Whales everywhere! Marine Big 5 Daily Blog
Written by November 3 2020
What a beautiful trip we had today! We left Kleinbaai harbour with quite a bit of wind and a bit of swell, but all that was forgotten once we passed at least 1000 Cape Cormorants feeding on the water. And then as a bonus we spotted our first marine mammal of the day – an Indian Ocean Humpback dolphin. We spent a few minutes watching that beautiful animal and then moved off on our search of some whales. And as soon as we got to Pearly Beach our whale spotter Kira saw some whales in the distance, we slowly approached and realised that we were surrounded by whales with 4 different cow-calf pairs coming up to the surface. We kept our distance and enjoyed our view from afar, but one of the calves had different plans, he approached us and spent quite some time with us, diving under the boat and spy-hopping so close to us. After some time we moved to Dyer Island system where we visited Geyser Rock – our Cape Fur seal colony and Dyer Island itself, trying to spot some penguins on land. All in all an incredible trip with lots of wildlife and some very special encounters!
What species did we see today?
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.
Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphin Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphin
Humpback dolphins are an endangered species, with small populations living very close to shore, typically in water less than 25m deep and an average home range of 120km. Their proximity to land makes these animals particularly vulnerable to human influence.
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.
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.
