Trip Comments: “Fantastic trip and crew! Had a great time and learnt a lot. Thank you!” – Allison
“Amazing time! Exceeded my expectations! Thanks for being so kind and accomodating!” – Grace
“Great crew even the volunteers. Fantastic Copper sharks. Our family loved this trip!” – Eva + Mortiz
03/02/2018
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 13.5°C + 13.7°C
Depth: 10.0m + 9.8m
Visibility: 1.0m + 1.0m
Conditions: Clear skies with a slight swell and light southerly winds.
A beautiful morning to start the weekend, we had clear, blue skies a very slight swell and as is so common in this area, some level of wind coming through, but very light and coming from the South keeping things a little chilly but refreshing.
The sharks appeared quickly this morning with Copper sharks gracing us with their bronzed presence and making for some great shark views all morning and into the afternoon. The day was dominated by the female Copper sharks yet again, however there was one smaller male to represent the other gender thrown into the mix too.
Of the sharks that we did see we were lucky enough to recognise a few, most noticeably would be a shark approximately 1.5m in length and sporting an acoustic tag just under the dorsal fin on the left side. It is always great for our guests to see what sort of technology is utilised in the hopes of following sharks and uncovering some of their secrets, this tagged individual today is not one of Marine Dynamics or the Dyer Island Conservation Trusts study animals as we have not deployed on this species before, but would very much like to see this happening in the future as little is known as to how this species uses the Greater Dyer Island area.
The other familiar sighting today was that of a large female, the largest sighting of the day, an individual we have fondly nicknamed Snubnose, due to the unusual bluntness to her snout making her resemble one of her fellow requiem sharks, the Bull shark. This female has been documented for close to 2 months at least once a week visiting our vessel. What has really stunned us is the sheer size of this creature, a beautiful specimen and one that really does get the attention of our guests, it does appear that not only is it her length that distinguishes her from many of our other Copper shark sightings but also the girth on this female, something that looks to be increasing over the period we have observed her. Could she possibly be having much success with her hunting and feeding well or could it be something more, perhaps she could be carrying a litter of pups? Information surrounding reproduction in many sharks species has and still is somewhat vague, especially for such species as White sharks that have never been witnessed mating or pupping, but even with such a wide-spread, often encountered species as a Copper shark, there is limited observations of known pregnant females or pupping for that matter. It has been found with other Copper shark populations, such as those off Argentina, that the females appear to favour the lower side of their temperature range to pup, something that could be happening here in the cooler Atlantic waters.
Could we say a shark-tastic Saturday perhaps, with great conditions, interesting sightings and fun and engaging guests at Marine Dynamics today!
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Shark 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.
