Marine Dynamics Blog

Tag: Hagfish

Full day today with three trips but it only gives us a chance to stay out at sea longer and spend more time with our beloved sharks!

After an early launch, we dropped the cage into the water just as the sun began to rise…

The conditions may have not been the best today for those above water but it didn’t faze those big fish that we had headed out to see at all…

We are once again back at sea to our own delight and the delight of our many shark enthusiasts the world over…

A very chilly start to today’s first trip, it’s always a good idea to bring something warm with just in case…

Despite the fact that the water temperature had dropped by 3 degrees, there was still an amazing time to be had both in and out of the water. Both trips had a combination of large and even larger sharks today, which offered some tremendous heart stopping moments!

We had a lovely early start to today’s trip! The reason for the early morning is not only because we love to start things on a good note, but because we are expecting a cold front to move in later today! I think initially the sharks were a bit slow a first but they definitely got a boost of energy later on as you can see in the photos! We had several sharks around the 4 meter margin; however there was the one large female that just kept giving us some tremendous poses! A hagfish did offer some entertainment for those on the boat and left some nervous faces on those in the cage, even though I told them it was harmless. At the end of our trip one could feel the chill in the air and the wind starting to pick up. Perfect timing to end our day…

What a day! We witnessed two or three full breaches on the decoy, that was truly incredible! Our first trip had a wonderful family from Spain and they enjoyed the dive a lot! Both young and not so young were having a good time! We had one shark on our second trip with some massive scaring from an apparent bite wound! I was very fortunate to have captured it on a photo, have a look for yourself! It was just a tremendous day for photos…

Keep the good weather coming; unfortunately the weather is not as constant as our friends the sharks! I predict that the warm conditions might fluctuate again over the next few days; nonetheless this will not hamper our shark activity I only recommend packing in that extra jacket of yours for the trip! We had two trips today with both trips offering high yields of shark numbers. At times you didn’t know on which shark to focus when you were under water, that’s how abundant they were today. Our first trip had a very international cliental with guests all the way from New Zealand to Lebanon to Holland and Brazil! It just goes to show that everyone has a special place in their heart for sharks, regardless from which background you are! Our second group of guests were a bunch of young lads from the UK on a rugby tour of South Africa! If these guys thought our rugby players were big, they were very surprise to see how big our Great White Sharks could be. We had several sharks that were over the 4 meter mark and 3 different satellite tagged sharks around the boat today. I think these kids have some amazing memories to take home to their friends and family! I’m glad we could help out…

The weather today was an added bonus to the phenomenal shark viewing! I am pretty sure that everyone left the boat with a tan today. We had some great sightings of other animals today, there was a hagfish at the back of the boat and it did venture into the cage at times! Giving some of our guests quite a fright :)! The highlight of today’s trip must have been “Kevin”, a small Cape Cormorant who thought he was a super hero! This bird had absolutely no fear of the massive 4.5 meter sharks that were around the cage today, he made a game of chasing the sharks around the boat! This bird also came into the cage on several occasions in order to see what our guests were doing, a truly fascinating individual. A White morph Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus) was spotted on the horizon and it was noted that the bird was injured. We promptly dispatched our sister company Dyer Island Cruises to the area and they were able to save the bird! We had two very large sharks today of which “Slash fin” was one of them; he however did not come close to the cage today but rather remained at a distance. A real entertaining day…

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