Cool Kelp, with a touch of Sharks and Penguins |14 January 2020
Written by Dickie Chivell, January 15 2020
Nice day on the water with some amazing sightings. The sharks never let us down and it’s always great to see a pair of African penguins out in the deep looking for some fish. After visiting the shark boat, we usually pick up some floating kelp for everyone to pass around to feel the texture or for the curious minds, a taste. Bull Kelp is the brown seaweed you can see all along our coast and is one of the fasted growing seaweeds in the world! It’s a great indication of reef systems as it only grows on rocks and it reaches a length of about 12m. We harvest the leaves for various reasons including cattle feed, ice cream, gelatine, makeup as well as feeding the abalone at our cultivated abalone farms. Experiments have even been done on harvesting hormones from super sustainably fast-growing bull kelp and introducing it to slow-growing food stocks in poverty-stricken countries to help the food grow faster. Ended off with some curious Cape fur seals doing some people watching.
All in all, another awesome day. Come for a cruise and try some kelp!
What species did we see today?
Bronze Whaler Shark Bronze Whaler Shark
The Bronze whaler (also known as Copper sharks) here in Kleinbaai are very curious and interactive. These sharks eat mostly fish, with sardines being one of their favourites.
African Penguin African Penguin
As one of only 17 penguin species left in the world (and the only one on the african continent), the african penguin often breed in offshore colonies, such as Dyer Island.
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.
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.
