Guest comment: “Nice staff. Good organisation” – Jessica
“Awesome trip. So cool to see sharks in the wild. Thanks!” – Esther
“Great and awesome trip! Breath taking memories and for sure unforgettable! Would love to come back! Thanks!” – Anna + Mariola
24/01/2017
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 14°C + 14.5°C
Depth: 12m + 12.2m
Visibility: 0.5 m + 0.5m
Number of Sharks: 7 + 9
Conditions: Overcast with patches of rain and southwest to west winds.
Trip 1
Although it is believed to be the slower season for the sharks, we didn’t even wait for half an hour to see the first Great White shark around ‘Slashfin’ our vessel. Our first shark we encountered today was ‘Mini Rosie’, she was quite active and showing off a little before she took a dive and was busy again with her own mission. Our biggest shark we had around the boat today was estimated to be around four meter and arrived halfway through the trip. We had in total seven different sharks and constant activity in front of the cage. And just before we were about to slowly pack up to head back to the Kleinbaai harbour ‘Mini Nemo’ showed up and was actively going for our seal decoy. How blessed we are to see these mysterious creatures in their natural habitat.
Trip 2
The rain continued on from this morning’s trip with a very damp start to our second trip however it cleared quickly and although we may not be too happy in the rain the White sharks really do not mind a little bit of extra water! The first shark was sighted as the divers were getting into their wetsuits and by the time our first group was entering the cage we had three different White sharks circling including the largest of the trip and day, an estimated 4.5m male. This trip was similar to our trips yesterday in that the presence of male sharks was higher than what we are usually used to at this time of the year, so much in fact that all of our nine shark visitors to the boat this afternoon were male. This accurance could be attributed to the cooler water temperature we are experiencing at the moment and for the past few weeks. Amongst these males were two of our frequent sightings at the moment, “Mini Nemo”, a smaller male with a stunted right pectoral fin and “Sellendilloh” an animal that is part of research group, Ocearch’s telemetry program and has been sporting a satellite tag for close to five years now of which the data and information can be seen on their website here. We also had one of our well known juvenile males sighted for the first time since our Winter season last year. This is a small shark known to us as “Dolphin Fin” due to the unique curve to his fin that somewhat resembles a dolphin’s dorsal fin, and is well known and nicknamed after becoming part of our biopsy program in 2015 in which a small sample of white muscle is taken for genetic, behavioural and toxicology studies.
A fantastic morning and afternoon spent in the bay with Gansbaai’s White sharks.
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then 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.
