Guest comment: “Great experience and plenty of shark action…awesome and friendly crew too!” – Nicole + Danny
“Super nice trip! Felt very safe at all times, great shark experience!” – Jenny + Bernhard
“The most amazing trip! Was incredible to be in the water with the sharks and to see them from the boat. The staff and volunteers were amazing. Thank you!” – Rachel + Joshua
17/03/2017
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 14.4’C + 15.4’C + 15.8’C
Depth: 8.5m + 11.0m + 9.8m
Visibility: 1.5m + 1.0m + 0.5m
Number of Sharks: 3 + 6 + 4
Conditions: Clear skies with increasing swell and increasing west winds.
The first trip of the day launched bright and early to a stunning morning on the water. We had a full group of students from New York University joining us this trip, with their enthusiasm contagious! We didn’t have long to wait for the first shark, a juvenile male with some distinct white markings around the gills and tail. This was the most active shark of the trip and stuck around most of the time every now and again being joined by two other juveniles very similar in size but in no way matching his fantasticly active behaviour.
The second trip of the day was off to a spectacular start with Bottlenose dolphins spotted just outside the harbour as the boat launched and even better a shark around within 20 minutes of re-anchoring. The juveniles yet again dominated this trip with five out of the six White sharks seen for this trip under the 3.0m length. The new shark of the day was “Sellendilloh”, a male estimated at 3.8m in length he was tagged by research group Ocearch in 2012 with a satellite SPOT tag and internal acoustic tag. This shark was last seen in January and was a favourite at the time so obviously we are happy to see him back in the area again and hope to see more of this animal.
The last trip of the day launched to some a increase and change in wind direction making the waters a little choppy for the afternoon. We had a shark soon after arrival back on anchor with the juvenile male from the previous trip returning and sticking with us for most of the afternoon. We also had a juvenile female make an appearance though she did not stick around, especially once a large male came cruising in, measuring at approximately 3.4m in length, he would not come to the surface, however the distinct bent over tip to the dorsal fin alerted us to the identification of this shark. The last shark of the day was the most active of all, and was none other than “Paisley”, a 3.5m female tagged by Dyer Island Conservation Trust in December 2015, she was first spotted back around the boat yesterday and much like yesterday’s sighting she was all about the surprise approach with fast vertical attempts on both bait and decoy lines.
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Great White 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.
