The North-Wester was blowing with full force today, making for some choppy sea conditions however, 7 sharks made it all worth it in the end…
Today offered some amazing shark activity at Dyer Island, the only downside today was the decrease in visibility from yesterday. This was attributed to the presence of large phytoplankton blooms in the water; these blooms are a vital part of the marine food web. However it has a negative impact on our visibility in the water, but luckily no impact on the shark activity! We had an interesting sighting of a shark covered extensively in parasites. Even though these animals often have internal and external parasites, this particular shark was riddled with them. “Zane” made a very abrupt pass and disappeared into the depths and left room for other sharks to make their passes. See you tomorrow…
We had a very constant flow of sharks today, with each cage having an abundance of shark sightings! We had three massive sharks making their presence known; the largest being “Slash Fin” at 4.7 meters! The other two were both good 4 meter sized sharks, it was a day of giants! Even though we had a couple of rain drops fall during the trip it was a very nice day to be on the water with amazingly calm conditions. The guests on board were equally entertaining! A great way to spend a Thursday…
As another action filled day comes to an end it brings me great joy to see how much respect people have gained for the Great White Shark, once the trip comes to an end! This fact was brought even more to my attention just by the visit that was paid to us by one of the journalists from 50/50. It is great to see that these animals are getting the respect they deserve. We were also very lucky to get a view of the “Shark Men” boat which was anchored in the bay; a truly spectacular vessel. We saw some amazing sharks as well as some box jellies which I find to be always weird looking! What a day…
Today gave us the first taste of the approaching winter. We had chilly conditions as well as a bit of wind in Kleinbaai this morning; we therefore scheduled a nice and early launch to avoid the most of it! We had some nice sized sharks today, with two of them being around the 4 meter mark. The one had a very prominent scar on its tail fin, the tip was missing! Everyone had a great time in the cage and the screams of excitement were an indication of that. Even our newlyweds were able to seal the deal with a ‘dramatic kiss’ in the cage. Remember, it is a family boat…
We had lovely weather conditions at sea today, even though we had some cloud cover I can guarantee that our clients worked on their tan. We had lots of bird activity around the boat as well today; it seems they have developed quite a taste for our chum :)! We had a large 3.8 meter female shark putting on a great spectacle. This shark had a massive scar on its left side which resembled a bite from another shark. These sharks prefer their space! Our smaller 2 meter shark was bursting with energy and kept our bait handlers on their toes. What a day…
Amazing, is one of many words that one could use to describe the day at sea today! We had an awesome number of sharks around the cage today and as an added bonus, 3 of the 14 sharks were huge (4 meters). It is always great to see lots of sharks and seeing big sharks are always an added bonus. Once again we had newlyweds on board and I would just like to wish them all the best for their futures together. They all started their futures together on a high note. Today was truly one for the record books! We also had the guys from “Shark men” in the area doing some of their tagging work. We observed them tag and release a shark from a distance. We have our own researchers on their boat observing the manner in which they conduct their tagging methods. Always something new every day with Marine Dynamics…
A really great trip today with the sharks arriving very promptly on the scene! Our visibility was still hampered by the large planktonic blooms in the area, however the sharks new exactly what to do! They were coming very close to the cage and to not see them was impossible! We had two sharks over the 4 meter mark which was a great treat for everyone on board including myself! After all of the amazing shark activity in the water we were greeted by a large pod of bottlenose dolphin on our way back from Dyer Island! A brilliant way to end off our day! There is just so much life in this area, it is very important to keep a sharp eye out at all times! At all times…