Guest Comment: “Awesome! Was here last winter. We had way more sharks this time. Great staff as always!” – Nicole (Thank you for joining us again Nicole!)
“Brilliant! Didn’t think I would get in the cage but felt safe and reassured by the team! Loved it!” – Anthony + Rowena
“Sharks are awesome! Great trip to learn about sharks.” “Sharks were beautiful, can’t wait to go again.” – Steve + Greg + Nick
01/10/2016
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 16.9’C + 17.4 ‘C + 17.6’C
Depth: 10.5 m + 10 m + 8.4 m
Visibility: 0.5-1.0 m + 1.0 m + 0.5-1.0 m
Number of Sharks: 8 + 5 + 6
Conditions: A swelly day at sea, getting calmer as the day continued, with a light breeze blowing randomly.
Trip 1
Our morning began with some rain as we made our way down to Kleinbaai harbor. There was a bit of swell, and we ended up having to wait for over an hour for sharks to arrive. However, when they arrived, they did so in numbers. We were visited by 3 of our recently tagged sharks during this trip. We also had a visit from a large beauty who was recently adopted and named “Kimberly.” She is 4.2 meters long and has a white patch above her pelvic fin.
Trip 2
Our second trip had a shorter wait with the first shark arriving within 10 minutes of our arrival. This was a large female named “dave” who is 4.2 meters long and has a notch taken out of her dorsal fin. We were also visited by 3 other sharks that we know well. One is “Paisley,” a shark that I named because when I first spotted her last year she had 2 large white marks on her side that looked like a paisley pattern. She was tagged by our research team last year on the 12th of January and still has her tag. We also had a visit from a recently adopted large 4.0 meter female named “Neva.” She has noticeable bite mark scars on the top of her head. We were also visited by “3-Bird” who has been hanging around the bay for a while now.
Trip 3
Our last trip began with a shark circling the anchor line as the onboard briefing was being finished. It was a small and calm 2.6 meter shark with a faint bite mark scar underneath its dorsal fin and another bite mark on its face. It made several beautiful passes and all of our divers had a great view of it. Then the shark disappeared. We waited. Suddenly a very large dark female appeared. She’s about 4.2 meters long and has what looks to be remnants of a portion of a satellite tag that had been attached to her dorsal fin. She is a stunning shark, making very calculated movements and actually doing some small breaches for our divers. They squealed with joy as she came rushing past the cage. She was shortly followed with the return of “Neva.” After some great activity it got a bit quiet and everyone began to wonder “would a shark come?” It didn’t take much longer before another large 4.2 meter shark appeared, surprising our divers with its amazing size. It hung around long enough for the next cage to also see it. Then it left and a 2.8 meter recently tagged shark appeared. It’s a feisty little shark, making amazing half breaches with perfect passes in front of the cage. Our divers were in awe by it’s grace and speed, rushing past them while they watched from the safety of the cage. It was a great finish to what began as a damp morning.
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Cage 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.
