Daily Trip 09 December 2017

Guide Summary and Photographs

It was an adventurous day out on Dream Catcher today with just enough swell to make for a fun ride!

Today was a fun day out at sea with some wind and swell making for a memorable ride. In this area, we’re pretty well known for our windy summer months, which may feel a little inconvenient at times but, this wind does serve a really important purpose and is part of the reason for the diversity that we experience in the area.

During our summer months, all of the warm water on the coast is blown off by the prevailing winds, causing the cool water to rise up from the bottom of the ocean. With this cool water comes a lot of nutrients which brings the fish to our coast, which, in turn, brings through many of the predatory animals we hope to show our clients on our trips.

So, with a bit of a breeze blowing we set out straight towards Dyer Island. We stopped in front of the island briefly to admire the many birds breeding on this picturesque island. We also took a look at the houses, which were originally used for when the guano was being collected off the island and when the seals were being culled. The island is named after Samson Dyer, an American who made his way to Africa in the hopes to hunting whales but, instead, ended up clubbing seals for their pelts.

Following this stop, we made our way over the reef and between the two islands into Shark Alley. Shark Alley is world famous for the great concentration of Great White Sharks that we have coming through into the area from May to August. At this time of year however, the alley is fantastic due to the presence of thousands of tiny little pups and some humongous bull seals who join the colony during breeding season. Stopping here is always an experience, not only because of the impressive sight but also because of the not so impressive smell that comes from the stagnant pools of water on the island and what we often say is the equivalent of around 60 000 wet dogs.

After this, we made our way onwards towards Pearly Beach where we did a bit of searching for the whales. We ended up find 2 pairs of Southern Rights close to shore but, to our absolute delight, these guys came towards the boat for a closer look. It started off with the whales swimming behind us and then trailing back, and we got to watch mom and baby come up several times really nice and close before they moved on a little. Next up, the not so little calf started getting a bit more active, taking a deep dive and then giving us a great show. This gorgeous baby decided to start breaching for us, going at it for us, going at it for a few minutes while we all stood in awe. Once the baby had stopped, we decided to move on towards Slashfin in the hopes of their being a shark around.

When we approached Slashfin, we had a Bronze Whaler Shark at the bait, which a few lucky clients were able to get a quick view of. Bronze Whalers feed primarily on fish and get to a size of around 3m, they’ve been around the boats for a few months now and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing a different species at our cage diving vessels.

If you would like to get hold of your trip footage, please download the credit card authorization form here to complete and forward it through to bookings@whalewatchsa.com. Please be sure to mention the date and launching time with response. Our team will reply with a direct link to your video footage for download, please allow 72 hours to footage to be uploaded. Download link will be valid for 6 months.

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