Daily Trip 17 June 2018

Guide Summary and Photographs

We had an early start out on Dream Catcher this morning, launching just after sunrise to pink skies. A combination of low tide and an impending frontal system meant that we had to leave port as early as possible, which definitely worked in our favor as we had an amazing morning adventure.

After searching the shallows for some Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphins, we took a stop at our sister company, Marine Dynamics, in the hopes of spotting a Great White Sharks. These incredible predators are regulars in the Jouberts Dam region, so we parked off for a bit and waited for the magic to happen. Sure enough, after a few minutes of waiting, we heard our shark crew shout, with a juvenile Great White Shark surfacing from below our wooden seal decoy. At the same time, the boat anchored next to Slashfin also had a White Shark pop up, so we got to see 2 of these gorgeous beauties before heading into deeper ocean.

Our first sighting here was that of 3 African Penguins who were out in the hopes of catching some breakfast. We got to see them surface once or twice before these little birds carried on with their day, moving under the water and away from the boat. There seemed to be some fish around, with White Chinned Petrels, Cape Gannets  and Cape Cormorants all making an appearance moments later.

With all the fish around, we were hoping that it would bring in a Brydes Whale or two and sure enough, moments later we had one of these shy whales surface right in front of the boat. We’ve really been having some awesome Brydes Whale sightings recently, with a few very relaxed animals around and this individual was no exception. Surfacing several times next to us and showing off his blueish-grey skin, we had a lovely time watching this giant. Whilst spending some time with him, we noticed that we had yet another baleen whale in the bay, this time, a Humpback Whale. We got to watch this guy surface to a beautiful backdrop of rugged mountains and orange skies. Humpback whales are famous for their beautiful and unique flukes, which this whale showed off a couple of times as it took a deeper dive.

As if the whales were not exciting enough, we also had a Shy Albatross join the mix, gliding effortlessly alongside the boat and giving us some great views whilst we waited for the whales to surface. These birds fly thousands of kilometers in search of food and are known to partner up for life, although they’re not considered to be entirely faithful to their spouses. With a wingspan of over 2m, they’re definitely an impressive sight to behold out on the water.

Once we had said goodbye to our whales and the albatross, we moved into the world famous waters of Shark Alley. Here we spent a bit of time doing some Cape Fur Seal watching, taking in the sight, sound and smell of one of the most abundant marine mammals along our coastline. The seals marked the end of our tour, with us moving back towards the harbor eager to take advantage of the gas heater inside the whale room.