Whale Callosities

The white callosities on whales are not barnacles as these white patches are visible in late state of foetuses.  The callosities appear at the same places where humans have facial hair. These patches are actually wart like skin patches covered in whale lice (cyamids). The reason why they apear so white against the black skin is because the lice are white. An estimated 7500 lice help with the cleaning of the whale. The lice are also whale specific and gender specific.

Restaurant of the week

 

Everyone has a favourite nearby coffee place. The sort of the Cheers equivalent where everybody knows your name. It’s safe to say that I get to know everybody who works there. It’s almost like family, in a way. Mine is the newly arrived Daily Bread in Voelklip an affluent area of town, which is a 5 minute drive from my house It is in a location where several previous coffee shops have failed, but the market really is ripe and these folks have a real heart for the business. Not only good coffee, but good eats and tasty goodies. The kind of thing that a coffee house and eatery needs to remain viable As you can tell, I’m proud of my local coffee place and try to show it off to others every time I can. So you can guess that I was enthusiastic when I got the chance to write this review. The Daily Bread is unique unto itself, and any reason to visit is perfect, because the atmosphere plays perfectly to coffee dates, business encounters, and just general hanging out. Its located very close to a Blue flag beach and make it the ideal spot for that quick lunch snack right at the beach. Apart from that they offer great deli products and fresh baked goodies.

Hotel of the week

Hermanus Tours, hotel of choice for this week is Harbour House.

This beautiful modern hotel is situated in the centre of the village. A fairly new establishment with large luxury rooms, very comfortable beds and a stunning view over the bay. This Hotel is ideal if you want to spot whales which would be possible from the comfort of your room or balcony. The hotel is perfectly situated to enjoy the ambiance of this quaint little town. Within a radius of 200m you have excess to everything from banks, supermarkets, 80% of the restaurants and the bars.
The hotel offers a variety of activities in and around the town and all the information on these activities can be obtained from the front desk. They also offer a private shuttle service in a Jeep Cherokee or a minivan is you are in a group. The out of season rate is R 750 per night per room, a real deal for this luxury hotel.

Whale Sex

 

Whale species have better sex than human counterparts; at least we’ve seen it happen very often. With right whales, the females mate with a bunch of males all at the same time. He with the most sperm wins, which explain why their testicles weigh about one ton a piece. Their penis is up to eight feet in length, and it can curve around and find its way into the female when the two are swimming side by side. They were named Right Whales because they swim slowly, thus being the “right whale to kill,” but they’re also the right whale to watch making love. Two thousand pound balls! An eight foot penis! Whale sex is clearly at the limits of human comprehension.

So each whale species is a sexual world unto itself. Some can be seen, others will stay shy. Humans have been following humpback whales in particular for decades because only they sing such miraculously endless melodies which never stay the the same. Each year the phrases change, following similar metamorphoses in all reaches of a single ocean, so that wildly separated groups, say in South Africa and off of Mexico, all find their song evolving in an identical way, thousands of miles apart. How do they do it? We have no idea. Why do they need a new tune each season? Science doesn’t even know the right way to ask that question.

It’s supposed to have something to do with sex, but it is a kind of sex we have never seen, something we can barely imagine.
Margaret Howe Lovatt lived with a dolphin for six months in a specially designed house.

Here’s how she described her dolphin friend Peter’s sexual urges: “When his penis becomes erect, he no longer tries to run me down and knock me off my feet, rather he slides very smoothly along my legs, and I can very easily rub his penis with either my hand or my foot. Peter accepts either and again seems to reach some sort of orgasm and relaxes…. This is not a private thing, but it is a very precious sort of thing.”

Photo; Dave de Beer

Hotel of the week

Hermanus Tours does a weekly selection on various hotels in our area. The selection is based on a small but effective criteria. This weeks hotel is Lavender Manor.

Lavender Manor is the ultimate owner managed luxury guest house and offers spectacular sea view accommodation and warm, relaxed hospitality at an affordable price. Overlooking popular Blue Flag Grotto Beach and the whale sanctuary of Walker Bay, you are within two minutes walk of the various magnificent beaches in the area as well as the famous scenic cliff path. Relax in the cosy pool area, enjoy a refreshing drink at the fully licensed sea view pub, and watch the magical whales and the incredible sunsets over the Atlantic ocean from the upstairs patios and sundowner decks.

Lavender Manor offers incredible specials at he moment. You can contact Hermanus Tours at info@hermanustours.co.za

World record shark catch

In April 1922, Bill caught his record
man-eating shark of 2,176 lbs (967 kg) which took him five hours
to land. In 1969, Coena Haman gave a vivid description of this drama
to a visiting reporter of Die Burger newspaper.

‘It was at 12:30 that day when the news
came of sharks in the harbour. Bill and I went to Frans-se-klip, the
rock in the harbour from where he caught the other sharks. We could
see it at once. It was huge. Bill immediately put out the two
paraffin tins with kabeljou as bait. The shark disappeared, after a
while came back, took the bait and tore away with it. The bamboo rod
bent under the strain while the line whirred through the reel.

Bill was all concentration while a
crowd collected. It was a titanic fight as the shark made Bill run
across the rocks to the harbour. Across Piet-se-klip while man and
shark were fighting each other, Selkirk had to draw on all his skills
to tire out the monster and keep it from breaking the line on the
reefs. The fight continued until seven that evening when he, with
aching back and arms, at last had the shark on the sand. It was the
largest fish to this day, caught by rod and line from the rocks. The
huge shark was claimed as a world record, but this was contested
because, it was said, he had used a float. According to the rules,
floats were not allowed.’

Bill Selkirk was a direct decendent from Alexander Selkirk alias Robinson Crusoe

Hermanus Central

http://southafricatravelchannel.com/videoclips/play.php?vid=60

Fabio’s Pizzeria

Fabio’s Ristorante has all the appeal of a Neapolitan pizza parlour despite its unlikely location. Queuing is almost essential although thanks to the speediness of the service, this is usually limited to 10 to 15 minutes at the most. Locals dine to a chorus of kitchen staff, waiters and squawking seagulls which all adds to the lively atmosphere. The clientele is generally a loyal bunch, who have taken the restaurant into their hearts.

Dolphins Engulfed Kayaks

An early morning kayaking trip in Walkerbay Hermanus gave the fortunate guests a surprise with a visit of more than 400 dolphins surrounding them.

With oo’s and aaa’s for most of the time while the dolphins carried on with their feeding spree on millions and millions of sardines currently in the bay. Usually the dolphins which are much faster than the gigantic Brydes Whales chase the sardines into shallows and huge fish ball’s for these whales to consume.

At the moment is a feeding mayhem in the bay with Dolphins, whales, bronze whaler sharks leaping out of the water and the occasional great white investigating the proceedings. Hermanus is enjoying a fantastic marine life activity and its like walking in the Kruger Park with mammals in their natural habitat, just better!!!!

Kelp

It has been a while since I have blogged but here it is. There has been lots and lots of controversy about where exactly does the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. The other day I had some German clients asking me if there is a clear line or even a fence that proves this and that made me wondering? If we have ocean current shifts and ocean drift of 13km/h from east to west where do they then meet. Well, firs I went to the map guys and requested infra red satellite pictures and by golly there was the proof that it is not close to Cape Agulhas but at Witsand. A mere two weeks later close to Cape Point. So Where do they meet and where will we find the accurate and exact place.

After a lot of research and I should have known the answer was lying right before my eyes. Every day we as Hermanites walk past the answer, every single day. Kelp. Yes Kelp? Let me explain. Kelp only grows in the up welling waters of our coast. We or rather our coastline and the West coast are nutrient enriched by the cold southern ocean currents that run from south to north and then onto our shore line, which then pushes the warmer water backwards away from our coast towards the south. The strong Benguella current helps with this by pushing from east to west at a great speed keeping the cold water away from Struisbaai.

Now you are asking what does kelp have to do with this. Well you don’t get kelp to the east of Cape Agulhas. So there’s the proof Kelp lives in nutrient enriched cold waters ( Atlantic) and not in warm water (Indian) so no kelp east of Agulhas.

Did you know that….?   Kelp leaves called fronds can grow up to 50 centimetres a day.

Kelp forms dense canopies up to 35 metres above the seabed.

Most of us eat kelp regularly, by consuming ice-cream or jelly. Products made from kelp are used to thicken these foods, and other products like toothpaste.