Guest comment: “One of the best things I’ve done! Thank you so much. Amazing work everyone and amazing animals!” – Claudia, Hans + Natasha
“Thoroughly professional – looked after brilliantly. Thank you to all the crew!” – Keith + Sam
“Amazing crew, you guys did an awesome job! Definately a cool experience. Thank you so much!” – Sandra + Sofia
05/08/2016
Location: Wilfred’s Rock
Water Temperature: 14.9’C + 15.0’C + 15.1’C
Depth: 15.0m + 14.9m + 17.4m
Visibility: 4.0m + 4.0m + 4.0m
Number of Sharks: 1 + 3 + 1
Conditions: Clearing cloud coverage with a slight wind making for choppy conditons.
Trip 1
An early start for Marine Dynamics and our visitors this morning as we left the harbour with the sun rising. We headed towards the back of the Islands as the conditions of the day prevented us from heading to our usual area this morning. Once on anchor we had a slight wait for the sharks to arrive however the good news is that they did! We had a beautiful male shark turn up this morning and he stuck with us for th entire trip. Measuring in at approximately 3.5m this male had the most amazing activity to watch as he slowly cruised by the cage sticking his head out of the water every now and again. This shark looked very familiar to the crew of Slashfin thanks to a very distinctive rosie (natural occuring white pigmentation) on the right side of his dorsal fin and on examination of our database we found that he has been logged previously as is a known Winter shark around the Islands. To finish off our trip we made a run by the Cape Fur seals on Geyser Rock and then the exciting journey back to land, in which, due to low tides, we had to make our way around Danger Point and into Gansbaai Harbour.
Trip 2
The second trip of the day launched and made it’s way back around Danger Point and out to the Islands. Back on anchor the group yet again had a little wait for the sharks before a shark, close to 3.0m in length made its appearance. This shark had little markings on it and did not stick around, however two others showed up to take its place, a small individual closer to 2.0m in length with lots of scars around its snout and then right at the end of the trip a male shark closer to 3.0m decided to join and make the end of the trip a happy one. This last shark is one we know well, so well in fact he has a name which is “Cutfin” due to the damage done to his dorsal fin, most likely from a boats propellor. He has been in the bay for a lot of our Winter season and we have been lucky enough to see him around the boat every once in a while.
Trip 3
The third and final trip was for a group of highschool rugby players from the United Kingdom in South Africa competing in a friendly sports competition. We headed back out late in the afternoon and was met by a shark just after arriving. This was the first shark of the second trip and unfortunately his behaviour had not changed and he was just as shy as seen on the previous trip. He stuck around a bit longer this trip however by the end of the day activity slowed down. We made our way back to the harbour with the sun setting.
A somewhat slow however successful day out on the water. Thank you to all that joined us today and for the patience shown on board, it paid off and each trip was lucky enough to see atleast one shark and we all know…one shark is better than none!
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.
