Garden Route, Part 1

Mark and I never thought we would have the desire to drive the Garden Route in southern South Africa, but since we are on a quest to see as much of this country as possible before we have to leave, we decided to add it to the list.


 It took some planning with flights out of different airports, multiple hotels, and deciding on which towns to visit, but I think we picked some great places and I am glad they all worked out.  Thankfully there is so much to do and see we only ended up driving at the most 3 hours in a day broken up with stops at attractions.

We were suppose to fly to Cape Town to start our journey early on Thursday morning but upon arrival at the airport a South African Airlines attendant told us that our flight was overbooked by 28 people and we had been bumped from the flight.  I was shocked that the airline would provide such bad customer service with no compensation but thankful that we were able to get on the next flight 1.5 hours later.



We arrived in Cape Town, loaded up our rental car and headed 1 hour down R44 to Betty's Bay where Stoney Point and a huge 3,600 penguin colony is located.  We spent about 45 minutes walking along the boardwalk viewing the penguins.




It was amazing how many there were, they just looked like dots on the rocks from a distance, but when you got up close we could see hundreds of them.  

The kids enjoyed the penguins and we even captured a family photo.



The drive from Betty's Bay to Hermanus where our next stop was located was breathtaking.  It reminded us of the Pacific Coast Highway, driving along the cliffs with the Indian Ocean on the other side.  An hour later we arrived at the house we rented in Hermanus.  It was a charming 3 bedroom with an amazing view from the back garden.









I loved hearing the waves crash into the rocks and seeing the water flying up.  The kids enjoyed playing on the rocks and exploring.  Adalyn began her seashell collection and was not afraid to adventure out on her own.



The entire "beach" was sea shells so we now have quite the assortment.  Adalyn said exploring on the rocks was her favorite part of our trip.

Hermanus also gave us the opportunity on our second night there to see a whale jumping about 8 times out of the water during dinner.  We dined at Bientang's Cave in downtown Hermanus which is basically a restaurant located in a cave on the cliff of the Indian Ocean.


A whale happened to be in the cove and provided awesome entertainment.







 Mark was also able to go shark diving to see Great White Sharks up close from the safety of inside a shark cage in Gansbaai, South Africa.



 Sadly the weather had taken a turn for the worse and I was not able to go as the company thought it would be too unsafe to take their boat out.

We had extra time after Mark's shark diving adventure so we took a hike
and captured this picturesque view of Hermanus.

On our last morning in Hermanus we enjoyed the rocks and sea some more then packed up and headed to Swellendam, South Africa, to eat some lunch.  It was quaint little town right off the highway about 1.5 hours into our drive.



We stopped for a pizza lunch and would have loved to explore the little town a bit more but needed to get back on the road to make our next overnight stop in Mossel Bay.  The drive really lived up to the Garden Route name as there were rolling green hills and valleys which made the drive quite enjoyable.

Since I did not get to shark dive the day before, I was hoping to in Mossel Bay, South Africa, but they were fully booked.  We then decided to do a boat cruise and go out to see the seal colony on an island but again the dreary weather and low tide made it unsafe for boats to go out again.  Never had I realized how a simple change in weather from sunny to gloomy and a little rain would affect the sea and change our plans. So we spent our time in Mossel Bay on the beach, collecting more shells and enjoying the surfers.  We were lucky enough to sport some dolphins jumping in the ocean right off our balcony.







We enjoyed our one night in Mossel Bay, although we did not get to do much due to weather, the apartment we stayed had a lovely ocean view, the food was good at the restaurant down below and the kids enjoyed more beach time.





I loved the little village we stayed in complete with their different colorful homes lining the beach.  We headed out early the next morning to drive to Plettensberg Bay, South Africa, which was our next overnight stop.