Guest Comment: “Fantastic! Had a great time. Enjoyed learning facts as well as seeing the amazing sharks! Thank you!” – Mallory
“Great day, nice staff and excellent trip! Also great that we got to see plenty of sharks.” – Paul
“Brilliant day! Excellent staff and I can’t believe how many sharks we saw!” – Claire + Dermot
15/11/2016
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 14.0’C + 14.7’C + 14.1’C
Depth: 8.1 m + 8.5 m + 8.2 m
Visibility: 0-0.5m + 0-0.5 m + 0-0.25m
Number of Sharks: 8 + 7 + 11
Conditions: Small swells with a constant breeze.
Shark cage diving is a lot like a safari. Sometimes you wait 5 minutes and sometimes you wait 2 hours. We obviously wish that it would always be a 5 minute wait, however this is wildlife that we work with and these are a species that are vulnerable to extinction. Our first trip began with a 45 minute wait before the first shark arrived. It was a 2.0 meter long white shark with what looks to be a spaghetti tag attached below its dorsal fin. This is a long thin tag that typically has a number on it, identifying the animal. These are more often used on fish that will hopefully be re-caught in the future to determine their movement patterns. This shark was then followed by “Momi” a 3.1 meter female white shark with a haling bite wound on the top of her body just in front of her dorsal fin. She was joined by a very large 4.2 meter female with a dark scar on the top of her head. “Sarko” arrived shortly after, gracing everyone with her young body and energy. She is 2.4 meters long and is known for being highly active. We also saw “Gigi” a young 1.9 meter long female with a small open wound on the top of her head. She is a beautiful young shark with a very calm and graceful personality. She seems quite mature for her size. We also saw two of the sharks that were recently fitted with acoustic tags by the Dyer Island Conservation Trust.
Our last shark of the day was a very dark 3.4 meter female with a rosie on her dorsal fin and white scars on the top of her head. Our second trip was a bit more lucky and only had a 10 minute wait before the first shark arrived. It was “Sarko” back and active as always! She was very quickly joined by 2 other sharks,, a 2.2 meter female with black scars on top of her head that look like teeth marks,, and a dark 3.5 meter white shark. After a bit, one of our DICT tagged sharks returned and stayed around for a while. Suddenly a 2.2 meter white shark came speeding by, chasing after the decoy and bait line, then scarring off just as quickly as it arrived. Perhaps “Pieter” scared it off. “Pieter” is one of our iconic sharks and is a 3.2 meter male white shark with a white scar on his left side and 2 black scars on his right side. This trip also got to meet “Taryn-it-up” a 3.2 meter female who’s scars have faded over time. Our last trip of the day had the best luck with a shark circling the boat as we anchored. It was “Pieter” back again and ready to show off his claspers to all onboard. He was shortly joined by “Nala” a 3.2 meter female with a black scar on the top of her head. We also had 2 young juveniles come by, a 2.2 meter white shark that just stayed for a short time, and a 2.3 meter white shark we’ve seen a lot recently with propeller scars to its caudal. These two juveniles were quickly scared away when “Momi” arrived, awing everyone on board with her speed and beauty. We also had a 2.8 meter long white shark with no distinct scars, one of the DICT tagged sharks from earlier in the day, the juvenile female from trip 2 with the bite marks on the top of her head, and we also saw a 3.4 meter white shark with a spaghetti tag on it as well. Our last 2 sharks of the day was a large 3.9 meter long dark female with a bite scar on the top of her head, and “Jacob” a 3.8 meter long male with a large chunk of the top lobe of his caudal fin gone. This trip was also very lucky and got to see an octopus! And all three of our trips today got to see another species of shark as well, known as the bronze whaler or copper shark! It was a fantastic day at sea!
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then 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.
