Guest Comment: “Fantastic experience! We felt very safe throughout the whole trip. Would highly recommend to anyone, even those who are afraid of sharks!” – Vishal + Avni
“Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous!! Informative, fun, and super cool sightings. Soup was amazing :)” – The Nicolls Family
“Thank you for the best birthday trip. It was amazing! We saw 7 sharks- I would’ve been happy with one. An experience I will never forget!” – Shoni ( Happy Birthday Shoni!)
19/10/2016
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 16.9’C + 16.8’C
Depth: 10.4 m + 9.9 m
Visibility: 2.0 m + 1.5 m
Number of Sharks: 7 + 11
Conditions: A beautiful day at sea with a constant breeze.
Trip 1
Today was a perfect day. The sun was shining, the wind kept everyone cool, and the sharks were out in numbers. All of our divers today were even lucky enough to witness multiple sharks in front of the cage at the same time, multiple times today. Great White Sharks are often believed to be strictly solitary animals, however they can be found in small groups of 2 and 3. Today we were very lucky to witness very calm behavior between 4 different pairs of sharks just a meter from the cage. It was an amazing site to see. Our first trip began quickly with a 2 minute wait before the first shark arrived, a large female named “Chama Tica.” She has a very noticeable notch taken out of her dorsal fin and white marks on the top of her head. She was joined by a large female with three healing wounds on her right side. A small pale juvenile appeared with propeller scars on the left side of its caudal. “Chama Tica” stayed around for most of this trip, occasionally being visited by other sharks as well. One of these was a very young white shark about 1.8 meters long and very pale in coloration. Our second and third cages were also lucky and got to see a couple of large Short-Tailed Stingrays underwater. We also spotted a bubble jelly by the cage. The next shark we saw was a 3.1 meter shark that only made a few passes then left. The last shark of this trip was a 2.8 meter female shark named “Kylo.” This is a very active shark who was recently tagged by Dyer Island Conservation Trust. She was a great ending to a great trip.
Trip 2
Our second and last trip of the day began with a short 15 minute wait before our first shark arrived. It’s a 2.7 meter shark that the Dyer Island Conservation Trust also recently tagged with a large bite mark scar below its second dorsal fin. It swam away quickly as a very large 4.3 meter female appeared from the depths. Her name is “Neva” and on her second pass in front of the cage, we saw a large fresh bite mark on her side behind her left pectoral fin and another partial bite on her gills. She hung around for quite some time and was very active, going back and forth between the seal decoy and bait line. It didn’t take long before another recently tagged shark appeared that is 2.8 meter long. It was quickly joined by a very dark 2.7 meter shark and both made a few passes in front of the cage. They then disappeared for a while and a 3.1 meter shark with very distinct black scars on its right side. This shark was very active as well, making consistent passes. “Mollie” also joined us for this trip, a 4 meter long female with white scars on her snout and light marks on the top of her head. “Scarlett” made a brief appearance as well. She too is a 4 meter white shark. She has bite mark scars all over her head and a notch missing from the top lobe of her tail. We also had another 4 meter white shark with a large blue spot on its snout- most likely paint from another boat. We then spotted a 2.2 meter pale shark that did a couple of passes before leaving. Our last two sharks were large sharks, one 3.8 meter with black and white scars on the left side of its caudal and a 4.2 meter shark with white scars on the leading edge of its dorsal fin and on top of its head. The 3.8 meter shark is a shark we’ve seen before and it has a peculiar twitch to its movements. It tends to bend to the left and almost looks as if its spasming when it misses the bait line. While we don’t know what’s causing the strange movements, it was quite a silly site to see and ended the trip on a very happy note. With consistent sharks around, we couldn’t have asked for a better day.
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Great White Shark Cage 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.
