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 watching 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.

Cape Point was in a drowsy & sombre mood this morning, only to be awaken by several spectacular southern right whale bre...
09/09/2026

Cape Point was in a drowsy & sombre mood this morning, only to be awaken by several spectacular southern right whale breaches.
Also, very little delights our guests more that photo of the Point with a whale in the foreground.

Emotive and interactive southern right whales on our morning trip today.
01/09/2026

Emotive and interactive southern right whales on our morning trip today.

A great advantage of our location on the Cape Point route is that many of our guests join us on a whale watching tour, f...
18/08/2026

A great advantage of our location on the Cape Point route is that many of our guests join us on a whale watching tour, followed by a road trip to Cape Point Nature Reserve.
Every so often it’s possible to combine both and capture it in a single shot - whales in the foreground and a stunning view of Cape Point in the background.
Today was such a day and as an added bonus, one of the whales even stopped along the way to play with some kelp (known as kelping)

The trip we nearly cancelled.When we woke up to a foggy morning, it was a tough decision whether to green-light or cance...
13/07/2026

The trip we nearly cancelled.

When we woke up to a foggy morning, it was a tough decision whether to green-light or cancel our tour, but seeing signs of it lifting we decided to go.
After briefing our guests that we’d only take payment on return - just in case it didn’t and we wouldn’t charge.

It was without doubt one of my better decisions and was one of the most magical days on the calmest of seas, with all our sightings magically appearing out of the mist.
From feeding penguins, a super-pod of over 2000 dolphins, a visit to Seal Island plus an interactive Bryde’s whale……our biggest surprise however awaited us on our return to Simon’s Bay.

Risso’s Dolphins!

They are rarely seen inshore and forage mainly off the continental shelf. Simon’s Town only has had one previous recorded sighting many decades ago.
Their scarring is a mystery as it’s unclear whether it’s a combination of a lack of repigmentation combined with a slow healing process or a display of battle scars by “mucho” males to impress the females.
Well, they certainly impressed us with their cooperative foraging and social interaction.

What a day!

Week number two of our 2026 whale season and not only have we been thoroughly spoiled with whale sightings on every trip...
11/06/2026

Week number two of our 2026 whale season and not only have we been thoroughly spoiled with whale sightings on every trip, but multiple whale species and dolphins on many of them …. PLUS a visit from our favourite orca pair - Port & Starboard

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.

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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