Daily Trip 03 February 2018
A lovely summer day and a seal that's wreaking havoc...
Written by Jax, February 3 2018
Guide Summary and Photographs
Today was another gorgeous summer day in Kleinbaai, with clear blue skies and only a light breeze that accompanied us throughout the trip. Due to the super moon three days ago, our water is still a bit lower than usual so we launched at 9:30 to beat the tide. We’ve been quite fortunate with our humpback dolphins as of late, with them popping up in the shallows usually around the time we do our YSI reading, so, we decided to try our luck and head straight to Uilenkraalsmond.
Sure enough, we had 4 of these curious creatures around today, with them surfacing all around the boat. We’ve also had a young seal accompany them for the 3rd day in a row, which has made for a really interesting few trips. In nature, there are many animals who are willing to help each other out when it comes to getting a bite to eat, and we’re pretty lucky to get to witness this somewhat often out at sea. Birds, dolphins, seals and even sharks such as the Bronze Whalers will all do their part, hearing or scattering fish to the benefit of all. This is behaviour we usually see on our eco tours from March onward, when we find fantastic bait balls a little further offshore.
Once we’d gotten some nice snaps of the dolphins, we made our way to Slashfin where we had an awesome time with some active Bronze Whaler or Copper Sharks. Apparently, a tagged individual as well as a potentially pregnant animal have been spotted around the boat, so it seems as though our cage diving counter parts are also having some memorable trips!
After several great views, we set out into the deep sea which was a bit on the still side, so we pulled into Shark Alley next, with the low tide being very evident. Our tidal difference in the area is around 2m and today we got to see many of the little bits and bobs who live on the rocks in the intertidal zone, which is always a fascinating sight. We also had great visibility and very active seals, with many bounding into the water and using the cliffs of geyser rock like a slippery slide, which is a pretty hilarious thing to witness. These guys made their way into the alley to join the thermos-regulators, who were just as adorable to behold. On the way out of the alley we had a few Giant Petrels around, with an exceptionally old individual of the Southern variety being almost white in colour.
The very last stop of the day was quite a sad one, with us finding a very pesky seal in Sponge Bay. For the last while, this rouge animal has been preying on our Cape Cormorants, which is terrible seeing as they are an endangered species. We watched as the seal ripped into one poor little bird, whilst the remains of a few others floated around us. We also had a couple of African Penguins here, which made for a pleasant end to the tour.
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