Guest comment: “Amazing! Worth the early morning! Thanks!” – Emma + Bee
“Very special. Amazing to see the sharks up close!” – Martine + Michiel
“Great experience, loved every minute! Great stuff, had a blast. Fun, fun, fun!” – Glenn
17/11/2015
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 18.1’C + 18.5’C + 18.6’C
Depth: 12.1m + 9.0m + 9.1m
Visibility: 2.0m + 1.0m + 1.0m
Number of Sharks: 6 + 6 + 6
Conditions: Light, patchy rain throughout day with increasing wind and swell.
We had another early start at Marine Dynamics today with our first trip launching at 7am from Kleinbaai and heading straight into the shallows. Whilst we were all ready to go nice and early it appeared that the White sharks did not share the same enthusiasm this morning and we waited close to an hour and a half before we decided to try a new spot. The second anchor proved more successful with a juvenile White shark turning up not too long after we arrived. This little shark was the start of an amazing morning with the activity fantastic throughout the trip as big fish after big fish continued to turn up. A welcoming sight was that of a large male we are fond of, “Jacob”, who has not been seen since the start of the year. In the past we have expected “Jacob” to be in the area around August/September but unfortunately we did not see him this year, so his arrival today was very exciting for the Slashfin team, especially as he has grown considerably! Welcome back “Jacob”! This trip also saw a very bold gang of Bronze Whalers or Copper sharks turn up, we have on the rare occasion encounted this species in the past two years around the boat however never with such feisty behaviour, as they stuck with the trip till the end and could be seen making attempts at both the decoy and bait line, even in the presence of the mighty White sharks. The second trip of the day launched with the start of a light rain, however this eased quite quickly and as our divers had prepared themselves to get wet not too much of a fuss was caused. Once on anchor this trip got off to a great start as the sharks were still in the area and turned up within minutes. Many of our sharks from the first trip returned to wow the new passengers on board, including the group of Bronze Whalers, who are quite easy to identify due to the scarring that most o them have, especially one of the larger ones, a female with the tip of her dorsal fin missing. The third and final trip of the day launched this afternoon to some wilder conditions as the wind and swell had increased, these conditions however did not deter our fishy friends and we spotted a shark circling the anchor float as we arrived back into the area. Yet again those same individuals from the previous trips had returned to the boat with a few additions yet missing some other with no sighting of “Jacob” for this or the second trip. The Bronze Whalers were yet again present, the same four individuals that have been around the boat today and also yesterday. Towards the end of this trip we saw a slight decrease in the White shark activity as the Stingrays and Bronze Whalers continuned to appear, yet as the divers tried to entice the sharks by singing songs under the water and tapping on the cage, a large female made a slow vertical attempt on the decoy showing off her lovely white under belly and gracefullly emerging out of the water up till her pectoral fins making for one of the best sighting of the day!Many of our divers were lucky enough to see both the Whites and Bronzeys under the water and every now and again a glimpse of the Short-tailed stingrays we seem to be seeing more of lately….
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.
