Whale tails, 11 September 2019
Written by September 12 2019
The Southern right whales were very close to our base in Kleinbaai today, so on all our tours we had just a short ride out to get to them. There were several mother and juvenile pairs in the bay, so we moved between them and had several different encounters on all our tours. For the first part of the morning we even had the bonus of seeing some lobtailing behaviour, which is when a whale repeatedly slaps its tail on the water. It started with an adult female and the accompanying juvenile soon joined in. We presume it was for communication purposes, especially since after several minutes the two lobtailing whales were suddenly joined at the surface by two other individuals. We also had some really nice sightings of the Cape fur seals on Geyser rock as well as African penguins on and around Dyer Island. As usual the bird activity around here was also great today and we even got in a great sighting of a Northern giant petrel near Dyer Island.
Photos from today
Southern right whale head
Southern right whale tail
Southern right whale tail
Southern right whale adult and juvenile
Southern right whale close to Kleinbaai
Southern right whale tail
Southern right whale tail
Southern right whale tail
Southern right whale
African penguins on Dyer Island
Cape fur seals at play
Cape fur seals on Geyser rock
Cape cormorants in flight
Bank cormorant in flight
Northern giant petrel
Bronze whaler shark
What species did we see today?
Bronze Whaler Shark Bronze Whaler Shark
The Bronze whaler (also known as Copper sharks) here in Kleinbaai are very curious and interactive. These sharks eat mostly fish, with sardines being one of their favourites.
Southern Right Whale Southern Right Whale
Southern right whales attract thousands of visitors every year to experience these gentle giants off the South African coast.
African Penguin African Penguin
As one of only 17 penguin species left in the world (and the only one on the african continent), the african penguin often breed in offshore colonies, such as Dyer Island.
Cape Cormorant Cape Cormorant
One of the most famous species of Cormorant in the Western Cape, the Cape Cormorant is well known for it's beautiful turquoise eye and impressive size.
Bank Cormorant Bank Cormorant
Often enjoying a broad diet including klipfish, rock lobster and more, the increasing rarety of the Bank Cormorant makes every moment we see them even more special.
Cape fur seal Cape fur seal
With a local population of 60,000, it's no wonder our guests capture so many photographs of these wonderfully playful marine mammals.
