The sun was shining, the weather was sweet, we hoped we were in for a White shark treat. Racing out we were on anchor quickly and the sharks appeared just as quick, first, the Copper sharks made an appearance and our first group of divers started to enter the cage, as the last few were getting into the water the sighting we had all prayed for showed up… a White shark. This was the same male from yesterdays’ last trip, a male approximately 3.5m in length that we refer to as ‘Feisty’. He was acoustically tagged last year by our team and appeared back in the bay just a little over a month ago, unfortunately, at that time we only saw in for two days before he disappeared.
We were a little worried about his state as he is entangled it appeared to be plastic or fishing line, we hope to monitor this animal and see if anything can be done, for the time being, he looks healthy and his behaviour is phenomenal. The last few months has taught us many things here, after abnormally long periods of no White shark sightings due to the presence of a larger predator, the Orca, we do not launch one trip now without reminding ourselves and guest that we are dealing with something completely unpredictable…wildlife and nature! This being said, we are so grateful to see a White shark, we were absolutely ecstatic to see two White sharks this trip, with a new addition in the shape of a 4.0m male rocketing into sight as he made beautiful attempts on the decoy. We hope this is a good sign of things to come with our sightings, not one but two White sharks. The Copper sharks were still present however they have kept their distance since the arrival of the White sharks, we also had a Short-tailed stingray come by for a quick visit. This trip ended with a cruise through Shark Alley to look at the Cape Fur seal colony on Geyser rock as they enjoyed the stunning conditions in and out of the water!
The second trip of the day started off well with 'Feisty' surprising all onboard with an ambush attempt on the bait line. Before long the Copper sharks joined in on the action and once again that larger male White shark appeared, a male that is now known to be one of our sponsored sharks from 2016 and goes by the name of 'Gaspard', welcome back 'Gaspard', we hope to see a lot more of you! Activity started to slow down a little bit towards the end of the trip with the arrival of a Short-tailed stingray, however, the sharks still continued to come and go throughout the trip making for another fantastic trip onboard Slashfin.
The group that joined us for our third and final trip of the day saw that a little bit of patience goes a long way with a bit of a wait for a White shark to appear, however, the Copper sharks and Short-tailed stingray kept everyone's attention whilst they were waiting.
Location: Joubertsdam
Water Temperature: 15.7°C + 15.8°C + 15.8°C
Depth: 10.0m + 9.8m + 10.5m
Visibility: 1.5m + 1.5m + 1.5m
Number of Sharks: 2 + 2 + 1
Conditions: Slight wind increasing as day went on with an average swell throughout
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