Guest comment: “Amazing day with a great crew. So glad we celebrated our second anniversary with you!” – Marianne + Stephen
“Our first time but so glad we made the decision to join. Awesome and real adventure. Thanks!” – Akash + Swati
“Great day! Exceeded expectations!” – Janita + Claire
21/03/2017
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 13.8’C + 14.0’C + 14.0’C
Depth: 9.2m + 9.8m + 10.0m
Visibility: 2.5m + 2.0m + 1.5m
Number of Sharks: 7 + 7 + 6
Conditions: Flat, still conditions with clear skies.
Waking up early is not everyone’s cup of tea, however there are some things that make the early morning’s worth while, such as the beautiful sunrise we were able to witness over a perfect bay today, and of course, White sharks. We launched out of Kleinbaai harbour at 7am and arrived as the third boat out and whilst the conditions were fantastic we worried that lack of wind may lead to quite a wait for the sharks due to our scent trail not going far, little did we know there was no reason to worry and the sharks arrived promptly. The activity did not stop throughout the morning with exciting views of these beautiful animals for all. We had some of our well known sharks around including the small juvenile female “Dolphin Fin” biopsied by us back in 2015 as well as the large male nicknamed “Floppy” due to the rolled over tip to his dorsal fin. We also had some new additions including a male approximately 3.0m in length with a remora or suckerfish attached to his trunk just behind the dorsal fin. These remoras are not a common sight in these waters and in fact it has been close to two years since I myself have seen one of these hitching a ride with one of our White sharks!
The second Slashfin launch of the day saw a new group experience the same awesome sightings as the first with sharks around nearly instantly and many of the feisty individuals from the first trip coming back again. The new addition for this trip was a female, just over 3.0m in length and with very exciting behaviour. She slowly approached the boat, before picking up her speed and making fantastic attempts and passes before cruising off on the surface, circling and repeating again. This sort of activity is so pleasing for us to see after the 23 day period of no shark sightings in February of this year. It gives us hope that not only are there new individuals still moving into the bay but that the behaviour is increasing and shows that these animals are comfortable in the area.
The third trip of the day continued with the same success with a shark spotted as we arrived on anchor. For the first half of the trip there was only really one shark, the active female from the second trip however due to her amazing behaviour that was all we needed as she took multiple turns by the cage and attempts on the bait line launching herself out of the water. With time more sharks appeared, with a patch of slow activity during our third cage, our divers in the water and guests on board waited patiently and it paid off with the female returning and other new sightings to add to the trip also appearing. The last shark sighting was of the star female of the day, as we moved back to harbour we could still see her shadow cruising off into the distance.
A truly spectacular day on the water. The crew on board Slashfin thoroughly enjoyed and we hope our guests did as well.
If you are looking to get up close and personal with the great white shark then Great White Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai, 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.
