Follow Rio: Mossel Bay, Swellendam, Cape Agulhas & Hermanus
The sixth day of our trip was a driving day. From Knysna, we drove six hours to Hermanus (pronounced hair-mahn-us), stopping along the way at Mossel Bay, Swellendam and Cape Agulhas. I found Mossel Bay to be industrial and unremarkable, though guidebooks claim that there are beautiful beaches nearby. After breakfast there, we drove two hours to Swellendam. The town was beautiful and picturesque, tucked into a fold in the mountains and dotted with white houses and flowering purple jacaranda trees. Aside from a quaint museum and a variety of lunch restaurants, however, there was not much reason to stop in Swellendam. Cape Agulhas, however, was a different story.
Far off the main road that connects the Garden Route, and probably difficult to access by public transportation, Cape Agulhas is the southernmost tip of Africa. (Many people believe that Cape Point is the southernmost tip, but they are mistaken.) Cape Agulhas is simultaneously thrilling and disappointing. On the one hand, you are standing at the southernmost tip of the continent, at the very point where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. It is hard not to be at least a little impressed. On the other hand, you are standing on a bunch of rocks that look exactly like the bunch of rocks two yards away, and you are looking out at water that looks exactly like all the other water in the ocean. It’s hard not to be at least a little disappointed. As a rest stop, however, it is fantastic. You get to stretch your legs, add something to your list of awesome places you’ve been (we all have these lists and we all use them to impress other people, even if we don’t admit it) and feel like you accomplished something amazing in only half an hour.
From Cape Agulhas, we drove two hours to Hermanus, which was our final stop for the day. Hermanus is known as the whale-watching capital of South Africa, and the next morning we set out to look for whales. We had booked a whale watching tour the night before, grudgingly agreeing to pay about $40 per person. In the morning, however, other guests at our hostel told us that you could see whales jumping and flipping and cavorting from the cliff walk that lines most of the town. So, we canceled our reservation and set off for the cliff. And we saw nothing. Absolutely nothing, except for a white cap or two that we decided were whales, just to make ourselves feel better. Hermanus was about to become the most disappointing part of our trip, but we took a detour to the beach on the way out of town and, as luck would have it, stumbled upon two whales prancing about in the water only a few hundred yards from shore. Half an hour later, we were fully satisfied with our whale watching experience and marched onward to wine country.
