One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel: Where to stay in Hermanus over whale season
This colourful Overberg stay gives easy access to the best swim, walk and food in town
- Sonya Schoeman
AT A GLANCE HOW THIS STAY REDUCES ITS IMPACT
Culture + community This is it’s strongest sustainability drive: the group ringfences two per cent of its annual turnover for staff development.
Energy usage Hybrid inverter/battery system; bigger solar installation to be completed this August.
Water usage Drawn from municipal supply; guests are requested to be waterwise on check-in; there are buckets in the shower to collect water for use in the garden.
Waste management The hotel recycles; glass amenity bottles used throughout the hotel; wet waste currently goes to landfill.
Biodiversity + ecosystems Indigenous, low-water planting in small garden; no pesticides used.
Carbon footprint To One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel Lifestyle Resort from Cape Town return = 0.07 tCO2
The breakfast room at One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel loves a pop of colour and buys local art; it also serves a good breakfast IMAGES Courtesy The Living Journey Collection
Wondering where to stay in Hermanus during the whale season. Here's one great option
Note to the traveller dedicated to the ‘undiscovered gem’: Roll your eyes all you like, but Hermanus, one of South Africa’s most well-known tourist towns, should be on your holiday list at least once a year.
Why? Like many places where tourism is the primary enterprise, it has developed may activities and experiences that deliver to a high standard. They have to compete for business. As a result, there are interesting and rich experiences in every direction.
Hermanus is in the Cape Floral Kingdom, which has some of the most beautiful and unique plants in the world. That means the birding is exceptional. The wines produced around here are some of the best in the world, and the restaurants on these farms match that standard. The town itself has a fair share of top eateries, including its latest addition: the revamped Fisherman’s Cottage. There are also more than 20 galleries in this tiny town. Could be that the water, the wine, the whales boost creativity.
From June to October, the main attraction is in Walker Bay, a seasonal marine protected area created to safeguard the southern right whales that gather there to calve. The hotel arranged a whale-watching trip with Marine Dynamics, a very smoothly run operation that does excellent conservation and research work in the bay.
So where should one stay in Hermanus in the whale season? There’s no shortage of choice. This town has fewer than 100 000 people, and well over 150 places to lay one’s head.
We stayed at One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel.
The hotel is made up of two buildings joined by two passages; this section faces the ocean IMAGES Courtesy The Living Journey Collection
One Marine Drive is Hermanus' millionaires mini-mile; no-one can build on the sea-facing side
Marine Drive is one of Hermanus’s main roads, so a car or two does slide past. Look across the road, though, and the trade makes sense. Nobody has been allowed to build on the other side, so one sees the full sweep of Walker Bay, a playground for dolphins and whales.
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One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel is the first address on the strip. It’s a modern, bright and happy place. There’s a long, bright pink breakfast table where guests can share space (there are tables for two, too). Bold pink-and-blue striped cushions on a common balcony provide a space to drink tea or cocktails with a view of the town and mountain beyond. Fresh blue-and-white striped loungers line the two pools on either side of an atrium.
It has 16 rooms, themed in bright colour blocks. Some are more spacious than others. The sea-facing ones are the ones to bag, with their balconies overlooking the spectacular view and the sound of the sea rolling in. I also loved the quiet Agulhas Suite, which faces the town and mountain, with a big palm tree taking centre stage. It also has a smaller but not insignificant sea view.
The boutique hotel is not shy of a pop of colour. From left, a pink table in dining room and bold blue in the bar IMAGES Courtesy The Living Journey Collection
Fick’s Pool: a 1930s tidal swim just a few steps across Marine Drive
Fick’s Pool in Hermanus is a hidden gem — it took a little finding. Just across the road from One Marine Boutique Hotel is a walkway. A walk along that revealed some steps that led down steep rocks to a gorgeous tidal pool below.
The pool’s existed since the early 1930s, when it was partially excavated and a retaining wall built. For low tide it’s lovely and calm, but in high tide, the waves crash over and it feels beautifully alive.
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Above the pool, tables with umbrellas are tucked into ledges. Fick’s Pool Restaurant serves tapas-style bites (very good) and pizzas and cocktails. It reminded me of an idyllic, cosmopolitan seaside resort (so idyllic that it attracts the ‘do it for the gram’ delegation). And it is a memory maker, for sure: On a hot day, quick dips between snacks and a glass of wine, the pleasure is real.
From left Fick’s Pool is just across the road from the hotel, from where one can access the Cliff Path, too; the Junior Suite is spacious and has a fireplace and lounge IMAGES Courtesy The Living Journey Collection
Walking the Hermanus Cliff Path: A pretty and interesting 12km along Walker Bay
This biodiversity cliff walk is 12 kilometres of pure bliss for nature lovers and runners — and it virtually starts right outside the hotel. On one side the sea is set out like a live nature documentary. There can be huge pods of dolphins, but also seals and seabirds.
On the walking side, the path is like a walking rollercoaster. The path now runs uninterrupted along the seaside, from the new harbour to the Klein River mouth, threading past historic buildings and a row of millionaires’ homes whose owners fought, for years, to keep it off their sea frontage.
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It cuts along the seaside through rocks, over impressive bridges where you can see through to the crashing waves below, through fynbos (much of which is flowering now in winter) and a milkwood forest.
Some argue that this walk offers particular health benefits thanks to the crashing waves (which apparently release ion-saturated oxygen)
Fisherman’s Cottage has been taken over by award-winning local chef Michael Broughton, who serves a killer crayfish linguini IMAGES Courtesy The Living Journey Collection
Where to eat in Hermanus (that’s close to One Marine Drive)
Pretty much everything is close to everything in Hermanus. But Fisherman’s Cottage is especially close — a 10-minute walk from One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel, which was refreshing after an irresistible meal.
The menu is simple, but everything was going to be good as it was made by Chef Michael Broughton, formerly of Terroir. His restaurants have consistently placed in the Eat Out Top 10.
The dishes ordered at our table: Seafood Coconut Thai Curry (delicious, said she), Crayfish Linguini (exquisite, said everyone); Roast Sweet Potato (delicious and filling, I said); Oxtail (exquisite, he said). Also, the prices are a good range; there’ll be something for everyone.
Across the road from the hotel is Fick’s Pool Restaurant. The tapas style bites, to be shared, were delicious, as was the flammkuchen (and lighter than pizza). On the menu are plenty of seaside snacks like prawns and calamari. This communal style of eating is perfect for a convivial lunch.
The hotel itself offers a great buffet and hot-menu breakfast.
The Cliff Path is a 12 kilometre walk (or run) in nature, sea on one side, rocks and fynbos on the other IMAGE Zakh, Pexels.Africa
The Living Journey Collection’s approach to community is its strongest responsible travel drive
One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel is part of The Living Journey Collection of eight hotels. The collection puts aside two per cent of its annual turnover for staff empowerment — staff development is core to its responsible travel ethos. It’s also started a Fair Trade Tourism certification journey, which shows its commitment.
It has an Employment Equity Committee, and each year it decides how to direct that money. Staff can also put forward proposals for their development. For instance, the chef at One Marine Boutique Hotel felt she was under-utilised and asked to be transferred to a sister hotel for upskilling. Management is also looking for a suitable chef-training programme.
DETAILS
Stay There are 16 rooms to choose from at One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel, which is five star. The sea-facing are the most luxurious. Prices start at around R3 400 per room per night. There’s a special on now, three nights for the price of two.
Need to know Most rooms are facing a street, so if you are bothered by traffic (when we were there, it was very light), then opt for the internal rooms facing the mountain and overlooking Hermanus. I’d go for the Agulhas Suite.
ActivitiesThe hotel can arrange any activity, from wine-tasting on a particular farm to shark-cage diving. But the town is really small and very walkable, and there are many galleries and cafés to spend time in. The cliff path makes many of the fabulous beaches accessible on foot, and I highly recommend a boozy lunch and sobering swim at Fick’s pool.
Website thelivingjourneycollection.co.za
ONE MARINE DRIVE BOUTIQUE HOTEL'S APPROACH TO RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL
COMMUNITY + CULTURE Staff development is the central philosophy behind how the business is run. Group General Manager Desmond O’Connor says trained, fairly paid team members earn more, and that income then flows into the communities they live in. The ‘Ease the Journey’ fund ringfences two per cent of annual turnover specifically for staff training and development. An Employment Equity Committee assesses team members needs individually, and upskilling happens across the board. Staff can also put forward their own development proposals and the company will consider bursaries case by case. The committee also considers requests from schools or community organisations connected to staff families. Every year, all employees’ children receive starter packs for the new school year — supplies and shoes. Wages are above market rate with annual increases, says Group General Manager Desmond O’Connor.
In terms of supply chain, the hotel supports local businesses, such as Healing Earth shampoos, conditioners and lotions; it serves wines exclusively from the Hermanus area; the kitchen sources ingredients from local suppliers.
ENERGY Currently, the hotel has two sets of solar installations, one runs new block and old block. However, it’s in the process of installing a hybrid system of solar for the day, and battery during the evening, only moving onto the grid if necessary. The geysers have heat pumps linked to the solar, and this generates hot water on demand, which is a lot more energy efficient. LED lighting is fitted throughout, and the kitchen runs on gas.
WATER One Marine Drive is reliant on council water, says Group General Manager Desmond O’Connor. It conserves as best possible. There are only two baths on the property, the remainder are showers. It has a grey-water system, which is used to water the garden. Consumption is tracked via regular meter readings. Guests are walked through the property’s water conservation approach at check-in, with a dedicated card used as a prompt and part of the standard arrival process.
WASTE Recycling is separated on-site. The hotel uses glass for all in-room amenities and laundry bags have been replaced with baskets. The kitchen is looking for a wet-waste partnership, currently all organic waste goes to landfill. It uses Clean Zone biodegradable products, says O’Connor.
CONSERVATION + BIODIVERSITY The hotel has a small garden, which is indigenous. It has no conservation policy, although it does work closely with Marine Dynamics, says O’Connor. No pesticides are used on the property.