The Right Kind Of Day, 15 August 2019
What a wonderful day out at sea.....
Written by Jax Bath, August 15 2019
Guide Summary.
We had fantastic weather on our tour today, with almost no wind and just a little swell. This is a change from what we’ve experienced for most of winter, so we were really excited to head out to sea! Our first trip launched from Gansbaai due to the spring tide, and we made our way around the scenic Danger Point before making our way onwards towards Dyer Island. As we stopped in search of animals, we noticed some weird creatures in the water, after having a think and doing some research after the tour, we realize that these are in fact Comb Jellies, which I have not yet seen on a tour before.
After admiring the smaller creatures in the ocean. We also spotted a few African Penguins in the water, which we enjoyed watching before taking a stop in Shark Alley. Here, the seals were super playful, so we enjoyed watching them fool around in the water before making our way towards the Shark cage diving vessels. Earlier on, we had seen a sunfish n the water, so we were looking forward to seeing a fish of the cartilaginous kind. We were able to get some lovely views of a Great White Shark on this trip before heading back into port.
On the second tour of the day, we were also treated to a sighting of these incredible apex predators before making our way towards Pearly Beach where it seems the whales had just moved in. We first spotted a sub adult playing in the waves and watched him as the also gave us a once over or two. We then spotted some more whales further on and realized with excitement that we had a mating group of Southern Right Whales hanging out. We watched them roll around and have some fun before heading off to find our seals, penguins and a Sunfish.
The 3rd tour of the day saw us starting in The Shallows with a Great White Shark before moving onwards over The Clyde, hoping that we still had some whales around. We were in luck, also finding a mating group where we got to see some Spy hopping and a whale roll on its belly to play with the kelp. This was a spectacular sight, and whilst we also got to spot a Sunfish, Compass Jellyfish (which is also unusual) as well as some more Comb Jellies. We finished off our tour with some African Penguins and the Cape Fur Seals of Geyser Rock.
Today's Best Photographs.
A beautiful Yellow-Nosed Albatross.
A seal pup taking a swim.
Shark saying hi.
This was a really great sighting.
Some more shark action.
A nice, big boy.
The Great White Sharks were super active today!
A sub adult playing in the waves.
Checking us out.
Travelling along the shoreline.
Can you see the white patch on the back?
The mating group from today!
These groups are some of the best to watch.
Two fully grown adults moving along.
We had quite a few whales around later on in the day.
A whale giving us a wave.
Look at the white belly.
Enjoying the seals.
A seal checking us out.
Some mating behavior.
Most whales have some white on the belly.
A spy hop in the distance.
A close look at the head of the whale.
African Penguins out at sea.
A Compass Jelly floating along.
A Comb Jelly, which is not a jelly at all.
Another Compass Jelly.
What species did we see today?
Southern Right Whale Southern Right Whale
Southern right whales attract thousands of visitors every year to experience these gentle giants off the South African coast.
Great white sharks Great white sharks
Gracious, beautiful, misunderstood - three words used by guests of Dyer Island Cruises after witnessing South Africa's most infamous marine species: The Great White Shark.
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.
