Guest comment: “We weren’t sure it would live up to expectations, but it was fantastic. Lots of sharks and lots learned. Great time!” – Schult Family
“Great trip! Felt very safe and very informative. Loved the little extras – coffee and soup etc!” – Ellie
“Great experience – overwhelmed at how amazing it was. Everyone on board was awesome and really knowledgable. Thank you!” – Sarah
18/10/2016
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 17.5’C + 17.4’C + 17.4’C
Depth: 8.2m + 8.3m + 10.2m
Visibility: 1.5m + 1.5m + 2.5m
Number of Sharks: 8 + 4 +7
Conditions: Overcast with increasing East winds and a little swell.
Trip 1
Rise and shine shark cage divers it’s time to go find those elusive White sharks! We launched early from Kleinbaai harbour this morning and the group was lucky enough to only have a 20 minute wait for the first White shark to appear. This was a juvenile shark that was closely followed by a female just over 3m in length and with fresh bite and scratch marks on her jaw. This morning’s group was graced with the presence of two very large females, one a female by the name of “Meredith” that has some very distinctive seal scratches on the right side above her gills and also one of Ocearch’s satellite tagged animals “Oprah”. Both these females are around the 4.0m length and are truly impressive animals to see gliding through the water. The trip finished with a trip around Danger Point into Gansbaai harbour due to our usual harbour in Kleinbaai unassessable due to low tides this morning.
Trip 2
The second trip of the day launched out of Gansbaai and made its way back around Danger Point to our anchor spot in the Shallows where a shark was spotted almost instantly. This shark was a male just over 3.0m in length and goes by the name of “Pieter”, a individual that became part of the tagging and biopsy program in 2015. It appeared that this trip was going to be dominated by the smaller sharks however in the last hour a large male shark appeared close to 4.0m in length this is by far the largest male we have seen in the area since our Winter season. A beautiful display of activity from this male ended our second trip of the day.
Trip 3
The third trip of the day launched with our final group of guests excited to see a White shark in the flesh! We were just settling onto anchor when the same large male from the second trip showed up gliding right past the cage shocking our guests with how large a shark he really is, what a way to start any trip. This male, easily identifiable from the others due to a spot rosie on the left side of the dorsal fin and parasite attachments just in front of his tail, was the shark of the trip and possibly the entire day. The behaviour he displayed around the boat is amazing with slow, close passes by the cage and active interest in both lines in particular the seal decoy. Whilst this male came and went constantly through out the trip we also saw other White sharks including “Pieter” the small but feisty male and “Scarlett” the large, graceful female that has become a favourite to many of our visitors over the last 4 weeks. We finished off a lovely day with our final shark, a recently tagged male, arriving.
An outstanding day of White shark sightings and activity in the White shark capitol of the World!
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then White 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.
