Marine Dynamics Blog

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What a day at sea today! We had very calm sea conditions, amazing visibility, great sharks and wonderful guests on board. We barely had to wait 5 minutes before the first sharks started to arrive and they were only the start of things to come! The sharks remained with the boat throughout the entire trip. We even had a few celebrity sharks make an appearance, ‘Zane’ and ‘Woundy’ being the stars of today’s trip. One of the young girls, who was only seven years old, was a bit nervous about going into the cage and had told us she only wanted one pass from a shark. After 20 minutes in the cage all I could hear from her was “…just one more pass and then I’ll get out…”, she said that about 20 times :)! What a trooper…

What a day! The water temperature was slightly colder than yesterday and some of the ladies said they felt it, but as soon as the sharks arrived they completely forgot about the water! Our first shark arrived very quickly on the scene however it did not decide to hang around for long. After waiting for a while to see whether or not it would reappear we decided to hoist the anker and move about 100 meters. Then things started to go crazy. The sharks were just jumping like mad all over the place and we could not keep up from which direction they were coming! Brilliant visibility and amazing sharks made today a very successful trip! The wait always pays off…

It was a day of constant anticipation at sea, a feeling of anxiety of not knowing when the shark may surprise us. The sharks kept us waiting for quite some time today and I started to wonder whether or not they were upset with us over something :)! Just as the skipper was about to make the decisions to change locations they showed up in full force. In the space of 15 minutes four different sharks showed up and gave some very close passes! Each cage had a shark introduce itself personally to each of the clients. At times I believed the shark was staring right into people’s souls! The day really and truly ended off with a bang!

This shark fact blog answers why white sharks are called "white" when they are clearly gray!

What a fantastic day it was on the water today. We were once again the only boat out today and it paid off heavily! On our way out of the harbour we were given an air show from our sub-antarctic skuas. There were six of them flying within our grasp which made it very special. In Shark Alley we were treated to several large and infamous sharks, namely ‘Slash Fin’ and possibly ‘Nick’. Slash Fin is easy to recognise by his unique fin, as you can see. He gave several great passes and put on a very nice show for our Norwegian clients! It was very special to be able to see so many sharks in about 5 meter deep crystal clear waters! Very special day…

The sharks have been slower to arrive on site the last few days, but they always love making a dramatic entrance! We were not graced with large numbers of sharks today, however the one shark did stay with the boat throughout the trip and offered a great number of passes. Our giant petrels were playing with fire today once again, they just love provoking the sharks as you can see from the photos! The shark just loved the attention and several guests were able to capture some amazing under water footage Weather conditions were phenomenal and the sea was as flat as a dam! Everyone had the opportunity to work on their tan, even me! Great stuff…

We completed two successful trips today and had many happy clients! It was a very interesting day, not only because of the sharks but because of the odd behaviour seen from the birds! On our first trip we saw a single Giant Petrel, by the second they had increased their group size to about four individuals. They were however not intimidated by the sharks, but rather they were seen competing with them for the bait! These were large 3.9 meter sharks in front of the cage and these birds still stood their ground! The sharks were not as active (jumpy) today and therefore not many out of the water photo opportunities! It was truly a day for the bizarre record books! Got to love those Petrels…

Today we had a rocky start to our trip with our computer crashing! The power was cut off and so the computer shut down! We simply converted back to the old school method of doing things, pen and paper! After successfully getting everyone’s details we headed out to see to find our sharks! At the Dam we were very lucky to spot a massive pod of bottlenose dolphins however less lucky in spotting our local sharks. After a while of chumming the waters at the Dam, our skipper made the call to find greener pastures somewhere else and boy did we find it! We moved our operation to Dyer Island and hit the jackpot! Our waiting paid off with the arrival of a massive 4.1 meter female, who we have spotted on several occasions in the Dam. They other sharks were also large and were very “playful” with our bait handlers, keeping them on their toes! All’s well that ends well…

Everybody was very eager to get out on the water this morning, especially after my “boring” pre-launch briefing and several cups of coffee! We had the same three sharks from yesterday (interestingly enough) paying us a visit today and they invited a friend along as well; the more the merrier! The smaller 2 meter male shark seemed as if it had a jet pack strapped to its back, that’s how fast he was going today! What a rush to see one shark move so fast and suddenly a dramatic change of pace, when a large 4 meter female shark swims passed the cage ever so slowly! Wow, what a day…

 

How many TV shows have said that white sharks can smell a drop of human blood 100km away?  This shark fact blog dives straight into this issue to find out is this true or just another "Jaws fact"?

 

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