Marine Big 5 Daily Blog 03 May
Written by May 3 2024
Whale Watching near Cape Town, South Africa Welcome to Gansbaai, home of the Marine Big 5.
Trip Summary 03 May 2024:
Another day out at sea and guests and crew alike are excited to head out! We boarded both trips on Dream Catcher, left Kleinbaai Harbour behind us and headed further into our bay. To view some sharks, we stopped by Marine Dynamics Shark cage diving vessel Slahsfin where we got a glimpse of the amazing Bronze whaler shark. Grateful that we were able to pass by we continued our trip. Both trips got rewarded with a sighting of a beautiful pod of Bottlenose dolphins. The dolphins were either feeding or riding alongside the boat which allowed everyone some amazing views of this incredible and fun species! Heading into deeper waters the first trip was even lucky enough to have spotted a Humpback whale! The whale stuck around for a bit and even approached the boat to investigate. Even though several Cape fur seals were seen in deeper waters, we could not miss out on the seal colony on Geyser Rock. As usual, the fur seals left our guests in awe. Once it was time to say goodbye to them we headed over to Dyer Island, home of the smallest member of the Marine Big 5, the African Penguin. To top it all off we even got to release one of the endangered Penguins back to its colony on the first trip!
Trip 1
Trip 2
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What species did we see today?
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.
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.
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.
Bottlenose Dolphin Bottlenose Dolphin
At present there are two recognized species of bottlenose dolphin, and in some cases, both species can be found in the same area. The two species are the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (T. aduncus). In addition, there is a great deal of variation in colouration, diet and behaviour. The difference between the common bottlenose and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin are subtle, but the common bottlenose dolphin generally larger and more robust with a slight darker colouration.
Humpback Whale Humpback Whale
One of the best-known whale species, they are renowned for their acrobatic behaviour and complex melodious song as well as extremely long flippers and are a special favourite of Dyer Island Cruises guests and crew alike.
