An Incredible Oceanic Outing, 22 December 2018

We had 2 fantastic eco tours out today, with the awesome weather still holding up for us. The sea is flat and blue as can be, and with such amazing conditions one can even see to the bottom of the bay, this makes for some beautiful sights as we travel over the reefs found in shallow water. It is also exciting when we get to the island, as one can check out the complexity of the kelp forests growing below, and if you’re super lucky, even spot a fish or two about.

The first tour of the day started off with a sighting of our Humpback Dolphins who seem to be enjoying hanging out in our bay at the moment, on the first tour we got to see number 10 and her calf as well as oupa, and we got some lovely sights of them travelling under the water though the swell. We also got some awesome shark sightings as we checked out Slashfin, spotting some Bronze Whaler Sharks about.

The island was a little pungent today, but more than worth it with all of the activity caused by our playful and ever clumsy Cape Fur Seal colony. On this trip, we also had an incredible African Penguin sighting in the water, with 2 very relaxed birds coming up right next to the boat. We also picked up what appeared to be a plastic bag, which was in fact a deceased Jelly fish. This just went to show how similar the two can be.

On the second tour of the day, we got to see a Cape Fur Seal scoff down an octopus that he had caught for lunch. With tentacles flying, we got to watch as he struggled to get it down which was a lovely addition to our eco tour. We then proceeded towards the island systems, spotting African Penguins on the guano covered rocks of Dyer Island.

We then made our way towards our seal colony to spend some quality time with the oceanic pups before retuning to the shallows to spot a Copper Shark or two. We got some great views of these sharks as the surfaced in front of the cage, showing off their dorsal fins which shimmer in the light of the sun. we finished off this tour with the sight of 2 Humpback Dolphins. We got to see oupa and what looks like a new dolphin to the area, unless one of our dolphins has suffered an injury to the dorsal fin.

What a day on the deep blue.