Shark joke of the day

Q: What doe a shark like to watch on tv

A: Anything but Flipper!!!!

A day in the Life of a shark crew member

 

Karen thought it would be a great idea to have some of the crew blog about their shark trips. I asked Robert Jennings, our latest crew member to give it a bash. He gave me an apprehensive look that said " What, who me? Oh No!!"

So without further adieu, here is Roberts first blog.

Yesterday we left the harbour in a blanket of fog, cold and dark. With the aid of the GPS we were able to find our way to Seal Island. Navigating through the fog reminded me of the movie “Dead Calm”.

The sea was calm and oily with just the outboards for company. The faster we went the wetter my waterproofs became.
The sun finally came out just after ten burning off the last of the fog around the island.

We had anchored in section 5 of Seal Island, about 50m from the shore. With the sun out and the guests relaxing on the fly bridge we began to lure the Great Whites up from the deep. Within minutes we had a player around the boat, which stayed with us for about an hour and a half. The guests were well pleased taking photos and enjoying their cigars.

At around 12ish, we hauled the cage in, anchored up and we were back on our way to port. Fifty meters from the port we slowed down to view the first three Southern Right whales, of the season. That brought out more cheers from our guests and the final cigars of the day.

The afternoon trip brought us to tears with laughter, as we had a group of IPL supporters who knew nothing about diving or sharks. Most of the time was spent dressing them up in wetsuits, gloves, boots, hoods, masks and weight belts. When finally we got one of the guests into the cage, he said he can not stay in the water because it is too salty!

The day ended well with them seeing two sharks and eating all the sandwiches and snacks. What they could not finish they took with them. That was the first, till next time.

Pilot Whales stranded at Kommetjie beach

My shark trip this morning was touch and go as the weather wasn't looking so good. I told my guests I would contact them early in the morning if we would go to sea. So,when I woke, I headed off to Muizenberg. Even though the weather wasn't looking bad, the swell was very big, and I was not going to take the boat out.

On the way home, around 7.45ish, I got a call from a paramedic buddy of mine. Pilot whales had beached themselves off Longbeach, Kommetjie. I phoned my crew, and asked if they wanted to assist me in helping out. "Yes, of course", they said, and I raced to my boat to get wetsuits.

When we arrived there where dozens and dozens of whales on the beach. Being still early, there where only about 30 people around. We started to move them back into the water, and getting them to try swim out to sea.

You need to get them with their dorsal fin upright. If they are on there side, they lay on there lungs suffocating. By moving them closer into the sea, we were successful in getting many off the beach.

By now many people where there, all eager to help. There was the NSRI, Sea Rescue, the police, marine biologists,local surfers and everyone gave a helping hand. With more and more coming onto the beach, it also started to get out of hand. Some where pulling them by there tails and pulling them on there side.

The NSRI, and the police cordoned off sections to try do some crowd control. I saw some young girls crying, as seeing these whales die was emotional.

After about 2.5 hours in the freezing cold, I called it quits. I tried to help, but to be honest, most will return and die. Only a handful will make it. No one really knows why they beach? Some say its because of illness, or one is in distress and so being in a close community they all follow suit.

Karen arrived later and took some pics. The dogs being none the wiser, seemed to be having a great time.

A few hours later, I phoned to see what the latest update was. A flat bed truck was on its way to take some whales to False Bay, where they would be taken into the deep sea. A good few were dead, and more had returned to the beach.

We don't see Pilot whales in False Bay. We get them offshore, and have seen them on many of our Pelagic Blue and Mako shark trip. By the looks of it, I think they were short tailed Pilot whales, but don't quote me on that.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

Wanted: New Crew member

Wanted: New Crew member

Rob and I are looking for a new crew member.

The ideal candidate must have boating experience and ideally a skippers licence. We want someone who is confident, outgoing, friendly, and will enjoy interacting with tourists on a daily basis.
We would prefer someone from a Historically Disadvantaged Community, especially from the fishing community, but this is not essential.
If you had first aid training, scuba diving training, and any other qualifications it would be great!
Shark season is very seasonal, and so this is seasonal work. We will be starting our White Shark Trips again from February.

Please send your CV to airjaws@mweb.co.za. Please don’t phone me, as I will just ask you to send me your cv.

Cheers
Karen