Daily Trip 06 August 2017

Guide Summary and Photographs

I’m going to start todays’s blog on a celebratory note after we had not 1 but 4 Great White Sharks visit our sister company’s boat, Slashfin. We have not had consistent sightings since the end of June and so this was a very exciting day for all of us. Not only does it mean that our shark cage divers are going to be getting a little more action, this also means that we were able to see 4 of the Marine big 5 on both trips today.

If you would like to read more about our Orca, Shark saga, feel free to check out this cool infographic  which explains a little more about what’s been happening in our bay recently.

Anyways, back to our trips, we had two really successful excursions on the most perfect sea today. With hardly and y wind or swell and a whole lot of sunshine, one could say that spotting the animals was an absolute breeze.

On both trips, we found a Southern Right Whale after having only travelled for 10 minutes towards Danger Point lighthouse. It is not uncommon to find these animals travelling alone and we were able to have a few great sightings as both animals were incredibly calm in our presence. The second trip was also lucky enough to get some tail fluke action when their whale decided that it would take a deeper dive, which is always a special thing to witness. Their tails can be quite wide, averaging around 36% of the whale’s body length.

We also had quite a few Southern Right Whales in the Geldsteen, an area just in front of Dyer Island that was so famous for its great fishing that the English translation for the name is the “Money Stone, referring to the profits of those who made their catch here.

Our last Southern Right sighting for the day took place just behind Dyer Island and we were fortunate enough to get to see a lone whale play with some Kelp or Sea Bamboo. Just like most mammals, whales love to play and are curious creatures, and we often see them rolling onto their backs or spy hopping to check up on what we’re doing above the surface.

In addition to the Southern Rights, the 2^nd trip also got to see a shy Brydes Whale who came up for us a couple of times before going a bit deeper. He was probably trying to get his share of the fish we seemed to have in the area, which had attracted hundreds of Cape Cormorants, some Cape Gannets and quite a few African Penguins.

We also got to see the Penguins on the first trip and, like a mentioned before, both trips were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the iconic Great White Shark.

Overall, a very memorable day for us all.

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