Whale Coast and Garden Route

 We spent 5 days driving the Whale Coast Route and the Garden Route.  First stop was at Stoney Point on the Whale Coast Route to see more African penguins.  While we were there we saw rock dassies sunning themselves on rocks.  There were two baby dassies.  Believe it or not, these little furry creatures are related to the elephant.  The first night of the road trip we stayed at Hermanus, the whale watching capitol of Africa for one night.  We saw a mother whale and baby but too far for a picture.  In Hermanus they have a whale crier who walks along the viewing areas and blows his horn to tell everyone where you can see whales.  Dean and I had a wonderful sushi meal at Lemon Butta in Hermanus.  We stayed at the Whale Coast Inn which was very cheap, conveniently located, and had very spacious rooms.

The next day we drove to L'Agulhas, the southern most point of Africa and where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet.  It is not as impressive as Cape of Good Hope but we HAD to go to the real tip of Africa.  On the Garden Route, we drove to Mossel Bay for two nights, staying at Amzee Bookmakierie B&B. The first night here I watched some whales breeching (with binoculars).  While we were in this area we drove all the way past Plettenberg Bay to Birds of Eden (about a 3 hour drive from Mossel Bay).  It is the biggest aviary I have ever been to and has some spectacular birds.  We spent 2 hours looking and taking pictures of birds.  But we were not impressed with the Garden Route that everyone here raves about.  It supposedly goes from Heidelburg to just past Plettenberg Bay.  We didn't see much.  Just a lot of driving and not that great of scenery.

Last night we drove back towards Cape Town and we are staying at Southern Cross B&B in Somerset West.  This is another wonderful, inexpensive, B&B.  Today we walked around the old town of Stellenbosch, did some wine tasting, and had a nice lunch at one of the winery's.  We came back to our B&B, packed up and are ready to leave tomorrow for the airport and our flight to Paris.  And I think all four of us are ready to get home.

Ron has been our driver for this road trip and he has done a wonderful job.  He has had to drive on the wrong side of the road, dodge the fast moving cars, and put up with all the passengers telling him how to drive.  What a trooper!!

Pictures: Stoney Point, baby penguin, rock dassies, Hermanus whale crier, L'Agulhas and the four of us, our B & B in Mossel Bay, Birds of Eden and some colorful birds, Dean and I wine tasting, Dean and Ron.