29 August 2016 | Marine Big 5

Guide Summary and Photographs

Today was a perfect day to be out at sea and look for some whales.

Shortly after launching from the harbour, we received a call over the radio by one of the shark cage diving vessels, that they have just spotted a Southern Right whale close by from where they were anchored. We slowly approached the animal and were amazed by what we saw. It looked like the whale was feeding, as it was swimming through the water with its mouth open. We normally don’t get to see behaviour like that around here as they don’t feed while they are along the South African coast. The whale we encountered was ‘half brindle’ , these animals have grey fleckings in form of a V pointing forward on their bodies. “Such markings are only found in females and in 10,5% of adult cows” according to Dr. Peter B. Best in his book, Whales and Dolphins of the Southern African Subregion.

It was amazing to watch this animal slowly cruising through the water, definitely something special we don’t get to see every day and even for some of our crew members it was the first time to see such behaviour.

After the amazing sighting we continued our journey to Uilenkraalsmond were we found some Indian Ocean humpback dolphins. It was the same group as yesterday, but it’s always good to know that they stick around. Just before heading towards Shark Alley we spotted a sunfish also known under its scientific name Mola mola.

The Cape Fur seals were as playful as nearly everyday. And we also managed to see one African Penguin on Dyer Island. What a perfect day out at sea!

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