At a certain point during my trip in South Africa we finally ended up at the sea side and started driving down towards the west side of the country. After spending a while in the Eastern cape which is surely less developed that other parts of Africa it was nice to stay in a town where it even felt a bit more tourist because it was so long ago already.
We ended up in the sleepy town called Plettenberg Bay which wasn't that sleepy at all it turned out, because there was some sort of music festival going on over there. It was more like spring break for the youngsters and it was time to just not be there as fast as possible..
I had no idea what the town of Plettenberg bay was known for as I very often was not really aware of why a town was special or not. Some of these towns on the coastal route seemed more popular because of the convenience that it would bring tourists versus that there was really something special.
But Plettenberg bay was known for their huge colony of seals which habite there on the peninsula and there was even an option to go and swim with the seals. Holy crap, that sounds scary but exciting as well!
So much info before hand, briefing is important!
Did we really want to do this? Is that even scary? or is this also maybe a bit invasive for these animals and am I supporting this cause? So many questions that pop up immediately and I was not sure if I would want to do this.
So I went on and read some blogs about this and watched some videos before booking this trip. Because I had no idea that this even existed so it needed some decent information. Also before heading on the boat there was a really decent briefing about how this goes and what to expect.
So the guys on the boat explained how this all works. We would go to the peninsula where the seal colony lives and stay there in the water for about 20 minutes, so the seals keep seeing you as just a guest.
Seals are curious (and not so) little animals and they act like water dogs under water in terms of how curious they are. As in, they want to see who is next to them in the water and they start fooling around with you. The deal is to never touch the seals, and hold you hands together so they wont see your hands as toys to play with, because they will bump into you and go for your hands and feet otherwise.
Say whutttt? Was I really sure about this?
And there we went...!
On a small rip boat we went towards the peninsula where only when we got closer by we were able to see the seals because of their colour that blend into the scenery perfectly.
Getting into the water was fine and then I encountered the first seal. Or better said, he encountered me and was way bigger than I had expected. These guys can get up to 300 kilo and that something!
While being under water with your snorkle they look you right into the eye and start swimming so close to you or underneith of you that you can feel their whiskers touching you even. They don't bit, but they do nibble a bit here and there which is more than awkward.
And they play around and it feels like they are everywhere because they are so fast! What an adventure and how special this was to do!
The 20 minutes past by in a breeze but I was also exhausted immediately from all of these impressions from these super cool creatures and happy to be out of the water again even though I am a really good swimmer. Just everything together, the waves, the seals everywhere around you, the smell of the seals and also the sound that they make is just really impressive.
And you could just see that they really like to play and fool around, I guess the humans were entertaiment for the seals!
All and all...
This was really something I would recommend to everyone if you are not scared of the water. Because truly, it were a lot of impressions all at once. We did this in Plettenberg bay but there is also an option to do this in Hout Bay on the Cape Town peninsula. That is where I took these pictures of these seals because I was not into the water there, but there was the same kind of tour going on there, and I didn't take the camera while actually going swimming ofcourse in Plettenberg Bay.
If you are not comfortable in rough water with animals or fish swimming around you....you might want to consider doing something different.
But to me...this was fan-tas-tic and once in a lifetime!
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