06 March 2017 | Marine Big 5

The Marine big 5 and our favorite little black birds...

Written by Jax, March 6 2017

06 March 2017 | Marine Big 5

Guide Summary and Photographs

After a couple of day’s where we did not go to sea, we were very excited to be on the water on such a beautiful day. Kira, our Whale Whisperer is also back which definitely added to the excitement of today’s trip.

We made our way to the shallows, cruising slowly along the shoreline, hoping to spot the Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphins.  We were in luck today and managed to spot one individual who stayed with us for quite some time. It is pretty usual to spot only one of these dolphins with this lone ranger definitely being quite the individual due to his dorsal fin, which seems to have sustained quite a large injury. It almost appears as though the fin has flopped over a bit and we are very excited to add this to our dolphin catalogue. Whilst viewing him, we also spotted many Box Jellyfish in the water which usually attract our Sunfish but, unfortunately, we did not manage to see one. We also saw thousands of Cape Cormorants sitting on the water, preparing themselves for a fishing excursion which is always an epic sight.

Our next stop was at our sister company’s shark cage diving vessel, Slashfin. We have recently started seeing sharks again after a 21 day absence and although they did not have a shark upon our visit, they did manage to have one of these amazing creatures later on in their trip. We were pretty fortunate to spot a small, free swimming Great White Shark just a couple of hundred metres behind the Diving Operators. We were on our way to the Clyde reef system when kira spotted him and we got a good couple of views before it disappeared into the depths.

After this, we cruised along the Clyde, the reef system which extends from the mainland all the way to Dyer Island. The reef is home to an extensive Kelp forest and we managed to pick up a piece of the sea bamboo to show our clients. Today’s piece was very interesting in that the blades were covered in epiphytes. The kelp provides a place for attachment for these relatively delicate little sea plants and we were able to illustrate beautifully just how much diversity these forests hold.

Next up, we went on a bit of a rescue mission to retrieve an adult Kelp Gull who was looking a bit under the weather. After determining that he needed our help, we took him in and after the trip, handed him over to our African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary where they will do their best to rehabilitate him.

Speaking of penguins, this was our next sighting when a very relaxed raft of 4 popped up. We stayed with these endangered birds for quite a while as they were just so chilled, carrying out their business almost oblivious to our presence. The visibility in the area was also great so we were able to watch them swim under the water which is always special. Following this, we visited our favourite furry marine Mammals at Geyser rock. The Cape Fur Seal pups are just starting to swim and so we were greeted with the sight of hundreds of little black babies in the water which is too cute for words.

With 4 out of 5 under the belt, we head to the open sea where we manged to spot a Bryde’s whale. This completed our Marine big 5 tour and we headed back to the harbour content after a day of awesome sightings.

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