As we drove around the coast of South Africa in the Cape Town area, we were so thrilled to see whales several times!   We knew it was the season, but we didn't go to any of the 'hot' spots for seeing them and so we were very lucky to see them at all.  I had never seen a whale and was so excited!  According to our hosts, the whales we saw were very close compared to what is usually seen. Besides this one whose 'arms' you see, there is also a whale 'blowing' way out--in the center just below the horizon, you can see a little white spot.

 

 

Here are four other glimpses of whales.  We didn't get to see a tail or fluke in the air.  These are Southern Right Whales.  They are called 'right' whales because in the days of the big whaling ships, this species had the best meat and oil so was the 'right' one to go after.

 

This picture shows you how close to shore they really were.  We saw them one at a time and the way one was behaving led people to think she was calving, but we didn't get to see any baby arrive.

The water gets deep very quickly so the whale had plenty of room even this close to shore.

 

The whale didn't come all the way out and breach, but this was still spectacular enough for us!  It's always exciting to add another mammal to one's life list and these whales were indeed very exciting to see.