Hermanus Whale Watching Tour Guide

In Hermanus, South Africa there’s a very special man, he spends most of his time photographing, tracking and teaching others about the beauty of Whales which adorn the South African coastline. He isn’t like other tour guides though; he has a real passion for these gentle giants and wants to pass on his ever-growing knowledge to you for the best Whale watching experience. You would never guess that he was previously in the golf industry before he followed his true passion for a super zoom Canon lens along shore of the Cape Whale Coast to Whale watch. This man is Dave De-Beer and today he will be our Whale watching guide!

Whale Watching in Hermanus

We messaged Dave the night before to see if we could arrange Whale watching tour while we’re in Hermanus for a few days on our South Africa adventure. Hermanus is a well-known layover for visitors travelling along the Garden Route in South Africa. Although technically not part of the Garden Route, it is well worth adding to your Garden Route itinerary. There are plenty of daily boat tours from the harbour in Hermnaus but Dave came highly recommended. You can have just as good a time watching Whales from land and this also prevents any worries about sea sickness or cancellations due to bad weather. Reading reviews on Daves Whale watching tours, it reflected on the special relationship he has with the Whales in Hermanus. Even if you don’t see any, which is a very small probability you’d still walk away with a ton of knowledge and expertise from a passionate nature lover that a boat trip wouldn’t give you.

Whale Watching Season

The best time to do Whale watching in Hermanus is from early June to the end of November which is early winter to mid Spring and the temperature won’t usually dip below 18°C, however it can be very windy so you will need wrap up warm. During this time several different Whale species can be seen in the bay, but Southern Rights are famous in Hermanus that come here in large numbers for their mating and what we call their kindergarten training season before they head out into the world.

Hermanus Whale Watching Museum

We arranged to meet Dave at the Whale watching museum in Hermanus that is near the seafront and main parade, outside is a replica full size model of a young Southern Right, which is humungous. It really makes you appreciate the size, strength and beauty of the species that are like an underwater power station swimming along effortlessly. Dave is a really welcoming tour guide; he makes you feel like you’ve met an old friend and you’re instantly at ease asking him questions and getting warmed up for your tour.

We stepped inside the museum to begin our tour and within a couple minutes his phone rang, it was one of his co Whale watchers advising him of a spotting, just outside the front. Did we care that the museum bit of the tour was cut short? Hell no! It felt like we were on the chase already and the adrenalin started to flow.

Whale Crier Hermanus

Along the seafront we could see a crowd gathering and heard the sound of a blowhorn that could have been from an early tribe. It turned out this was a very special tradition, started by the public office in 1991 to tell visitors when Whales were spotted on the coast. The Whale Crier uses a kelp horn using a set of more code signals that are listed on his sandwich board to let you where along the coast to look.

First Whale Sighting

We had seen the tales of Whales the evening before in the distance when sitting on the coastline watching the sun go down, but this was our first proper spotting. It’s quite unbelievable how close to the rocks and cliffs of Hermanus the Whales get, they were easily within 20-30 metres and could be seen with the naked eye. Dave straight away started explaining more about these beauties, the resurgence of the Southern Right population and how they had been on the brink of extinction.

Dave De Beer Whale Expert

Part of a tour with Dave De Beer isn’t just seeing the Whales but learning about them. Dave has written two books, ‘Hermanus Whales: A Photographic Journey with Southern Right Whales’ and ‘Hermanus Whales: The Journey Continues’ which show just what can be seen and learnt from Whale watching in Hermanus.

Dave takes the time to really help you understand the history and hopefully future of  Southern Rights. Outside the museum before our first sighting we were discussing how Whales were land mammals and developed over time to become sea living. This can be seen with the remains of the hind limbs which were used by their land roaming ancestors. Just as interestingly inside the museum with Daves guidance a skeleton showed that their tails don’t have bones spread across the width of them. The tail is filled with muscle and cartilage which they must develop and strengthen to provide the thrust for their main powerhouse, this is why you’ll see younger Whales breaching. It’s all part of their training programme. The mothers will save up energy in the day to do the odd breach, showing their calves how to develop and strengthen their tail fins for the open oceans.

Stanford Historical Town

After a great session Whale watching in Hermanus we jumped in the VW Transporter to head South East across the baby to a lesser known but even better Whale watching spot of De Kelders. On the way we took a quick detour through the historic town of Stanford, set on the banks of the Klein River, the shortest river in South Africa. Its history dates back to the first farms setup by Sir Robert Stanford, sadly though he lost everything when forced by the governor to supply a ‘convict ship’ with supplies and was then seen by colonists as a traitor. There is a historical walking tour of the town available and a river cruise boat worth visiting if open.

De Kelder Whale Watching

We arrived soon after in De Kelders which is a quiet holiday-home town set along a low cliff line. Within a few minutes we were down by the edge of the rocks viewing three pairs of Whales converging towards each other. Some of the mums seemed to be in what is an energy saving state which means they’ll be just under the surface slowly heading along with their calves until their next training session. The photography opportunities here really are once in a lifetime and Dave guided us through where to look.

Land Based Whale Watching

Overall, our tour took about 3-4 hours with every minute being educational, fun and inspiring. The knowledge and time Dave shares with you makes you think twice about how these beautiful giants are such an important part of our eco system and their well-deserved place in our planet. We saw at least 20 pairs of Whales with Dave, because of his great local knowledge every minute was packed with either spotting or talking and learning about Southern Rights and their lives. We’d highly recommend Dave for your Whale watching tour in Hermanus as we took more than just photos away from this experience.

Pictures are copyright content of Dave De Beer