01 April 2017

Guide Summary and Photographs

After a gloomy no sea day yesterday, we were excited that the weather had cleared beautifully today, allowing us to get back out onto the deep blue. With stunning Cirrocumulus clouds above us, we set out on Whale Whisperer towards Jouberts Dam, commonly referred to as the shallows.

On our way, we stopped to pick up a piece of sea bamboo but whilst Karli was explain a little about this fascinating plant, we spotted a Mola Mola. Mola Mola’s are known by a multitude of different names around the globe with the most common in South Africa being the “Sunfish. This was quite a small specimen we were lucky enough to witness him on the hunt, chasing down some Box Jellyfish for a light Saturday afternoon lunch. These strange looking creatures can weigh up to 1 tonne at times and are fascinating to watch due to their sickly movements.

After seeing this large bony fish in action, we decided to see if we could catch a glimpse of one of the largest cartilaginous fish in the world, the Great White Shark. For this, we stopped by our sister company, Marine Dynamics, where we had a beautiful sighting of a curious White Shark checking out the bait.

Next up, we found 4 African Penguins in the water swimming just in front of Dyer Island. The collective known for a group of penguins is a raft and we love it when we have sightings like this as their numbers tend to give these generally boat-shy animals a bit of a confidence boost. We also got to see our beautiful Cape Cormorants return from their fishing expedition which is always an awesome sight.

Following our time with the penguins and the cormorants, we decided to give our Cape Fur Seals a visit. Clearly, we should have called ahead today as the island was almost empty when we arrived. The seals that remained behind were also not too phased to see us.  They simply basked in the sun and enjoyed their midday nap whilst we snapped a couple of pictures before heading into the deep sea.

It was alive with birds behind the island. We had Cape Gannets and Swift Terns diving from above, helping themselves to the pilchard or anchovy stocks below them. We also had Sooty and Cory Shearwaters, a White- Chinned Petrel and a few Giant Petrels around as we patrolled in search of a whale spout. This spot came from just in front of Dyer Island on the way back to the harbour and we were able to catch a quick glimpse before they disappeared towards Pearly Beach.

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