Daily Trip 23 December 2017
23rd of December and our Southern Right Whales are still here!
Written by Jax, December 23 2017
Guide Summary and Photographs
We’ve had some great weather over the last few days with the wind turning into a light westerly. We’ve also been having plenty of sunshine to compliment the festive season, so it’s almost impossible for us to have anything but an awesome day at sea!
Our first trip of the day launched at 11:00 with a very festive crowd on board. We made or way along the coast, which is now choc-o-bloc with holiday makers and fisherman a like, taking in the gorgeous scenery. After stopping to do a water reading in front of the estuary, we moved parallel to the crisp white dunes of Die Grys before taking a stop at Slashfin.
Our white Shark sightings have definitely picked up over the last few days and, to our absolute delight, we got to see one on this trip. Great Whites are famed for their ambush approach in which they come from the depths, surprising prey such as our Cape Fur Seals who spend most of their time close to the surface. After watching the shark come up once or twice, we made our way to the waters of Pearly Beach.
Much to our surprise, we found our whales really quickly and we’re happy to say that we still have those two really distinctive pairs around! We found these guys close to the kelp forests on the first trip, and spend a lovely 20 minutes taking in the sight of 60 tonne animals moving effortlessly through the water. On this trip, we spent most of our time with the mom who has a white spot on her back, whilst the mom with the grey markings stayed further back. From a distance however, we could see her little calf was in the mood for some fun, putting his flippers up in the air and catching some sun.
After our whale time, we took a stop in the world famous waters of Shark Alley where our Cape Fur Seals are the main attraction. These seals get their name for the double layer of fur that they harbour and are not a true seal but rather an “eared” seal, of the Otariidae grouping. Once we had had enough of their pungent scent, we moved back towards the harbour for our change over.
Trip two also started off with 2 White Sharks, 1 of which happens to be a known individual to the bay. Droopy’s a little unluckily in that he’s jaw is a little off, but that does not stop him from being an uber impressive sight.
Eager to find our whales again, we departed shortly after seeing this dude. On this trip, we did a little more searching for our whales with us eventually finding them pretty close to shore. This meant the start of a mini adventure, with us doing some rocking in the swells, watching one pair travel slowly before Kira’s eagle Eyes spotted something in the distance. If the whales had been a little elusive at the beginning of the trip, they certainly made themselves known towards the end with one mom lob tailing for us. Watching an adult whale beat its tail against the water is nothing short of spectacular, so we were all left a little in awe. As if we weren’t spoiled enough, one of the little ones also gave us a couple of breaches.
With hearts content, we traveled towards our island systems, spotting a Giant Petrel along the way before moving towards Geyser Rock. We had quite a few more seals in the water on this trip as the day had warmed up quite considerably. We enjoyed our time watching these playful pinnipeds fool around in the cool waters of the Atlantic before heading back to Kleinbaai harbour.
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