Guest comments: “Great staff and tour host, I learned a lot about sharks! Want to come back and hopefully see more! Thanks!” – Max
“Lots of fun and very informative. Thanks!” – Conall
17/04/2018
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 11.6’C + 12.2’C
Depth: 8 m + 15 m
Visibility: 0.5 m + 1.0 m
White Sharks Seen: 1 + 1
Conditions: Fog and clouds as we launched into a little bit of swell, burning off as the day continued.
Tis the season for changes.. or not.. Today Slashfin launched its first trip a little bit later than normal due to a new moon spring tide, which occurs once a month. Fog and low lying clouds covered the bay, giving it a somewhat eerie feeling. Once on anchor, everyone got ready to see the beautiful white sharks that frequent Gansbaai, and 40 minutes later we had one approaching! It was a large 3.9 meter white shark that we saw on our first trip yesterday. It did a couple of passes in front of the cage, showing how graceful white sharks can be. Unfortunately it didn’t stay around for long.
We waited for a while, learning all about white sharks, their anatomy, why you won’t see a white shark in captivity, how many babies they can have, and lots of other shark facts. After a while, we began to wonder if the lack of any sightings in the bay meant that most of our white sharks had ventured over to their typical winter location at Shark Alley. We decided to give it a shot, pulled up the anchor, and headed over to the islands. Unfortunately we had no luck here either. We did however get to spend some time with the one of the white sharks favourite food sources, Cape Fur Seals.
We started the second tour of the day over at Shark Alley where we were treated to the incredible light of 60 000 Cape Fur Seals. These seals can be found on the 3 hectare island of Geyser Rock and live here all year round, much to the delight of the sharks cruising through the area. However, contrary to popular believe, the action around the island only really heats up in the winter months, with us spending most of summer in shallow water.
Today, we tried our luck behind the island, with winter slowly starting to creep in. after having no luck and only spotting an array of sea birds which included several Giant Petrels, we decided to move to the shallows again in the hopes that a shark would come up and play.
After a bit of a wait, our dreams were realised when we had a 3.5m male join us around the bout. This lovely guy stuck around for a while, launching himself up at the bait and giving our divers the thrill of a lifetime. Although this shark was lightening fast, Alfred, our bait handler was faster, allowing us to get great views of the shark as he moved the bait away in the nick of time. When this shark was not around, everyone on board was treated to the sight of Short Tailed Sting Rays who also decided to do some investigating. After a good few hours on the water, we returned to the harbour with smiles a mile wide.
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.
