08 June 2016

Guide Summary and Photographs

We truly had an amazing day out at sea, with the Marine Big 5 and more. Today was a perfect day to be out at sea, the water was flat like a mirror and no wind was blowing. We were slowly heading along our stunning coastline to look out for some humpback dolphins, and we were lucky to find them. They were jumping in the swells, lobtailing and hunting for fish. After watching the playful behaviour of the dolphins we were heading towards deeper water, to see what else we can find. First we spotted some African penguins and one of our clients did spot a blow, so we stopped the boat and had a closer look. And yes, she was right, there was a whale so we slowly approached and got to see a Bryde’s whale with her calf traveling towards Quin Point. While busy watching the whales traveling alongside our vessel we spotted some splashes a bit further off. What is it? So we left the mother and calf pair behind and were amazed by what we got to see. It was possible a Dwarf Minke whale (Balaenoptra acutorostrata subsp.) porpoising at a speed of 20km/h.

In his book, Whales and Dolphins of the Southern African Subregion, Prof. Peter Best reported on the work of Gedamke et al., saying that, “The acoustic behaviour of dwarf minke whales at low latitudes includes one of the most spectacular of all whale sounds. A complex and stereotyped sound sequence is produced, which from its unusual and synthetic-sounding characteristics has been termed the ‘Star Wars’ vocalisation.”  Scientists working with these animals say that the whales produce a sound like a light sabre…bah-bah-boiiiing!

Here is a pretty cool clip http://www.pulseplanet.com/dailyprogram/dailies.php?POP=3413

After such incredible sightings we were heading into the world famous Shark Alley to see the Cape Fur seals. Their home Geyser Rock was quite empty today, some of them were just chilling on land and some others were cooling down in the water. And just before heading back to the Kleinbaai harbour we stopped at ‘Slashfin’ and got to see the last of the Marine Big Five! What a fantastic day at sea on the World Ocean day. Happy world Ocean day everyone, today just showed again how amazing nature and the ocean is and why we should protect it. Your choice makes a difference!

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¹ Gedamke, J., Costa, D.P. & Dunstan, A. (2001). Localization and visual verification of a complex minke whale vocalization. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 109 (6): 3038-3047