Marine Big 5 Daily Blog 07 January
Written by January 7 2026
Whale Watching near Cape Town, South Africa – Welcome to Gansbaai, home of the Marine Big 5.
Trip Summary 07 January 2026:
After a day of not going out to sea, we are back bright and early today, ready for what the ocean has to bring. Although there was a bit of swell today, we managed to get some animal sightings. As we left the harbour, we made our way towards the shallows and on our way there, we encountered a float of African penguins enjoying the cold ocean water. Near our shark diving vessel, the bronze whaler sharks made an appearance, showing off their lovely bronze colouration, and in Shark Alley, the cape fur seals were having the time of their lives as they swam around with the little newborns running along on land. In deeper waters, we unfortunately didn’t get any whale sightings; however, there were a lot of pelagic birds flying around, making the trip worthwhile.
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What species did we see today?
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.
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.
