Guest comment: “We had an amazing time, thanks so much for showing and educating us about the sharks!” – Sari + John
“What a wonderful day. Crew, ship and sharks all performed wonderfully. Awesome!” – The Scholt’s
“Dream come true! Loved it! Definately recommend!” – Loiz + Vanessa
30/08/2016
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 15.9’C + 16.2’C + 16.1’C
Depth: 10.3m + 9.8m + 6.8m
Visibility: 2.0m + 1.5m + 1.0m
Number of Sharks: 5 + 7 + 5
Conditions: Nice day to be on the water, with just a light wind and small swell.
Trip 1
The alarm clocks were set early this morning for a dawn launch from Gansbaai harbour on the cards for the Marine Dynamics team and our first group of guests hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive White shark. The boat made it’s way around Danger Point and onto anchor in the Shallows where they waited patiently for close to an hour before a decision to move anchor was made and the first shark of the day arrived. This was the small juvenile female known as “Taryn-it-up”, whilst her arrival caused much excitement she soon left but luckily was replaced by another shark, a large female known as “Scarlett” due to the mutliple scars found all over her face and head from another shark’s bite. The rest of the trip was dominated by “Scarlett” however she did let a few other sharks come and have a play around the boat, including the juvenile female known as “3Bird”.
Trip 2
The second trip of the day launched and had a nice surprise waiting for them on re-anchor, “3Bird”, still around from the previous trip. This trip seemed to begin with the smaller sharks however by the end one of the largest sharks sighted in the area in quite some time made an appearance. This was a large female very much the size of the cage or larger and very bulky, a interesting addition to any trip and a observation that most will not easily forget.
Trip 3
The last trip of the day launched and enjoyed the sunshine and a curious Short-tailed stingray before the first shark came cruising in. This was a large female known as “Bella” unfortunately she did not stick around after a few passes before moving off but fortunately her arrival also saw the arrival of another larger female known as “Scarlett”, one of Marine Dynamic’s favourite sharks and for good reason…she is easy to identify due to scarring, shows off some beautiful behaviours around the boat and is one that usually sticks around which she did this afternoon. We were also graced with the presence of “3Bird” but prehaps due to the larger female sharks she did not appear for long before disappearing. It appears that the Shallows are holding up to the reputation of being a female dominated site however this afternoon saw an estimated 3.6m male show up and parade in front of the cage for a small amount of time, as if he needed to make sure the male White sharks had some representation for the day.
A beautiful day to be out on the water with some amazing shark activity.
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.
