17 March 2017

Guide Summary and Photographs

Our little bay has been overflowing with cetaceans over the last two days and it has been absolutely awesome. Whilst doing our trip briefing, we caught wind of a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins moving along the coast towards Danger Point. This news caused us to stray from our usual course, heading towards the lighthouse in search of them.

Halfway to the end of the point, we spotted an African Penguin sitting in the water. We spent about 5 minutes with this adult, who wasn’t too boat shy. At this point, our sister company called and let us know that the Dolphins were in the shallows but, just as we were about to head off, we spotted a pod of our own.

A group of around 60 Common dolphins was heading towards us about 100m away from the boat and moving fast. We went a little closer and then suddenly we were surrounded, with several bow riding so close one could feel the splash from their movements. These guys feed mainly on shoaling fish and reach a weight of around 160kg. We spent a great 10 minutes taking photographs and just indulging in their presence, adults and children alike.

After they moved into shallower water, we decided to move on towards Dyer Island. On the way we spotted some Juvenile Cape Gannets, an Arctic Skua, a Sub Antarctic Skua and a Swift Tern or two. Some of the Swift Terns had anchovies in their mouths and we suspect that there was a pretty large school of fish moving somewhere in the deep sea.

The Island kind of confirmed this as most of the Cape Cormorants and African Penguins were absent as we cruised into the bay where we usually spot the Penguins. We were able to see some Penguins sitting a little further inland and after this we moved towards our Cape Fur Seal Colony.

Geyser Rock is looking a bit empty for the second day in a row and one can’t help but wonder where all of our marine life have disappeared to. Cape Fur seals are also a huge fan of Pilchards and Anchovies and will spend days out at sea fishing before returning to Geyser Rock. Our other Geyser Rock residents, the endangered Bank Cormorants, seem to be thriving on the remnants of the Prince Port and we’re really hoping that they have a successful brood this year.

After this, we took a stop by our favourite shark cage diving vessel, Slashfin. Here, some of us were lucky enough to see an ambush predator in action as a Great White appeared from the depths, almost getting hold of the bait. Luckily, our Bait handler has years of experience and managed to pull the bait just in time.

Our trip into the harbour included the Bottlenose Dolphin pod that had alluded us before. It is special to see even 1 species out there, so to come away with two was an awesome luxury.

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