Guest Comments:“Staff was super attentive, knowledgeable and personable. Amazing experience!” – Maria & Tom

“Boat staff and marine biologist were exceptional – Thank you! (We helped name Sydney! 😊).” – Rowan and Johanna

“Awesome trip! So great and learned so much 😊. Amazing, thank you for doing this!” – Anne & Jesse

“Fin”-tastic! Exceeded all my expectations – great crew + staff!” – Rob

Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 15.5 C
Depth: 8m
Visibility: 1. – 1.5m
Number of White sharks: 3
Conditions:  A flat day out at sea with a little rain creeping in towards the end of the tour.

We had a truly exceptional time out on the ocean today, with 3 gorgeous Great White Sharks coming out to play. We left the harbour at around 09:00, eager to get out and see what the day had in store for us. We’re still diving in Jouberts Dam at the moment, so, after only 20 minutes travel, we dropped our anchor and got everyone all geared up. After only a few minutes, we had our very first shark of the day, but not quite the one that we were expecting!

A Pajama Shark or Striped Catshark appeared just below the decoy, to the delight of myself and the amusement of everyone else on board. Pajama Sharks are a somewhat common cat shark found in the area, but, due to these shy animals being more of a bottom dwelling species, we never actually get to see them at the boat. It is really quite brave of him or her to venture to the surface, as larger shark species and seals would definitely try to make a meal out of this stripy little one. These sharks are also generally nocturnal, which makes it an even greater spot! Although it didn’t stick around too long and not everyone got to see, it was a great start to the tour none the less.

With the disappearance of this tiny fish, a larger one came up to claim her space around the boat. White and Bite, a large female White Shark with some really distinctive scarring, took a slow cruise past our bait line, investigating the attached tuna heads from below. After a couple more passes like this, she got a little more active, lunging at the bait a couple of times and exposing those razor sharp pearly whites. Coming in at just over 3,5m, we could not have asked for a better White Shark to start our dive.

About 10 minutes after White and Bite arrived, we caught sight of a slightly smaller White Shark who was a little more reserved as in came in for a closer look. This little one was easy distinguishable by her pale skin and dark trailing edge on her dorsal fin, and she went on to give us a couple more passes throughout the tour, though she never broke the surface of the water.

The very last Shark of the day was a jet black show stopper that we later christened Sydney. She was an absolute beauty and a large one at that, with her length pushing 4m. You’d think that at that size, one would be a little more sluggish but, she made a habit of shooting up out of the water at the speed of lightning, surprising us all and reminding us why Great Whites are so often referred to as “Apex predators.” Sydney seemed to prefer the ambush approach when she did pop up, coming from the depths and camouflaging perfectly with her surroundings which resulted in most of us keeping our eyes glued to the water in an effort to get the best picture of the day.

In between all of the shark action, we also had a Short Tailed Stingray pay us a visit, travelling just below the surface and showing off its gigantic wingspan before it vanished, presumably to the bottom of the bay where these large cartilaginous fish reside.

Once we finished up the dive, we made our way back to the harbour through a light drizzle, eager to get back to the Great White House where our heaters stood ready to warm us. We really could not have asked more of the ocean or the sharks than what we were treated to today, with memories sure to last a lifetime.

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.