Guest Comment: “Absolutely fantastic! Capable, gracious and informed crew. Amazing sights. Worth every penny. Life changing experience!” – Molly
“Amazing experience! Can’t believe how close they got!” – Kate + Mike
“It was awesome!!!!! Way better than I ever expected and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Thank you!!!” -Lee
02/01/2017
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 17.7’C + 16.9’C + 17.5’C
Depth: 10.0 m + 10.0 m + 9.1 m
Visibility: 0.5 m + 0-0.5 m + 0-0.5 m
Number of Sharks: 5 + 4 + 4
Conditions: An overcast day with small swells.
Trip 1
After a great ending to 2016, we were excited to see what the sharks had in store for 2017. We didn’t have to wait long before our new year began with a splash! Our first trip started with a short 30 minute wait before a shark approached. This trip was dominated by juvenile white sharks, most of which appear to have just recently arrived as we do not recognize them from recent trips. The first was a female at 2.8 meters long. We were visited by 2 that were both 3 meters long. One of these had a white mark on its left side by the tail, a freckle on the right side of its dorsal fin, and a dark patch on the left side below the dorsal fin. We also had a 2.6 meter shark and a recent favorite that we’ve been calling “Drooly.” He is 2.7 meters long and has an injury to his jaw that has left the right side of his lower jaw drooping down. This doesn’t appear to have hindered him at all as he constantly successfully gets the seal decoy firmly between his teeth.
Trip 2
Our second trip of the day had a bit of a shorter wait with the first shark arriving after about 15 minutes of being anchored. It was a large shark, at 3.8 meters long with scars on the left side of its tail. We also had another 3.8 meter female who has a small white marking just below her second dorsal fin. “Drooly” joined us again, going for the seal decoy as he always does. Our last shark of this trip was a female with a bite mark scar on the left side of her tail.
Trip
Our last trip today began very suddenly when a 4.3 meter white shark lunged out of the water with the seal decoy in its mouth. What a site to see! This shark was highly active and spent quite some time with us, showing off in front of the cage. Often times during our summer season the larger sharks tend to be more relaxed, occasionally pulling their heads out of the water. This shark was constantly doing half breaches, and it was an amazing thing to witness. After spending half the trip with us, the large shark left and 3 juveniles arrived. The first was 2.1 meters and was covered in scars. It had lots of small white scars on its left side from the pelvic fin down to the tail, a white patch on its right side, and several other smaller scars scattered from head to tail. The second was a 2.3 meter male with a black mark just behind the top of the left side gill slits and a scar on the right side of the middle of the tail. Our third and final shark of this trip, and this day, was “Drooly,” back again to visit our divers. It was a wonderful way to bring in the new year. Thanks so much to all of our divers today for joining us as we brought in the new year with a great group of sharks!
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Great White Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai, and more specifically with Marine Dynamics, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience you won’t want to miss. Book and pay online with us and get a free video of your encounter with the world’s apex predator.
