Guest comment: “Great eperience – plenty of sharks seen on the day. The Marine Biologist’s comments made the experience very informative which was a nice addition!” – Konrad
“Outstanding experience! Far better than expected. Great staff – our thanks for enhancing our adventure!” – Ed + Norma
“Great experience with a very good crew. Amazing explantations, attention and also…THE SHARKS!” – Jacobo + martin
25/06/2016
Location: Geldsteen
Water Temperature: 15.6’C + 16.0’C
Depth: 15.4m + 17.0m
Visibility: 8.0m + 8.0m
Number of Sharks: 13 + 6
Conditions: Relatively flat seas with a little bit of swell and wind, clear skies most of day.
A stunning Saturday out on the bay, perfect conditions for a bit of White shark cage diving! We were back in the Geldsteen again today and we had beautiful visibility helping to make the shark viewing even better! Not long after anchor we had our first White shark, a small female that has been nice enough to grace us with her presence the last week or so. She is fantastic to have around the boat as she is one of those sharks that stays for the majority of the trip.
The first few sharks were on the smaller size, but then, as if out of nowhere a great shadow appeared and made its way to the surface, once we had a good look at this animal we realised that one of favourites had returned to the bay. It was “Ingrid”, a large female, that appears to have grown since we saw her last year, she also had some new features, multiple parasite attachments, what and where has this beautiful shark been? Something else had changed about her, the most distinguishable feature of this shark is her dorsal fin, like all other White sharks this is the unique feature we here at Marine Dynamics use to identify individuals, “Ingrid’s” fin however sports a distinct injury from what we believe to be a boat strike in 2015 and is seen to be in three segments vertically. Somewhat a nasty wound whenever she was spotted in the area last year, this injury has healed amazingly and whilst it still does have a bend to the tip it looks much better than it did before. Not only is she a favourite of ours due to the beautiful activity she exhibits she also has an interesting past…in 2012, Ocearch tried to attach a satellite tag to this animal however she was deemed incompartable at the time and was realised (nicknamed “Charlize” by the tagging team) but not before an internal tracker was inserted, this means our ATAP stations around the bay and others’ along the coastline can still pick up on her movements to some extent. In 2015 she also became part of one of our studies conducted through the Dyer Island Conservation Trust – DICT in which a tissue sample was taken to allow for further work in regards to genetics, behaviour and toxicology. We now look forward to seeing this creature once to twice a year as she visits our bay and we monitor her behaviour and dorsal fin injury. Welcome back “Ingird”, we hope to see more of you around the boat! We also had another large female around, “Khaleesi”, one of our DICT’s adopted sharks made a short but exciting appearance. Whilst the trip appeared to be dominated by the females we did have two male sharks around, “Bruce” another one of our recently adopted sharks and “Sellendilloh” another of Ocearch’s tagged animals. “Sellendilloh’s” details and movements can be seen on the groups tracking site here. To finish off this amazing trip we headed into Shark Alley to browse the thousands of Cape Fur seals on display on Geyser Rock.
The second trip of the day launched and made a straight, fast line back to the Islands where they were treated to the nice surprise of a shark already in the area. What a perfect start to the afternoon! The first shark to be introduced to the divers this afternoon was once of our small acoustically tagged animals that has been sighted every now and again for the last few weeks and allows us the chance to show first-hand the research Marine Dynamics and DICT is involved in. So, whilst the morning trip was all about the females the afternoon trip took a turn towards male dominance, with three large males turning up, one of which we have known for several years now as “Big Lumpy’. This shark gained his name from a large lump protruding on his left side just in front of the caudal fin. We have seen two animals in the past with such a feature, the other is a small but feisty female, “Little Lumpy” with the same mark in the same area but on the other side of her body. We are unsure exactly how these cone-shaped lumps came to be, possibly a healed wound or unknown growth. A great sighting for us as he has only been seen once during a trip this year.
Another successful, stunning and surprising day out on the water for the Marine Dynamics team and our “fintastic” visitors, filled with a number of famed and adored White sharks!
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