Marine Big 5 Daily Blog 14 December
Written by December 14 2023

Whale Watching near Cape Town, South Africa Welcome to Gansbaai, home of the Marine Big 5.
Trip Summary 14 December 2023:
It has been a beautiful day with partly cloudy conditions a light breeze and hardly any swell. As usual, we launched from the small harbour in Kleibaai and started our journey along the coast to see what we could spot in the shallow waters of the bay. In coastal waters we visited the shark cage diving boat of Marine Dynamics and watched some Bronze Whaler sharks passing by the cage, it’s always nice to see them passing so gracefully through the water. We continued the trip towards a reef system to the Cape fur seal colony on Geyser Rock. This time is great to visit them as the colony is filled with plenty of pups on the small beaches. Afterward, we passed by Dyer Island and stopped to get a better look at the endangered African Penguin and thousands of Cape cormorants and we started seeing the Greater-crested terns starting to perform their mating flights. Heading into deeper waters behind the island we were even lucky enough to have spotted two Bryde’s whales.
Trip 1
Tripadvisor – https://bit.ly/2YZ0jDR
Google – https://g.page/r/Caej8uYZYnR8EBE/review
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/WhaleWatchSA
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.
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 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.
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.
Brydes Whale Brydes Whale
The mysterious Bryde's whales visit the Dyer Island area throughout the year, with most sightings occurring during summer into winter.