Marine Big 5 Daily Blog 09 January
Written by January 9 2024
Whale Watching near Cape Town, South Africa Welcome to Gansbaai, home of the Marine Big 5.
Trip Summary 09 January 2024:
Heading into an exciting day having one trip ahead of us today! As usual, we welcomed our guests on board Dream Catcher, left Kleinbaai Harbour behind us, moved over to Uilenkraal where the natural Estuary is located, and started our adventure out at sea. Beautiful weather conditions with little swell allowed us to head into more coastal and shallow waters to start the lookout. Heading over to the Shark Cage diving vessels where the crew of Marine Dynamics vessel Slashfin was already waiting for us. On top of that, a Bronze whaler shark was already investigating the boat and divers once we got there! Moving on, we passed the Reef system, De Clyde, where we spotted a pod of endangered Indian Ocean Humpback dolphins in the surf! After spending some time with them we went over to the Islands. At Dyer Island, home to our endangered African Penguins, our guests were able to watch the Birds off the boat. Arriving at Geyser Rock, we cruised up and down Shark Alley passing the Cape fur seals. On the way back to Kleinbaai Harbour, we made our way through deeper waters to see if anything else was out there for us. Unfortunately, the open waters were rather quiet.
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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.
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.
Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphin Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphin
Humpback dolphins are an endangered species, with small populations living very close to shore, typically in water less than 25m deep and an average home range of 120km. Their proximity to land makes these animals particularly vulnerable to human influence.
