Sharkwatch SA Blog

Guest comments: 

"Amazing! Nice to see you guys are more than just a sightseeing tour!" - Melissa

"It was an amazing experience and the staff is very nice and professional!" - Carmen

"Amazing trip and was great to be able to chat with the Marine Biologist on board!" - Dorothy

10/07/2019

Sightings:  Great White Sharks and Bronze whalers

Location: Joubertsdam

Water Temperature: Moderate

Visibility: Poor

A sunset start to the day with some stunning conditions on sea. We experienced a day of little to no swell and wind as we saw the weather from the previous week continue to decrease. Our first trip of the day launched and had our first shark quickly as juvenile Great White shark came rocketing to the surface. This was the start of a number of White sharks visiting the boat as Shaun, a 3.3m male, and Clampy, a 4.5m female, two well known sharks to us also visited. We also had another juvenile turn up towards the end of the trip as well as a large, female we estimate at 3.8m in length. One exciting addition to this morning was the arrival of what appears to be a new Great White sighting in the bay this season as a male estimated just over the 3.0m mark in length made it's presence known. A Bronze whaler took a few chances throughout the trip, whilst White shark activity was slow, to move to the surface and into view before disappearing again.

For our second trip we once again headed out to our dive site. Barely were our guests getting into their wetsuits when our first shark arrived: our all-time favourite Shaun. Our guests absolutely loved him as he repeatedly visited our divers in the cage. He disappeared towards the end of the trip, but luckily another of our favourites took his place: Clampy. We were also briefly visited by two Bronze whalers, but with two big white sharks around the boat, they decided to look for predator-free waters. A brave Cape fur seal also popped in for a visit. With the beautiful weather and amazing animals around the boat, our guests had an absolutely fantastic time out at sea.

We finished of the day in spectacular fashion, and whilst things started off slowly once the sharks appeared the sightings and activity continued marvelously throughout the afternoon. We saw the same new male from the first trip, cruising slowly from the depths to investigate our decoy, also known as Sally the seal decoy, before a quick turn towards the bait line and off the the back of the boat. The nect shark to arrive was a juvenile female, with da distinctive bite mark to her head and notch out of the trailing edge of her dorsal fin we recognised this shark immediately. She was somewhat of the star of the trip, as she was seen till the end, but throughout she made beautifully slow passes by the cage and portrayed the signature White shark behaviour of sticking her head above the waters surface, this species is one of only a few that are known to do this regularily to investigate surface and above water activity. Clampy and Shaun paid us a visit to bid us farewell for the day as did the 3.8m female and feisty, quick paced juvenile from first trip.




















If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Great White Shark 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.