Simon's Town Boat Company

Simon's Town Boat Company Come and explore the amazing False Bay with us on a variety of ECO boat cruises! http://www.boatcompany.co.za
+ 27 (0) 83 257 7760

Simon’s Town Boat Company invites you to share the most beautiful bay (False Bay) in the world with us. We operate 4 custom designed vessels and all our tours are presented by expert skippers & highly qualified guides & a marine biologist (whale watching trips). The Western half of False Bay – stretching from Strandfontein all the way to Cape Point is one of the finest boat based whale & Dolphin w

atching sites in South Africa. This area is sheltered from the open ocean, surrounded by stunning views & provides an ideal winter home for the Southern Right Whales. They visit each year between June & November to mate, calve, or simply to get away from the icy Antarctic winter. Interacting with these gigantic & magnificent mammals (the size of 12 elephants) alongside our boat is an experience that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Be ready to photograph one breaching or giving you a friendly wave with its tail! Sightings of Brydes whales, Humpback whales, and Dolphins are also common. OFFICIAL BOAT BASED WHALE WATCHING PERMIT HOLDER: OCEAN VIEW & MASIPHUMELELE FISHING (PTY) LTD. We also offer year round Seal Island trips (daily), Cape Point boat cruises, Adrenaline Boat Rides, and Harbour cruises.

Maybe whales also enjoy views of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles.Sightings just keep on giving!
17/04/2026

Maybe whales also enjoy views of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles.
Sightings just keep on giving!

Hout Bay is showing no signs of slowing down & it’s now mid-April!Southern right and humpback whales aplenty, enjoying t...
11/04/2026

Hout Bay is showing no signs of slowing down & it’s now mid-April!

Southern right and humpback whales aplenty, enjoying the Benguela current feast.

Certainly, we’ll need to review June to November as being whale season.

We were at first sceptical when a group of local kayakers alerted us of the presence of False Bay’s very own “Loch Ness”...
01/04/2026

We were at first sceptical when a group of local kayakers alerted us of the presence of False Bay’s very own “Loch Ness” monster this morning.

But the fact that all of them have been doing the downwind run from Millers Point to Fish Hoek for decades and have a vast knowledge of the marine fauna in the bay, we took this report seriously and launched our vessel to investigate.

When we reached the location given to us, we got the fright of our lives!
What appeared to be a hybrid between a humpback whale and Great White shark leapt out of the water right in front of our boat and almost landed on top of us.

Luckily, we managed to get a photo which we have sent to our expert marine biologists, Drs. Crock & Frowner for comments.

We’ll update you the minute we receive them.

Today the long-beaked common dolphins stole the show, even though yesterday’s humpback was still around and even more in...
31/03/2026

Today the long-beaked common dolphins stole the show, even though yesterday’s humpback was still around and even more interactive.

A question I am frequently asked is: Can you use a sonar (a fish finder) to find whales?The answer is unfortunately not,...
29/03/2026

A question I am frequently asked is: Can you use a sonar (a fish finder) to find whales?
The answer is unfortunately not, because a sonar has a very narrow beam that only detects activity directly beneath the vessel. Thus, we would have in most instances already visually spotted the animal on the surface in the distance whilst approaching. There are also forward scanning sonars, but they too have a very limited range of about 80-900 meters and are crazy expensive and the same would apply.
We do however use our sonar to detect food sources and whale activity below our vessel.
In the photo taken of our sonar screen today, we have a southern right whale feeding at a depth of 55 meters and as confirmed below, on nutrient rich krill (zooplankton)
The orange/red colour of the whale poo is the indicator.
Whale poo is a precious fertiliser (rich in nitrogen & iron), that sustains phytoplankton (the bottom of the oceans food chain) which are carbon capturing plants that produce the oxygen for every second breath we take. So it's not only the sea creatures that would suffocate if we pollute our oceans!
Scientists can also assess diet composition, stress and pollutant levels by analysing the poo.

PS. In addition to a "crappy" trip, we enjoyed a total of about 15 southern right whales.

Nothing gives us greater pleasure than making our guest's "whaley" dreams come true!8 southern right whales – 4 alongsid...
26/03/2026

Nothing gives us greater pleasure than making our guest's "whaley" dreams come true!
8 southern right whales – 4 alongside our boat and a humpback whale photo bombing our view of the Boss 400 crane-barge wreck. Throw in a couple of penguins, a sunfish, some cape fur seals and our Hout Bay expedition was complete

Soon the Hout Bay whales will be leaving us.To avoid FOMO, book now & come and enjoy this season’s grand finale
17/03/2026

Soon the Hout Bay whales will be leaving us.
To avoid FOMO, book now & come and enjoy this season’s grand finale

Views from outside in & inside out!Fabulous southern right whale sightings the whole week.
14/03/2026

Views from outside in & inside out!
Fabulous southern right whale sightings the whole week.

We really should pay more attention to Cape fur seals and not force them resort to frantic waving in order to have their...
04/03/2026

We really should pay more attention to Cape fur seals and not force them resort to frantic waving in order to have their photo taken!
Also came across this southern right whale today, that appears to have had a ship/propeller strike some time back. Lucky animal survived and is in good shape
Even swam up our boat to check us out (eye to the right of callosity patch).

In Cape Town it's not a case of when is it whale season? but rather where.Today, 26th February we were watching southern...
26/02/2026

In Cape Town it's not a case of when is it whale season? but rather where.
Today, 26th February we were watching southern right whales off Hout Bay....yesterday humpbacks. Somethings do indeed change for the better!

Seabirds have been in abundance along with humpback whales and dolphins on our recent Hout Bay whale tours. This Cory's ...
25/02/2026

Seabirds have been in abundance along with humpback whales and dolphins on our recent Hout Bay whale tours. This Cory's shearwater however expressed it's disapproval of being photographed.

Phenomenal whale watching trip yesterday! Our guests were treated to a front row seat to experience the splendour of a s...
08/02/2026

Phenomenal whale watching trip yesterday!
Our guests were treated to a front row seat to experience the splendour of a supergroup of 40 humpback whales energetically feeding off Hout Bay. Add to it, zero wind, a flat calm ocean and a warm, late summer’s day – we couldn’t have scripted it better. Some passengers even shed tears of joy at the spectacle!

Address

Wharf Street, Simon's Town
Cape Town
7975

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00
Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Friday 09:00 - 17:00
Saturday 09:00 - 17:00
Sunday 09:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+27832577760

Website

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