Marine Dynamics Blog

Winter is clearly on its way, even though it was sunny there was a clear chill in the air! This was however no deterrent for the sharks who arrived on schedule. “Slash Fin” made a very dramatic appearance today and it would seem he is getting bigger and bigger every day, seal meat is the way to go if you want to bulk up :)! It would seem that more and more newlywed couples are sealing the deal through shark cage diving. Congratulations guys and I hope to see you soon again with the new additions to the family! A very special day...

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...

It was a frenzy of sharks around the boat yet again! We were treated with an amazing spectacle of shark acrobatics which offered several jaw dropping moments! We had several massive sharks with the biggest being 4.6 meters in length and they just kept coming! The conditions did increase later on in the afternoon with the swell getting the best of some; however they were all very happy to see the sharks up close. The sightings have truly been spectacular and we hope that it carries on like this for a long time to come! Keep up the good work sharks...

Our boat today had one extra passenger on board; a small turtle which was found stranded on the beach was hitching a ride with us. We were going to return him to his natural environment, the open ocean! After releasing him we carried on towards Shark Alley and towards our cage deployment site. We had a phenomenal day with heaps of shark activity and even some birds with the odd suicidal tendency! A juvenile Cape Gannet barely made it out of the jaws of one shark, but it decided to return and try its luck again. This bird escaped several times and kept coming back! We had several massive sharks today with the biggest being around the 4.5 meter mark, she was massive! Even though some of our clients were suffering from some ‘motion distresses', all of them enjoyed the sharks. Well done guys...

What a day to go to sea…! The swells were up so we took up point in Shark Alley for this afternoon’s trip, however on the way there we came across a group of well over a hundred bottlenose dolphin right next to Dyer Island. Once on anchor it wasn’t long before the first sharks came to check us out. Massive great whites some well over 4 and likely 4.5m in length! Some seemed more interested in the seals than us, swimming through our chum line and right up to the seals at Geyer Rock just meters from us – it was like a Nat Geo documentary right in front of our eyes. Not so many of the celebrity sharks from the trips 2 days ago but we did have our first sighting of ‘Besom’ in Gansbaai, we tagged her in September 2010 and she was in False Bay last year. The tag has since shed but it’s tether is visible and she is recognisable by a pigmentation or ‘rosie’ on both sides of her fin – and the fact she’s massive! We got into double figures and then some, Shark Alley was magic this afternoon. On the way home we found the dolphins again who seemed to be enjoying the surf.

Out of this world and with no limits is how I would describe today’s trip at sea. We were mesmerized by the abundance of bird life on the water with heaps of Wilsons Storm Petrels as well as juvenile and adult Kelp Gulls. We were then treated to a frenzy of shark activity