Marine Big 5 Daily Blog 21 January
Written by January 21 2023
Whale Watching near Cape Town, South Africa Welcome to Gansbaai, home of the Marine Big 5.
Trip Summary 21 January 2023:
What a beautiful day on the sea with some fantastic conditions to enjoy time out in the bay. We started the trip by making our way along the coastal waters of the bay encountering a Sunfish briefly before making our way to the shark cage diving boats, where our sister company, Marine Dynamics, was having success with the sharks. We watched a number of Bronze whaler sharks around their vessel before we made our way out to the Islands. Whilst they can be a tad hard to spot we saw a few African penguins on Dyer Island before enjoying the view of our large colony of Cape fur seals sunning themselves on Geyser Rock and cooling off in the surrounding waters. We then moved into the deeper waters surrounding the bay and while things appeared quiet in the beginning a disturbance to the waters’ surface along with a high number of seabirds could be seen out deeper, on arrival we found a large bait ball, with seals, and birds alike diving for the fish along with the surprise sighting of a feeding Bryde’s whale. This individual then proceeded to come to the surface multiple times, close to the boat giving us an amazing whale watching experience! Finishing of our trip we circled around the deeper western side of the bay making our way back to the harbour, encountering a mother-calf Bryde’s whale pair that appeared shy and elusive, leading us to leave them be and continue our path back to land.
Trip 1
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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 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.
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.
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.
