Whale-Watch

We did not see this whale.

We saw this whale.

This being a lovely spring day, we took the long drive out to Hermanus - a town fronting a stretch of ocean which is famously the favoured haunt of several whale species, notably the Southern Right, Humpback and Bryde's whale.

They are reputed to breach the water regularly here, leaping out in spectacular displays of size and power.

Now, I'm not saying this doesn't ever happen. Merely that it was yet another demonstration of the Dream vs Reality syndrome. We were very lucky in that there was a whale virtually everywhere you looked. Throw your ice cream cone into the sea and it would hit a whale.

It's just that they weren't feeling all that terribly energetic, and were mostly impersonating massive barnacle-encrusted floating boulders.

Then again, this could be the curse of the camera. There's the spectacular professional camera with mega-lenses which a photographer can use to capture and enhance a fleeting event, making it even more impressive than it would appear to the naked eye (photo 1).

Then there's the camera the rest of us use, capable of taking a fairly awe-inspiring sight and making it look ten times further away and more insignificant than it would appear to the naked eye (photo 2).

And no, this is not down to the poor skills of the photographer. Well, not entirely.