Shark Fin and Blue Pointer

This pic was taken by our friend Chris Fallows from his boat White Pointer. I love this pic of the great whites dorsal fin and our boat Blue Pointer in the background

Low season for the Great White Sharks

The sharks have begun to move from Seal Island, and our sightings are down to about 50%. We have had bad weather on and off for the whole of September and it does affect the shark activity. On Friday we did not go to sea, and the trips on Saturday where slow. We had 2 kills in the early morning, but no sharks around our boat. Our colleuges had 3 sharks that day, and so this is the way it goes. Our Saturday afternoon trip was a complete no-show and we will not be doing any more afternoon trips.
We have had some really good whale and dolfin sightings. Yesterday we saw about 50 Southern Right whales, so you could almost say we did a whale watching trip yesterday.

Today has suprised us. I have just phoned Rob to find out how the sharks have been and they are having an excellent day. We have had a shark called "Round Fin", stick around the boat from 9 am and is still there and everyone on the boat has managed to cage dive. Round Fin, is called that for his particularly round dorsal fin. He is a small shark, around 2.5m and we have been seeing him on and off for the past month.
The trip has also seen about 100 dolphins or more, and lots of whales, and even had one whale filter feeding in the harbour this morning.

So it is very much a luck of the draw at the moment.

This month will be the last real shark month for us. We are coming to the end of our season, which brings me to a whole new blog about what we do in off season.

A bad day at the office....ha ha

Here is a typical picture of Rob on the boat, looking some what like a hill-billy. We get some awesome winter days in False Bay, when the sea is calm and flat and the skies blue and sunny.

Yesterday was an awesome sunny day and fickle mother nature was really playing games with all of us. The shark trip was enjoyable with 4 sharks around the boat, a kill in the morning and we did a bit of cage diving as well. When Rob came home, we had a braai (which I think no one can do quiet like South Africans) and the kids were running and playing in the garden.
Today is another no sea day for us, and I for one am wondering where spring is, or has it forgotten us? Its cold, wet and stormy and our two dogs have curled up in the entrance hall, and haven't moved an inch all day which is a jolly good indication of the state of Cape Town today.

Shark Breach taken on Blue Pointer

Shark Breach taken by crew member Jurgen Batsleer Aug 2008

Shark breach False Bay July

Our first Post

Howdy

Our first post, well where do we start?
Firstly we, Rob and myself, Karen own and Run ASEC ( African Shark Eco-Charters). Rob does all the operational side, and I am the one that greases the "cogs", so to speak.
We love sharks and I think the best way for me to explain is to say, check out our website. www.ultimate-animals.com

We are very different from other companies, as our focus is not on the adrenaline-thrill of shark cage diving. It is on showing our guests sharks in their natural environment in the wild and treating these animals with respect. ( We say- Sharks first and not tourists!!).We do not chum for great whites, and we are very big on conservation.

I guess the aim of this blog, is not a marketing ploy, but just to share our passion with you!

Well, that wasnt to bad for my first post!!

Cheers
Karen

The Big Storm that hit Cape Town

The storm

( Hi guys. Here is last weeks post. We had some trouble with the blog site.)

We had to cancel our trips because of the hectic storm that came during the week-end. It co-incided with a spring tide, and so the sea was spectacular. In the pics, I want you to look at the swell in the background. The first pic is of Muizenberg. Normally it is supposed to be flat. Here you can see the waves rolling for as far back as the eye can see. In the second pic, you can just see how dangerous that sea is.
I wasnt able to get some pics of Kalk Bay, with the waves breaking over the harbour, but the sea was as big as I have ever seen before. We are going to try get some pics for you a bit later at high tide. We plan to go to sea on Wednesday or Thursday, after the sea has calmed down and it will be interesting to see what affect the storm has had on the sharks, the predations and the general shark activity around the Island.

Will Keep you posted.
Cheers
Rob http://www.ultimate-animal.com

What a bummer

Today's trip was a completely chaotic. Firstly our driver could not find an address for a pick up at 5.45, and so all the guests having a transfer were late, then the when the boat finally left and was about a 1km from the harbour, the engines started playing up (due to what we discovered was dirt in the fuel lines) and so the boat had to turn around, and head back. Most people were very understanding and we managed to accommodate them on the tomorrow's trip, but some guests were very disappointed, which is totally understandable.

Hopefully the boat and the trip will go smoothly tomorrow.

What to do when trips are cancelled

Well we have had a rough week with the sharks. The lousy weather last week end caused this weeks trips to be really disappointing. Only yesterday did we have a good trip, with five sharks around the boat, two nice predations in the morning and we even managed to do some diving. We also saw Southern right whales and Common Dolphins and so it was a great well rounded trip.

Another cold front came in last night, and so today and tomorrow is another no sea day. During the season Rob and I spend very little time together and so with him being home, I dragged him to the shops. We needed a new vaccum cleaner, as our old stinky vaccum was blowing out more dirt and dust than it was cleaning.
We also have pets, and so even though they are only allowed in our scullery and entrance hall,pet hairs manage to get everywhere, and so I wanted a vaccum that actually cleaned and then blew clean filtered air out, instead of having me sneezing after each use.

So off to Makro we go, and return brandishing Karen's new toy with a picture of a dog and "HEPA filter" written boldly on the box. We start in the lounge, which only has wooden floors and one large rug. How much dirt can one rug hold I think? Well, after 5 minutes, with this brush that resembles a mini combine harvester combing away, my eyes nearly popped out of my head and my mild obsessive-compulsive trait started blinking red lights rapidly in my brain.
I think, if that what a rug holds, I am petriefied to think what our bedrooms look like. So off to the rooms I go with a wild look in my eyes and Rob retreats to the newly spring cleaned lounge with a beer in his hand and a bemused look on his face.
Well, after Rob cleaning the filters and see-through "no bag" container, even he was sold on the vaccum.

So, now I am chilling with a glass of red wine, our toddler and the baby are merrily eating rice cakes on my clean rug and Rob is watching Rugby highlights.....not a bad end to a no sea day Sunday.