Guest Comments:
“ An incredible experience. Most helpful staff.” – John
“I’m speechless, it was a great experience! Highly recommended!” – Verena
“Great trip guys always wanted to do this and didn’t disappoint. Awesome staff!” – Lee & Louise
06-05-2015
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 16.6C + 17.6C
Depth: 12.1m + 12.6m
Visibility: 0.5m + 1m
Number of Sharks: 16 + 11
Conditions: Some swell out at sea but fortunately no wind and luckily lots of
sunshine
After a day off because of the weather conditions yesterday the crew was ready to go out again and we were curious to what we would find. Water temperatures are still high reaching 17.6C in the afternoon! As the water temperature is still relatively high we spotted quite a few short tail stingrays apart from the sharks. We even had two individuals coming up at the same time, both checking out the decoy. There was a bit of swell today but fortunately there were no strong winds and we got lots of sunshine so the conditions were quite good. On both trips we were very lucky to spot our first shark just seconds after getting on anchor. The first shark to show up on the first trip was Pieter, an individual that we know quite well and that is known for giving the bait handler a hard time making sure Pieter doesn’t get the bait as he can be very unpredictable. The second shark we spotted was the biggest one of the day with a length of approximately 4.4m. The shark had lots of bite marks on her left flank and she had an open wound on top of these bite marks. Might these be fresh bite marks or is it just a new wound on top of old bite marks? The sharks kept on coming and we ended up seeing 16 different sharks. Seeing 16 sharks in just over 3 hours is incredible. But it also makes you realize how small and thus vulnerable the population of Great White Sharks actually is. 16 sharks is approximately 1.5% of the population that we get in Gansbaai on a yearly basis. It is very important that we learn more about the Great Whites by studying them so that we can get the best conservation methods in place. Look up the Dyer Island Conservation Trust and see what they have done in the past, what they are currently working on and what they are planning on doing in the future. Our second trip was incredible as well with some small (>2m) individuals. At the end we spotted a 2.4m shark with a propeller injury on its dorsal fin, hopefully this shark will heal well in the next few weeks so that it may live for many more years.
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Cage 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.
