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The Southern Right Whale (Balaena glacialis) migrates from the Antarctic feeding-grounds to the safety of the Bay in order to mate and calve in midwinter and spring. The Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is one of a number of other species that also comes a-calling.
Heaviside's Dolphin (Cephalorihnchus
heavisidii), endemic to this part of the
world, course the Bay, as do Dusky
Dolphins (Lagernorhynchus obscurus). And if one is really lucky, scores of Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis)
can be seen leaping and slapping the
water to herd in shoals of fish.
Trawler's nets groan with anchovy and
pilchards and in wintertime, the snoek
(Barracouta) catches bring prosperity to
the local fisherfolk. Sandy Point Harbour
buzzes with activity and visitors have
the opportunity of watching fishermen at
work. They will gaze in awe at the
dexterity with which the women vlek
(split, gut and then spread) the fish.
The West Coast is renowned for its seafood and veld flowers. The sun-scorched landscape bursts into colour with the advent of spring and the many indigenous plants that abound here.
Did you know that birding is the fastest growing pastime in the world today? And not surprisingly the West Coast is one of South Africa's "hotspots", being one of the southernmost stop-offs of the Palearctic summer migrant waders, with the Berg River estuary in the north and West Coast National Park and Cape Columbine Nature Reserve in the south. And 90 miles north is a Cape Gannet colony at Lambert's Bay where a state-of-the-art bird hide, with its one-way window, allows the viewer to get within 10cm of the birds.
At Dolphin B&B+S/C we cater for the twitcher - that means late breakfasts and packed lunches to boot. Your host is a founder member of the West Coast Bird Club and has a sound knowledge of birding in this area and a
library of reference books that will answer your avifaunal questions - "What I don't know I'll find the answers to".
The area around St Helena Bay offers safe walking routes and the pristine beaches area joy to traverse. Explore the rocky hillside of Britannica Heights and venture into Frans se Stal (Frans' stable), a cave where reputedly this diamond-smuggler and his horse sheltered. In more recent times another cave, in nearby Paternoster, hid escaping British soldiers during the Anglo-Boer War.

And did you know that our very own Madiba, Nelson Mandela, was escorted on a secret outing to the West Coast whilst he was still incarcerated?

A victim of weather changes and notoriously fickle seas, the Britannia, which sunk in 1826, lies buried beneath the waters of the so-named bay, as do the wrecks of many other old sailing ships, offering up a challenge to the underwater diver.

On 2 June 1971, en route from the East to Holland and carrying a cargo of reinforced steel, the 'Sea Trader' fell prey to sea mist and ran aground at Duykereiland, home to Corrie van Zyl who was awarded the salvage licence. A restaurant of the same name caters for groups and functions where guests dine on Corrie's famous mussel soup and his wife's pickled fish (you try wheedling the handed-down recipe out of Bessie!). From the tables one of the ship's piston heads still can be seen … but better to hear the full story from your hosts, Dries and Corinne.

West Coast cuisine ranges from kingklip to kabeljou, lobster to limpets or, as Cape Times journalist John Scott writes in his P.S. column of July 7, 2007, "Moerse T-bones" and 'bledie lekker scones …". Some of the more adventurous may want to get their palates around bokkoms - traditionally served with apricot jam. Maybe not everyone's taste but, hey, you should try everything once in life, not so?

But's that enough to whet your appetite for now. To experiment with these and other delicacies you will simply have to come and try for yourself.

No trip to the West Coast is complete without a visit to the Fossil Park where one of the world's richest palaeontological dig-sites provides a peek into the past - a sub-tropical paradise that once was. In more fertile times the short-necked giraffid rubbed shoulders with other sivatheres and herbivores that relied on trees for food. And did you know that the first bear found south of the Sahara once lived here? Today, only their bones remain, a record of the past 20 million years.

Whether it be kayaking or boardsailing, casting a line into the cold Benguela current to hook a Galjoen (in season, of course), or simply sitting on the beach taking in the African sun - doing as little as possible - the rewards to those who visit are many: glorious sunrises, still and safe waters and a culturally rich and entertaining townsfolk.
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