Daily Trip 21 June 2018

Guide Summary and Photographs

We could not have asked for a more memorable day out at sea, with us having fantastic whale and dolphin sightings. We travelled no more than 2 minutes for our first sighting of the day, with us happening upon a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins! These stunning cetaceans can spend up to 15 minutes under the water and dive to depths of a few hundred meters, though we’re very lucky to have them spend most of their time at the surface of the ocean.

We had a pod of around 30 animals around which included 2 Cape Fur Seals who had temporarily joined the ranks but of slightly more interest, we also had a Common Dolphin in this pod. This is definitely not something we get to see every day, although dolphins are known to associate with members of different species. There have even been some cases where Bottlenose and Common Dolphins have come together to create a little Hybrid Dolphin, with inter-species relations being a little more common than one might think. Speaking of calves, we had a couple of small ones in this pod, which we all thoroughly enjoyed watching. These little ones never seemed to move too far from their moms, which was also quite a special sight to behold.

Once we’d had our dolphin fix for the day, we head towards the infamous waters around Danger Point to see what the area had in store for us. Our next encounter was with a few African Penguins who were bobbing about in the water. Whilst we were watching them, ne couldn’t help but notice the variety of bird species around, which ranged from the humble Cape Cormorant to the ever agile Shy Albatross. We also had some Cape Gannets fluttering about, all of which is a great indication of schooling fish moving through our water. This was however not exactly what we were in search for, as the animals that we were hoping to see are not particularly famous for feeding in our waters.

We were in search of a blow that might give away a mighty baleen whale and, sure enough, only minutes later, Kira spotted our first spout of the day. Our first whale for the day was a Humpback Whale, which we soon realized was not alone when a second spout appeared. We watched them surface a couple of times before they took a deep dive, which would have signaled the end of our time with them if one of the whales had not given off a mighty breach. After this epic display, the whale went a little deeper again so we decided to move off towards the back of Geyser Rock, where we encountered around 5 more of this spectacular creatures.

We spent a bit of time with a group of 3, watching in awe as they surfaced together. Today was a bit chilly, so their blows lingered in the air just a little longer, creating some awesome rainbows as the water vapor played tricks with the light.

After having some quality time with one of the world’s most beloved whales, we went over to Geyser Rock to give our seal colony some attention. We moved through the alley a few times, watching the seals as they played, we also had a large group descend upon the water all at once, which is always a delightful, and some what humorous sight. Once we’d finished up here, we had an adventurous ride back to Kleinbaai harbour.