Go to...Hermanus  Whale  History
Go to...Whale Behaviour.
Go to...Whale Experiences.
Go to...Hermanus Whale Festival
Go to... whale watching story
Do go to... Dear Friends of our Whales.( From the Ivanhoe Team)
Whales & Tourists.
 

Why watch whales from the air? A good question with an even better answer Aerial whale watching and boat based whale watching complement each other. Contrary to many beliefs, whales are not scared of boats. Over the past 12 years I have spent close on 1200 hours over the whales in Walker Bay and watched them satisfying their curiosity regarding boats and the tiny creatures inhabiting the boats. BUT, from the air things change. Whale watchers in the air get to see some special sights. Firstly, the whales are unaware of human presence and go about their lives doing “whale things”. This is exactly what makes aerial whale watching so special, seeing whales acting naturally. Some of the whale behaviour that our passengers have watched from above includes: A mother lying on her back on the surface with the calf trying desperately to get up on her stomach. When the calf finally gets onto her stomach it wriggles around while she steadies and strokes it with her pectoral fins until it slides off into the water  and starts the struggle to get up again. Calves playing with each other or a floating piece of kelp. Just like human children they will spend ages rolling over each other, pushing each other around or irritating their mothers by draping themselves over her back. Dolphins and whales. It seems that dolphins take great delight in irritating whales. They will cluster around the whale’s head until the whale becomes irritated enough to set off in pursuit of the dolphins. They will swim a few metres ahead of the whale while a few will circle back every now and then to flash past the whale’s head. After a chase of several hundred metres the whale gives up and comes to rest blowing like a winded athlete. Watching a whale breach from above can be the most incredible sight when the water is clear. A massive shape materialises from the depths and bursts from the surface arching and rolling onto it’s back in the air before falling back in an explosion of water. Truly breathtaking. These are just a few of the sights which we see from above on a daily basis but even just seeing the whole whale from above with her calf clinging to her side gives one a feeling of compassion for these wonderful giants who grace our waters for a few months every year.

Dear Friends of our Whales.( From the Ivanhoe Team)

September proved to be a truly great month for our guests who went out Whale Watching with us. Weather-wise, a great month in which we were able to do 35 trips, every one successful.

Mating Whales - November 2006 - Hermanus

 Our guests were able to see some 326 Southern Right Whales from 50m or closer, 7 Humpback whales, 3 Bryde whales, including a cow calf pair, some 70 plus Common Dolphin which joined us to bow ride with the boat, and 3 Bottlenose dolphin interacting with 2 Southern Right's. Many more whales and Dolphin were seen but we just did not have time to visit them all.

The result.....our visitors book is filled with glowing comments from our happy whale watchers.
I was told by somebody that Dr Best said that the number of Southern Rights was now increasing by about 10%, an increase of 2% of previous years. Great news if this is true but this has still to be confirmed as the official count of cow/calf pairs usually only takes place in October. Lets just hope that it is true.
Besides the number of Mating Groups that we saw, about 70% of the groups that we approached paid us close visits coming to within 3m or less of "Ivanhoe". I put this down to the calm seas that we have had.
The Southern Right depends on his sight and hearing to identify an object in the sea. For those of you who have done some diving, you will know that when under water you can hear above-water noises clearly. When there are choppy waves on the sea there is a large hissing noise and my theory is that the whales can not identify the boat clearly and tends to stay their distance. In a calm sea and clear water they become inquisitive, approach the boat and often interact with it. It is for this reason that we never switch our engines off, this in order to allow the whale to hear and identify the boat's position.
Another example of this is that when there is Trawler activity in our Bay.The whales tend to be shy. So far this season there has not been so much fish in the Bay, with the result that the Trawlers have not been as active in our waters as over the past few years. The noise of their huge engines, especially those who come down from the West Coast, definitely have a negative effect on our animals. The smaller Trawlers from Gansbaai don't seem to have the same negative effect.
I was informed by somebody that Southern Right's don't mate in Walker Bay. I totally disbelieve this statement and have actually witnessed mating taking place on many occasions and have attached a picture of mating actually taking place. Sorry about invading your privacy my whale-friends.
October, and also November, our proven best months over the years, started of with great weather and brilliant whales, but today, Sunday 8th, we are being hammered by a violent storm and the animals will move to deeper water. But don't worry. They will all be back when the sea calms down early next week. Lets hope that the normally good calm seas that we get in October and November follow their usual pattern when we get a lot of South East Wind. particularly good for Whale Watching in Walker Bay as it calms the sea, with clear water out in the Bay. While it may look bad on the Hermanus side, our area is calm and the viewing is great.
We are always available should you want to know if whales can be seen off the de Kelders cliff. Just give us a call.

May we wish you a great Whale Season,
Regards from the Ivanhoe Team
Rudy, Daphne,Michelle, Jason and Henry.

Ivanhoe Sea Safaris
Boat Based Whale Watching in Walker Bay
Tel/Fax: 028 384 0556
www.whalewatchingsa.co.za
Boat Based Whale Watching Permit No. 79796/2006

Hermanus Whale History
Whale Behaviour. Whale Experiences.
Hermanus Whale Festival
Whales have been hunted by man since the beginning of time. Eighteenth Century whaling was an extremely dangerous occupation requiring great courage and strength. (read the book "Moby Dick") The whalers would approach the whale in an open rowing boat and the 'whaler' would stand in the prow and hurl the harpoon into the whale with all his strength. The whale would sound - dive - and then the battle of stamina would begin. The little boat would be towed for miles and sometime for days reaching speeds of up to 25km/h. Whenever the whalers got the chance, they would hurl another harpoon into the whale. Loss of blood and physical exertion took its toll and eventually, if they were lucky and not dumped into the sea by the threshing tale, they would overpower the whale and put it out of it's misery. The carcass would be hauled to the mother ship where it would be flensed (carved up) into manageable pieces and reduced in boilers aboard ship into vats of whale oil. Everything of the whale was used.
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The "Right" Whale was so called because it was the easiest of the whales to catch. It is slow moving, inquisitive and very protective of it's young. Where possible a baby would be killed first and then the adults which came to it's rescue! Right Whales float when dead which was an added advantage.

Whaling provided the fuel for the initial stages of the Industrial Revolution. The cities of Europe and the New World were lit by Whale Oil, which also provided the fuel for simple cooking. This put tremendous pressure on the whaling resource world-wide. In the 1790's the American whalers took 3,000 whales out of False Bay in one whaling season! Whale numbers went into decline. Other energy sources had to be found and exploited. Coal and oil saved the whales.

The next attack on the whales took place toward the end of the 19th Century. Steam power, explosive harpoons and greed heralded the death knell for the world's whales. South Africa stopped hunting Southern Right Whales in 1935 - other countries more recently, but the pressure is still on, with countries like Iceland and Japan pressing hard for a resumption of whaling again. From an estimated population off the South African coast of about 25,000, the numbers were reduced to 50! in 1935.
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Population growth is now at a healthy 6.7% - max - and means that the population is doubling every ten years. The population off the South African coast is approximately 2,200, with the world population estimated at about 5,000 - still considered vulnerable, but recovering at maximum rate, unlike the Northern Right Whale which has disappeared in the North Pacific Ocean. There are only a couple of hundred specimens left in the North Atlantic.
Some Basic Stats
Weight - 60 tons (equivalent to 10 bull elephants); length - 16/18 meters; Ratio of food intake to body weight over a year - 4x's body weight(cf. man - 16x's) this means that a whale is very efficient in it's environment compared to man; length at birth - 7 to 9 meters; gestation period - 11 months; weight at birth - ±2 tons; a baby whale drinks about 600 litres of milk a day; grows at ±2.5cm a day; calf doubles it's weight in first week; weight of one testicle - 500kg; length of penis - ±3.5m; blood volume - 11,000litres; weight of heart - 450kg; diameter of heart - 1.2m; weight of liver - ±1 ton; age - 50 to 100 years; span of tail (flukes) - 6m; the huge tail has no bones in it - only cartilage; distance to feeding grounds - 3,000 km; swim at 4 to 5km/h; takes 6 weeks to 2 months to get here from feeding waters - about 4 weeks to return; food - zoo plankton called copepods, an animal about 2mm in length; a whale eats between 1,500 & 3,000kg of these tiny animals a day; whales do not eat for the period they are here in Walker Bay; whale skeleton weighs 2.5 tons; skull weighs >750kg; the skeleton is very porous and nearly 1/3 of the oil derived from the whale comes from the skeleton; weight of tongue - ±5 tons; length of bottom jaw bone - > 4.5m; height of blow - 5m; speed of air leaving blow holes - 300km/h.
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Behaviour.
Cows come to the same bays in their annual migration. They come close in-shore two out of three years - year 1 - mate; year 2 - calve; year 3 - do not come in-shore. The bulls do not come to the same bays, but tend to come in-shore futher west each year. This ensures global species integrity, preventing gene pool isolation.

Whales were off our coast all year according to old whaling records. Numbers peaked during calving and mating. As their numbers increase, we are seeing a return to that ancient pattern again. We used to say the whales were here from July to November, but these days arrivals can be as early as April and some whales linger until mid January.
Why do they migrate?
Acknowledged reasons: Baby whales do not have the thick insulation of blubber that the adult's have - the Southern Oceans are too cold for them even though their skin is ±2cm thick and their blubber is ±7cm thick. Also a baby whale can only hold it's breath for ±5minutes (adults up to ±45 min.). It is also relatively weak and lacks stamina: the stormy Southern Oceans are too rough for them. They come into the relatively calm waters off our coast and keep to the calm leeward side of the bays. For the last couple of years we have had baby whales drown in stormy seas.
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Additional reasons (personal opinion)
1. Part of the Global Nutrient Chain. 25,000 whales consuming ±2,500kg of zoo plankton a day and migrating to live off our coast for 4 or 5 months each year, bring a lot of nutrients to the coast. Over a million years this represents a significant "topping up" which, if it hadn't taken place would represent a serious loss of nutrients to the coast. This would affect the viability of the coastal eco-system.
2. "Flossing" their baleen. The cavernous mouth of the whale defies the imagination. The jaw is >5 meters and the baleen plates are up to 3 meters long - up to 300 of them! These hang like a curtain from the top jaw. Plates 10mm thick and 10mm apart and up to 200mm wide and 3m long. A mouth that large has a huge amount of space for all sorts of rubbish to get stuck in and for fungus to grow. Sand blasting - rinsing the mouth out with sand once a year would "floss" the baleen. Whales are to be seen in numbers off the sandy beaches, head down on the sand, generating vast clouds of sand as they go through this annual clean up.
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Calving: When dolphins calve they swim through the water rotating like a cork-screw. This spinning motion seems to help with the birth. During calving, the whale cow goes into a vertical position, also rotating all the while. She is accompanied by two or three "mid-wives" who are in close proximity during this process. There are sentries posted - one at about 500m and another at about 1 km.
Mating: Unlike most mammals, the bulls do not fight for the right to have access to the cows. Such huge animals would injure themselves, perhaps mortally if they displayed aggressive behaviour toward each other. Nevertheless nature does require the strong and healthy to father the next generation. This is attained by "sperm dominance" which is achieved by frequency of mating - the last to mate being the father. In other words the male that has the stamina to keep on mating with the cow, again and again, thus ensuring he is the last to mate with her will father the baby.
Play: Mothers have been observed playing with their young for hours at a time. The cow lies on her back. The baby launches itself onto the mother's belly where it is held by the mother between her flippers. Wriggling off, the play is repeated over and over. Fun & Games! Babies also drape their tales over the mother's back and can lie like that for ages. Back to the top
Experiences.
A fisherman on a ski-boat noticed a whale coming toward him. He had several lines out so immediately started reeling in as he was afraid that the whale would swim into the lines and become entangled. He got them all in except one. The whale was 20m off and set to swim under the boat and into the fishing line. At the last moment it veered off to one side. He swears that the whale was aware of the line and that’s why it turned aside - on previous occasions, when there were no lines out whales had swum under his boat. Can a huge 16m creature sense a fishing line a mere fraction of a millimetre in diameter?

Boys were surfing off a lonely beach. Then an expert arrived on the scene - a huge whale. To show that it was master of it's environment it surfed with them - on it's side, front and back!

Men were taking out perlemoen (abalone). Engrossed in the task at hand they were oblivious to the approaching whale. Then suddenly their space was being overwhelmed by this massive presence. The whale was fascinated by what they were doing and was watching their every move.
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Jim Wepener
Kenjockity Guest House
PO Box 1096, Hermanus 7200, South Africa.
Tel/Fax (+27)(028) 312 1772
e.mail: jim@hermanus.co.za
This information available in Italian and German and soon in French and Spanish on my web site.
web page: - http://home.itec.co.za/kenjock

HERMANUS WHALE FESTIVAL

The 17th Hermanus Whale Festival will be kicking off on 24 September 2008 and over a 4 day period the seaside village will become a smorgasbord of music, theatre, arts and crafts.
The southern right whales are the main attraction and come to the coastline to calve and nurse their young between July and November. David Carwadine coined the phrase of Hermanus being the best land based whale watching spot in the world.
Visit the informative Whale Festival site at www.whalefestival.co.za  Music lovers can be found at the amphitheatre where free entertainment is provided and even children are catered for at Kidzone. 

The Hermanus Whale festival is the only enviro-arts festival in the world, and as such places great emphasis on environmental education. More than 3000 children have participated in an environmental workshop sponsored by the winnings of Hermanus being the cleanest town. Back to the top

The Hermanus Whale Festival boasts with a further attraction in the form of Zoleli Baleni, the only whale crier in the world. Baleni must rate as the most photographed man in Hermanus and eager tourists follow him for a photo opportunity and some whale secrets.

Not only does Hermanus have whales, it also offers 1 800 ha of pristine mountain and coastal fynbos at the Fernkloof Nature Reserve.

The festival is aimed at community participation and Leon Theron, new festival chair for 2008, is placing emphasis on a quality and enjoyable festival for locals and international visitors. A strong emphasis will be placed on the very topical environmental challenges facing South Africa and its traditional cultural arts and music.
Pay a visit to the festival website at www.whalefestival.co.za
to see the many other events taking place and to book on-line for shows.
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Jim Wepener started it all
Order his booklet
on the Whales of Hermanus
  - R 15.00
{Postage in SA included}