A Whale of a Tail

Team Canada (L-R) Chida, Alex, Me, Blair

During one of the breaks from the rain on Sunday, we went out for lunch with Rob and Sam and their kids Luke and Julia. Afterward, we went to visit a penguin rehabilitation centre in Cape St Francis. They were adorable – some were curious and friendly, others shy or grouchy.  The penguins are brought to the centre after oil spills, injuries, or habitat losses. They are returned to the wild regularly – in fact several were returned to their native colonies the day after we saw them. The centre plans to re-establish a colony of South African penguins on the coast of St Francis.

My favourite little penguin, Joran, just muggin'

On Monday, we cleaned and painted the Sea Centre, helping to prepare it for the opening in two weeks. After work, we walked along the beach, and loads of cool things had washed up after all of the storms.

Patrick the Puffer Fish

Decomposing Seal

That night while we were cooking dinner, Alex spotted dolphins from the balcony window – a ton of them were swimming by for a dusk feed. It was amazing!

One of our dolphin neighbours

Calf (left) and Mother (right) having a blast!

The sun finally came out on Tuesday, much to everyone’s relief. We were out and about collecting displays, animals, and other odds and ends for the Sea Centre when we spotted some whale activity out on the water. I even saw a whale breech in the distance! Rob and Sam decided to take advantage of the nice weather, so we headed out on their boat to see if we could get closer to the whales. Sure enough, we experienced a spectacular display put on by two Humpback whales - a mother and calf. At one point, after losing them for a while, one whale came up for a breath RIGHT NEXT TO THE BOAT! Everyone was completely shocked, and I only recovered in time to snap a shot of its tail on the way back down. It was unreal! On the way home we saw seals and Humpback dolphins – the cherry on top of an incredible boat ride!

The next day there was lots to do at the centre - our boss Tony arrived from Grahamstown (via a much-altered route due to all of the road issues). We made plans for the grand opening of the centre and got a lot of work done. On Thursday, it was sadly time to leave St Francis, so we crossed the temporary bridge over the Sand River and drove back to Grahamstown.