16 March 2017

Guide Summary and Photographs

We had a truly spectacular time at the office today with our Marine Big 5 out in full swing. It was a beautiful day out and the trip started in the shallows where we had a Sub Antarctic Skua fly with us briefly to check out whether we had a bite to eat for him. Here, we also spotted some Box Jellyfish swimming on the surface of the water before we started moving towards the Shark Cage Diving Vessels. Our sister company had just anchored and so we decided to visit them later on in the trip and head onwards towards Dyer Island.

Just in front of this birders paradise, we managed to spot a Bank Cormorant and 2 Endangered African Penguins which we watched for some time as they sat on the water, diving and bobbing in the swell. After a good couple of minutes, we went a bit closer to the island to see if we could spot a couple of these flightless birds on the boulders and, sure enough, there were 2 sitting on some pebbles. Our next sighting was also of a Penguin who looked a bit under the weather. We decided to check if he needed to be admitted to our African Penguin and Sea Bird Sanctuary, but after a couple of failed rescue attempts, we realised that the little guy was probably just relaxing.

Geyser Rock was incredibly empty and there were no pups in the water today but the seals were entertaining none the less and we cruised by them a few times before heading into the open ocean hoping to find some cetaceans.

The ocean was very misleading today as it looked relatively quiet out there as we headed towards Pearly Beach. Everything changed as soon as we were about to head for Slashfin as a Brydes Whale popped up in front of us. This whale lived up to the Brydes shy reputation, coming up only a few times before disappearing.

Only 5 minutes later, Kira and I were chatting upstairs when his eagle eyes caught sight of a disturbance in the water. Our excitement was uncontainable when we realised that we had hit the jackpot, Common Dolphins. This was a large pod of around 100 individuals which is really not so common (excuse the pun) in our bay. Common Dolphins are an incredibly social species with Pods numbering over a 1 000 at times. These majestic mammals are also quite a fan of boats and will often Bow ride. We were really privileged to have them approach and swim with us for quite some time, creating magical memories for all aboard Dream Catcher.

Once the Dolphins changed course, we spotted another Brydes Whale which came up for us beautifully 3 times, exposing its tiny dorsal fin and blue-ish grey back. With only 1 animal left we stopped at Slashfin to try and catch a glimpse of our favourite apex predators. It took a couple of moments (and us looking towards another boat for a bit) but, finally that characteristic black shadow appeared in the water and we were able to watch the shark go after the bait line.

It’s safe to say we ended on a Haai (the Afrikaans word for shark) note as this marked the completion of the Big 5 and the end of a brilliant trip.

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