Watoto, Wine and Whales

Sunday, September 4th:  We started our Sunday by going to Watoto Church, which was across the street from our hotel.  It was a very welcoming church that felt very much like an American contemporary mega-church.  We enjoyed the worship and preaching!  Afterward, we drove through the wine route to Stellenboch.  Since it was Sunday, there weren't very many shops or restaurants open.  We managed to make it to the visitor center before they closed, and we got a map and list of wineries in the area that did tastings on Sundays.  We walked around town and strolled through a botanical garden.  Before leaving Stellenboch, we mapped out which wineries had Sunday tastings and headed out.

The drive was gorgeous and we ended up stopping at Eikendal Wineries.  They had a special tasting that paired different Lindt chocolate flavors with their red and white wines.  The pairings were their Classique (red) with the 80% Cocoa Chocolate, the Cabernet Sauvignon (red) with the Chili Chocolate, Merlot 2008 (red) with the Intense Orange and Chardonnay (white) with the Caramel Chocolate.  It was pretty tasty!  Jeff just enjoyed the wine, without the chocolate.  It was so cheap for the tasting.  It was only $8.00 for both of us.

After our wine tasting, we headed south to Hermanus, which was on the southern coast of South Africa.  Hermanus is known for the intense whale-watching and shark-cage diving.  Once we arrived at the Hermanus Backpackers Lodge (Hostel), Jeff booked his shark-cage diving trip for the next morning.  We then went out to explore Hermanus.  This hostel was really cozy, and we stayed two nights.  One night in a private room and the other in the dorms.  It was very clean and welcoming.  There were some regulars that seemed to run the TV, but the staff is all very helpful and there is a large kitchen area for cooking.

Monday, September 5th:  Jeff's shark-cage diving started at 7:30am, so he had an early start.  While he was out all day, I walked around the town and did a little shopping and whale-watching.  Unfortunately, I did not see any whales during the day. There were a lot of cute shops, as well as a craft market in the middle of town.  Jeff met me back at the hostel around 2pm.  He wasn't looking to great, so I was eager to see how his excursion went.  Unfortunately, Jeff, as well as most of the boat, got pretty sea sick.  He saw some great white sharks from the boat, but he didn't get into the cage in time to see them under water.  They were out on the water for about 3 1/2 hours, which didn't sound too fun.  Poor Jeff wasn't feeling too great and needed to rest.  After he felt better, we headed back out to the town center to look for some whales.

A Southern Right Whale breeching!

After seeing a ton of whales (my camera couldn't capture more than the splashing tail), we went to the market and Jeff bought me a wooden bowl (finally!).  I had been looking at them the whole trip and couldn't ever decide on one that I really wanted.  Now I finally got one! Next stop, The Garden Route...