baleen whales and the toothed whales. Baleen whales include the blue, sei, fin, Bryde’s, humpback, bowhead, minke, grey, right, and pygmy right whales. All but the bowhead and grey whales can be found in South African waters. Baleen whales have a filter (baleen or whalebone) in their mouths which filters tiny shrimp-like animals called zooplankton from the seawater. These small animals (and occasionally fish) are the whales’ food.

Toothed whales include the sperm, beaked, killer (or orca), beluga, narwhale, and pilot whales, as well as all dolphins and porpoises. These whales eat fish and squid.

Humpback whales mate and calve in the warm waters off both Mozambique and West Africa, and can be seen in False Bay as they move past South Africa on their northward migration in winter, usually May and June, and then on their return trip to the Southern Ocean in October and November, with a few stragglers in December.

The third most important whale seen off South African shores and in Fish Hoek, is the rather enigmatic Brydes whale, which is rare elsewhere but quite commonly seen between the West Coast  and Port Elizabeth, including Fish Hoek. Other whales that are occasionally seen in False Bay include orcas and sperm whales.

Bottlenose dolphins are very common and play in the shallows just behind the breakers, so they are regularly seen all along the coast. Humpback whales are seen between KZN and the Garden Route, and common dolphins are seen off the whole coast, but usually quite far offshore.

Although Hermanus is often touted as the heart of the whale-watching route, this is a debatable point. False Bay is an awesome destination for dolphin and whale watching, and is often reffered to as the discerning whale watchers holiday destination.

False Bay:

This vast sweep of ocean is flanked on its Eastern side by Cape Town’s southerly suburbs, extending along the western side of the Cape Peninsula to the naval town of Simonstown.

The metropolitan train line runs from the city through all the little seaside villages and terminates in Simonstown. A train trip offers a marvellous scenic trip through Muizenberg, Kalk Bay and Clovelly, Fish Hoek and Glencairn all characterised by their colourful fishing communities, before ending its run in Simonstown.

The north side is encompassed by a 35km long stretch of sandy beach reaching from Muizenberg right around to the Strand and Gordon’s Bay on the western end of the Bay. Baden-Powell Drive follows this shoreline.

Whale sightings:

Although it is illegal to swim with dolphins in South Africa, Dusky dolphins are seen in the bay and the endemic heavisides dolphin of the West Coast is a particular attraction for serious cetacean watchers. In 1980 and again in 1984 legislation was introduced in South Africa to protect whales. It is now illegal to shoot at whales, or harass them by coming closer than 300 metres in any craft.

When you spot a whale or if you need to know if the whales are around, call the local Whale Hotline number on 021 782 4531
(Fish Hoek Valley Tourism Visitor Information Centre)

Please report whale harrassment or disturbance, call 021 788 8313 or 021 782 0333