Marine Big 5 Daily Blog 24 April
Written by April 24 2024
Whale Watching near Cape Town, South Africa Welcome to Gansbaai, home of the Marine Big 5.
Trip Summary 24 April 2024:
As usual, we welcomed our guests on our Whale-watching vessel Dream Catcher and left Kleinbaai Harbour behind us. Heading towards Danger Point we once again encountered a raft of African Penguins. As they were very relaxed around our boat we got some amazing close looks of them. After some time we decided to let them be and headed further into deeper waters. We encountered several pelagic birds along the way and even spotted a sunfish in the deep. Seeing a sunfish feeding on some jellyfish was most definitely a rather rare and special encounter! We continued to the island system where our guests experienced numerous Cape fur seals circling our boat and while cruising up and down Shark Alley we got some great views of the seals relaxing and watching us from Geyser Rock. Heading over to Dyer Island, we saw the island close up and spotted some of the endangered Indian Ocean humpback dolphins feeding alongside seals and Penguins! Heading through the reef system we made our way to the Marine Dynamics Shark cage diving vessel where we got some nice looks at the Bronze whaler shark before it was time to head back to Kleinbaai Harbour. Once again, thanks everyone for joining our Marine Big 5 tours!
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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.
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.
Sunfish
