Walker Bay is a large bay located in the south-western Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the next major bay between False Bay near Cape Town and Cape Agulhas to the south-east. The bay is famous for having some of the best land based whale-watching in the world, which a town on its shores, Hermanus, has become famous for. Southern Right Whales visit the bay in the winter and spring months.
Gansbaai on the shores of the bay has also become very famous for Great White Shark diving.
The shores adjacent to the bay are protected as part of the Walker Bay Nature Reserve, and the bay itself is a marine protected area in which most boating and fishing activity is prohibited.
An up and coming South African wine region with a Cooler climate than most. This allows for good Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with top estates in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley.
Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus Eubalaena: the North Atlantic right whale (E. glacialis), the North Pacific right whale (E. japonica) and the southern right whale (E. australis). They are classified in the family Balaenidae with the bowhead whale. Right whales have rotund bodies with arching rostrums, V-shaped blowholes and dark gray or black skin. The most distinguishing feature of a right whale is the rough patches of skin on its head which appear white due to parasitism by whale lice. Right whales can grow up to 18 m (59 ft) long and weigh up to 100 short tons (91 t; 89 long tons), significantly larger than humpbacks or grays, but smaller than blues. Although the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, the testes of the right whale are actually ten times the size of those of the blue whale. Weighing up to 525 kg (1157 lbs), they are by far the largest of any animal on Earth.
All three species are migratory, moving to certain areas to feed or give birth. The warm equatorial waters form a barrier that prevents mixing between the northern and southern groups. Right whales tend to avoid open waters and stay close to peninsulas and bays and on continental shelves, as these areas offer greater shelter and an abundance of their preferred foods. Right whales feed mainly on zooplankton but will also consume krill and pteropods. They may forage the surface, underwater or even on the ocean bottom. During courtship, males gather into large groups to compete for a single female. Sperm competition appears to be important in mating. Gestation tends to last a year and calves are born at 1 short ton (0.91 t; 0.89 long ton) in weight and 4–6 m (13–20 ft) in length. Weaning occurs after eight months.