22 April 2017

Guide Summary and Photographs

It was a little chilly this morning as we left the harbour this morning with a cold south easterly wind blowing. Nevertheless, it was a stunning day to be out on the water with very little swell and we were excited to head out into the bay.

As we were hugging the coastline, moving parallel to the suburb of Franskraal, we had two inquisitive Sub Antarctic Skuas fly with us for a little while, providing a couple of great photographic opportunities.

After stopping at the mouth of Uilienkraal’s estuary to do our daily YSI reading, in which we measure the temperature, oxygen and pressure levels in the water, we moved off towards the shark boats. Unfortunately for our diving operations, we had two Orca’s move through the bay two days ago which can really slow down our activity. The Orca is the only predator of the Great White Shark and it is suspected that these two large cetaceans are quite a big fan of shark, although not necessarily Great White.

Interestingly, since the Orcas were spotted we’ve found a couple of White Sharks moving into very shallow waters, just off of the beach, and we believe that the sharks are may be attempting to move out of harm’s way.  We spotted a juvenile White Shark doing just that, moving from Jouberts Dam into the breakers at quite a speed.

We head towards Dyer Island after this, making our way along the Clyde Reef System slowly. At the island, we spotted a few African Penguins sitting on the White Boulders in between the Cape Cormorants. The Cormorants were in abundance today on the island although many seemed to be making their way out to deeper water to go fishing. We spend a good couple of moments here before leaving for Geyser Rock to see our Cape Fur Seal colony.

We had many seals around today, making the island a little more pungent and noisy than it has been in a while. Our colon consists of roughly 60 000 of these adorable pinnipeds with 10 000 – 12 000 being born every year. Our pups are currently around 4 months old and are soon going to start venturing a little further from home, making them vulnerable to the area’s most iconic predator.

After making our way out the washing machine, we spotted two little African Penguins in the water. These seemingly clumsy birds can reach a speed of around 20km/h which is pretty impressive and today we were lucky enough to see one travel just under the water’s surface, really showcasing just how efficiently they are capable of moving.

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