A Festive Sea Day,14 December 2018

After two days off sea, we were eager to head out in the hopes of spotting some wildlife.  We had a bit of swell running today and we set out just after 10 and made our way towards shallow water, moving along the shoreline until we reached Slashfin.

Here we were greeted with our first animal sighting of the day, the gorgeous Copper Shark.  We were treated to the sight of a few of these requiem sharks circling around the front of the boat. These sharks are inherently curious which makes them awesome to watch. They tend to stick around the boat, showing off their dorsal fins as they surface to check out what’s going on above the water.

We spent some time watching the sharks interact with the boat before travelling over The Clyde Reef System. Along The Clyde we took in the sight of the extensive kelp forest system, we also picked up a piece of kelp to go. Kelp has become an artisanal food used in restaurants, but it can also be found in things like toothpaste and cement.

We then traversed the area of Pearly Beach, trying to see if we could catch up with some interesting wildlife here. After a scan of the area, we moved into deeper water where we saw a few Cape Cormorants and a flock of Cape Gannets before making our way into Shark Alley.

Here, our seals were as entertaining as ever, jumping out the water and tumbling over each other on land. We had a very large pup nursery close to the waterline and we even spotted an African Penguin sitting amongst the seals.

After our visit with these pinnipeds, we moved back to the other side of the island. Here we checked out the houses and watched a Giant Petrel. We also found an African Penguin who looked like he was in a bit trouble. After trying unsuccessfully to catch him, we decided we’d come back a little later on with our rescue boat, Happy Feet to help him out. Danger Point was our next stop before we made our way back into the harbour.