Shark diaries: February 2008

Blue Pointer shark diary

It has been exactly a year since I started the Blue Pointer shark diary. Looking back at the years’ newsletters, 2007 certainly was an exciting year for us.

The Great White Shark Shop.

We are thrilled to have opened a bookings office and merchandise shop in Simonstown. I will still be “greasing the wheels” from my office at home, but was finally time that we had an official venue. You will be able to grab some coffee, watch our shark DVD’s, purchase shark pictures, prints and clothing and also book your shark trip and other tours of the peninsula and country now in the new shop. We have also placed a pin board up of our past guests/film crew and famous people that have been on the trips, so if you are in the area, pop in and say “hi” and see if you are on the board.

Sharks

February is always a great time of the year for the Blues and Makos shark trips, and this month’s trips have been super. The water visibility was very warm and diving conditions w ere excellent . Mako and Blue Sharks occupy the top wrung of the food chain in the pelagic ocean. The average size of the Makos we see is around 5ft, and they are relatives to the great white shark, and look very similar. The Blue sharks we see are around 3-9ft, and are very curious sharks and afraid of very little, so they will approach the boat with interest. We sincerely hope to continue these trips for years and years, as they are an awesome alternative to the great white trips but we honestly don’t think we will be able to, as these sharks are being fished by long line trawlers by the millions. It breaks my heart to think that these amazing predators will be extinct soon and our government and most other governments just don’t give a damn and continue to happily hand out fishing licenses.

Then, on a happier note, the great white sharks are back at Seal Island. As we have moved into intermediate season, we are seeing more and more sharks. It is still very early in the season and we haven’t managed to cage dive yet, but this is to be expected for February. We have had a few predations and seen the sharks feed on dead seals which have been washed off the rocks at the Island. The nice thing is that even though the shark activity is still slow, we have been seeing Brides whale and dolphins, so that still makes the trips special.

This year we start our new afternoon trips. As the shark breaching and predation activity is mainly a morning occurrence, this trips focus more on cage diving or for those on a budget, and want to see sharks, or those who just want to experience the cage dive with the great whites. The trip starts at 13.15pm and ends at around 4.30/5pm. The cost for this trip is R1000pp. I really think that this trip is going to be very popular.

If you are still planning on doing a trip with us this season, I would urge you to book soon as we are more than half booked already. Remember that we only cater for small groups, thus avoiding the commercial aspect, and allowing you to have a more personal and enjoyable trip.

Until next month
Best Fishes
Karen Lawrence