Guest Comment: “The sharks were cool when we saw them in the water! Fantastic, kind, friendly crew who were knowledgable and helpful. Thanks!” – Corey + Laura
“Extraordinary experience seeing sharks in the water so close! Exhilarating experience, great!” – Julien + Jose
“Excellent and informative! Great team, highly recommend!” – Azhar
13/12/2015Ӭ
Location: JoubertsdamӬ
Water Temperature:”¨ 18.6’C + 18.7’C
Depth: Ӭ10.2 m + 7.6 m
Visibility: Ӭ 2.0 m + 1.5 m
Number of Sharks: Ӭ4 + 11
Conditions: Overcast morning with clouds burning off throughout the day
What a great day to see some sharks! Both trips today started out with a short wait. On our first trip we spotted a shark within 20 minutes of anchoring at our dive location. This first shark we know and we call “Mandy.” She has a large white scar across the top of her back just behind her dorsal fin. She was followed up by a smaller but quite fiesty shark who went after the bait line numerous times. The largest shark of the trip was a 3.7 meter male with white marks on his dorsal fin. The last shark that this trip saw was another shark that we know that we call “Mark.” He’s a very noticable shark with a large notch taken out of the leading edge of his dorsal fin and a slash on the trailing edge. He hung around for quite a while before heading back into the depths. Our second trip had just a 5 minute wait before our first shark appeared. It didn’t take long for there to be 3 sharks around the boat. Some of our clients were very fortunate and actually spotted a breach just off the stern of the boat. While sharks often do breach, seeing one so close was an amazing site to see. We also witnessed a short-tailed stingray chasing one of the smaller sharks past the cage. While sharks do often eat rays, this ray was almost double the size of the shark and it was humerous to watch a shark that is often portrayed as vicious, swimming away as quickly as possible from a ray. During this trip there were 2 sharks that came to the boat that we had actually previously tagged. You could clearly see the orange tags hanging just below the dorsal. One of these sharks is a shark we know very well and see quite often, and we call him “Pieter.” He was very curious and slow today, a bit unusual for his typical attitude. “Pieter” is known for being a bit fiesty and loves to play with the decoy and bait line, however today he must have had a full belly and wasn’t quite so active. He made numerous slow passes in front of the cage, giving our divers a clear view of him. Lucky divers! We also spotted a shark with a hook in its mouth. This hook will hopefully fall out over time, but it shows the impact that fishing can have on these amazing apex predators. “Mark” also returned for this trip, making a few passes before heading off again. He was quickly followed by a very active juvenille shark that was about 2.3 meters. We were very fortunate to witness him do numerous breach attempts on the decoy. Seeing their natural hunting behavior is always a real treat for everyone on board!
