Christa

Hi y'all,
I am in the very first stages of planning a proposed trip to Cape Town and Garden Route. Hope to vist around Sept or Oct 05 and spend about 2-3 weeks in the region.

I have been reading up about the area and was planning 2 nights in Hermanus and 1 night in Mossel Bay. I had intended to do the tour boat thing from Hermanus but have since discovered that Mossel Bay is also a popular whale and great white shark viwing area.

Which town would you advise to spend 2 nights at and do the boat tours?

MikeD

Christa ,

I stayed in Hermanus for a couple of nights last year and would thoroughly recommend it. It's a lovely town and you will be there right around the time of the Whale festival.
There's a town crier there who announces where the whales can be seen and all in all I loved the place.
We wanted to go on a Shark Dive from there to Gans bay, but the water was too choppy !! So we went to the vineyards instead which was fantastic.

Try this link to Hermanus info
http://www.hermanus.co.za/

Christa

Thanks Mike,

Hermanus sounds fantastic, thanks for the information.
Looks like I should stick to the original plan afterall.

Christa.

thit_cho

I twice went cage diving with white sharks from Gansbaai, which, if I recall correctly, is 30 minutes or so from Hermanus. We did the dives as daytrips from Cape Town (1-1/2 hours each way), which made for a long day but allowed us to stay in one hotel for an extended period. We went with White Shark Ecoventures the second time and they were great (my first trip stunk and I won't mention that operator).

Christa

Cage diving sounds very daring to me but hubby is very keen. I would love to get close to the great whites but might chicken out when it comes to jumping in the water with them.

Some of the photos I have seen of the shark viewing trips seem to be fairly impressive so maybe I will stay above the water.

Thanks for the nod about this company.

Christa

thit_cho

If you choose not to get into the cage, you will not be alone. Only 4 out of 10 guests on our boat got into the cage which meant we could basically remain in the cage for extended periods, although the coldness of the water limited our stays. Its a great trip even if you don't get into the cage and you get much better photos from the boat.

Alisonv

Hi Christa
We stayed in Hermanus and from there we went diving with white sharks at Gansbaai. I was the family coward and stayed on the boat while the rest of the family did the cage viewing. Not to worry, we all came back happy. I thoroughly enjoyed my view from the deck and the rest of the family found the cage a bit choppy but fun. I was the only one on the boat who didn't go in. Once on the boat you can decide if you want to go in. There is absolutely no pressure either way. You don't have to tell them ahead of time what you want to do. That's a great feature as far as I am concerned.

jrruff

My wife and I went shark diving on Sept. 12th as a day trip from Cape Town. We used White Shark Projects, at a cost of R1200 p/p, incl. R/T transportation. Even though our driver only seemed to know 2 speeds - fast and faster (we were in a minivan with 5 20-something year old males) - I could swear that it took us 2 hours each way.

Although the weather on land was O.K., it was cold and windy on the bay. And, the water was COLD. I went in the cage; my wife remained on the boat. The viewing was better from the boat. On that day, sharks did come around from time to time, but only rarely could they be attracted very close to the boat. IMO, the day on the water seemed like minutes of boredom interrupted by seconds of excitement. Just like fishing - sometimes they come; sometimes they don't. But when they do come, I will judge the tour operator by his/her ability to maximize the opportunity. Nevertheless, it was a great experience. How many times in your life will you have an opportunity to do something like this?