02/01/2018
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 16.0C + 16.0C + 16.7C + 16.7C + 16.9C
Depth: 10m + 10m + 10m + 10m + 10m
Visibility: 0.5m + 0.5m + 0.5m + 0.5m + 0.5m
Number of Sharks: 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 0
Conditions: Overcast day with some swell in the morning with it getting smaller as the day went on.
We have said goodbye to 2017, a very interesting but extremely difficult year here in Gansbaai and for the white shark diving community, with sightings at a historical low due to the presence of a larger predator in the area… the Orca. Read more about it here
We hope that 2018 will be a productive year with many great white sightings! This morning’s trip started out well with a white shark cruising in sight quickly. This was Mini Nemo, the estimated 3.4 meter male that we have watched grow and return to the bay since 2012. He disappeared to be replaced by a smaller male that we’ve nicknamed “Droopy”, a shark with the tip of its dorsal fin missing and an injury to its jaw that has left it hanging low. This male showed some exciting and stunning behaviour before he too disappeared. The wait for the next sighting was long but our guests were patient and in the end we had copper sharks appearing to finish off our first trip. Although the visibility let us down today, we had an interesting trip out on Dream Catcher with quite a few different species turning up for us. On the ride out, we spotted a Cape Fur Seal resting in the middle of the ocean. Once we arrived on anchor, we had a bit of a wait out there before a large copper shark turned up. We watched this graceful guy cruise for a bit before we decided to move anchor in the hopes of getting a White Shark. Our hopes were realised when Droopy showed up. Droopy gave us a good few passes, checking out our bait line. We also had not one but two Short Tailed Stingrays come up for a look. These guys were super cool to watch as they took a swing at the decoy before realising that we had nothing tasty for them. Our very last sight for the day was a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins who were making their way towards the shallows. Our next trip of the day launched on Slashfin as the clouds covered the bay completely, anxious to see if either of the white sharks had stuck around for us. After a bit of a wait, we were visited by some copper sharks until they suddenly disappeared. We were in luck! An hour into the trip we had a white shark. It was the same small male, Droopy, with the injured jaw. He stuck around with us for a little while before disappearing again, quickly replaced by some more copper sharks. Our last trip of the day launched on Dream Catcher as the sun began to break through the clouds. We anchored and began to wait, and wait, and wait. It felt as if our new year’s luck had run out as the only visitors we had were seagulls, mullet, and horse mackerel. After a long wait, we finally had a visit from a stunning large copper shark and everyone had the opportunity to see one of the amazing elasmobranchs that calls our bay home. We were lucky to have this large shark stay with us as the sun began to creep closer to the horizon and we began to pack up and end the day. We would like to thank all of our shark cage divers and visitors for their patience and their understanding that when working with wildlife, patience truly is a virtue and it can finally pay off in the end!
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Great White Shark Diving in South Africa, 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.
