Whales

Driving home Mike Wills mentioned that the first whales of the season were in False Bay.

(Fish Hoek beach, looking out to the far side of Simon’s Town. That’s Boulders over there, for those of you with a thing for penguins).

Didn’t expect them to be so close to shore (OK, there’s a bit of shortening with the lens and all, but they’re right in). It was getting dark, so I didn’t stick around waiting for a more interesting photo opportunity.

These are Southern Right Whales, and we have plenty of them — as opposed to the North Atlantic Right Whales, who number around 400 and are individually named, and the North Pacific Right Whales, who are even more rare.

“Our” fellows cruize in here around the beginning of September, bringing lots of revenue for small towns like Gansbaai and somewhat bigger towns like Hermanus.