Marine Big 5 Daily Blog 27 April
Written by April 27 2025
Whale Watching near Cape Town, South Africa – Welcome to Gansbaai, home of the Marine Big 5.
Trip Summary 27 April 2025:
Today was a rather quiet day out at sea. The day started well, we were extremely lucky to encounter a beautiful, large pod of common dolphins near Danger Point, swimming alongside the vessel and leaving our guests in absolute awe! Staying in deeper waters, we were on the lookout for some more marine wildlife. Meanwhile, we were accompanied by both pelagic and coastal seabirds such as Sooty Shearwaters, White-chinned Petrels, Cape Gannets and Giant Petrels. We continued with our journey to Dyer Island and Geyser Rock. The critically endangered African Penguins were either seen on their favourite hangout spot on the island or as a raft in the open. The Cape fur seals did not disappoint with their sheer numbers playing in the cool waters of Shark Alley or relaxing on Geyser Rock. Due to colder water within our bay, the shark activity was quite low, but lucky us, we got a glimpse of a rather rare sighting, a seven-gill shark, while visiting the Marine Dynamics Shark cage diving vessel!
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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.
Common Dolphin Common Dolphin
With an 'hourgalss' patch on either side and aerial activity the common dolphin is an agile and majestic species, that may easily reach a speed of 40km/h.
Giant Petrel Giant Petrel
Around the Greater Dyer Island area we encounter both species of Giant Petrel, the Southern Giant Petrel and Northern Giant Petrel.
