Daily Blog 22 April 2015 (Trip 1 + 2) | Shark Diving Gansbaai

Guest comment: “Fantastic, enjoyed every minute of it!” – Chris

Surreal experience. Quite stunning to be so close to such a large and legendary animal. Incredible experience of a lifetime!” – Phil

Great fun! Not forgettable, perfectly organized. Thank you to the team, very well done. Worth the dive, even into cold waters!” – Daiva

22/04/201
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 13.0’C
Depth: 10.8m
Visibility: 0m – 1.0m
Number of Sharks: 5
Conditions: Flat seas with light winds and overcast skies.

The tide was going out quickly this morning as we launched, the sky was overcast and threatening to rain yet the bay was flat and calm. Once into the shallows it became clear that we would have some issues with visibility as most of the bay is under attack from a red tide. This sort of algal bloom occurs due to a few species of dinoflagellates and results in the discolouration of the water. Thankfully the sharks were there from the beginning of our trip and were happy to come close to the boat and cage. Our first arrival was a 4.0m female, very clean and calm in behaviour, circling the boat investigating the happenings. This female gave way for our next arrival, our largest of the day, “Maureen” a shark that has been satellite tagged by Ocearch and has been seen to do migrations off the coast line to Madagascar as seen here. Next in line was a very brave juvenile, the smallest we have seen this year, measuring in at approximately 1.4m in length. This little one has been seen around the boat for the last 3 days and has a big attitude that does not match its small stature. We were also briefly visited by “Fishing Line Shark” before the final and most active shark of the day made its appearance, a fiesty juvenile that stuck around for most of the trip. The bird life around the boat generally increases as we head into our winter months and today we had an interesting visitor, a Franklin’s Gull was seen hovering around the boat. This species of bird is somewhat a rarity in this area and it is believed that this particular individual is the same one we have spotted from Slashfin during the season for the last 3 years, a great addition to the day! We finished the trip off with a quick drive by the island. An enjoyable day out on the water…

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.

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