Today's great white trip to seal island

We took a trip to seal island today. I haven't been on a shark trip in a while and when Rob said he was going, I was keen to come along. We also took Tamsyn, our new assistant with us as well as our 4 year old Jordan. I promised her that when she was 4 she could come and see the sharks.

The day started out with a very light wind and a bit of a cloudy sky. The swell wasn't bad at all and the run out to the island was very pleasant. We spotted penguins and a Giant Petrel.

Jordan was so thrilled to discover that seals bleat like lambs. The island is very full at the moment, and  the constant cacophony of bleating was overcome by the horrible stench of the island of guano.

We waited around for an hour before the first shark appeared. Tamsyn shouted shark, shark, shark in this voice of amazement and awe. If you have never seen a shark up close and personal the effect on a person is awesome. The shark was a female, and just under 4m. It approached from the bow and lazily moved around the the stern( which is around 4 and a bit metres to give you a picture of how big 4m is).and went to inspect the bait that Wellington was handling.

It wasn't interested in the bait and then turned around and cruised into the depths. A few minutes later Rob shouted shark again and it had taken the second bait that we have below. We didnt get to see much, except a shadow as it swam away. A dead seal was floating by and another shark decided to have it for a snack. It first played with it like a cat plays with a mouse, tossing it into the air a good few times, rather gently I might add.

Another shark around 3m came to inspect the decoy, again just lightly mouthing it before moving to the bait. It was more interested in the tapping noise I was making on the side of the boat. This tapping we have found very effective as the great white is a rather curious animal. The female came again and stayed for a good while. Rob and Wellington had seen her in 2009 shark season. You can see the white band on her dorsal fin identifying her as her "fingerprint".

We returned around 12 as the navy had issued a warning that they where about to do a shooting excercise and we didnt feel like being a target for their practice. We where escorted by one of their boats back to make sure we where returning to the harbour.

PA-Booking Agent for Tourism Company in Simons town.

Must have related experience or diploma in travel and tourism.

Bookings and reservations, arranging  transfers, hotel accommodation.

Direct dealing with guests.

Till point controller / cash ups/banking/emails and admin.

Marketing to guest houses and tour operators.

Must be confident, outgoing ,willing to work  week-ends and standby. Preferably live in area.

Email CV to airjaws@mweb.co.za

PA-Booking Agent for Tourism Company in Simons town.

Must have related experience or diploma in travel and tourism.
• Bookings and reservations, arranging transfers, hotel accommodation.
• Direct dealing with guests.
• Till point controller / cash ups/banking/emails and admin.
• Marketing to guest houses and tour operators.
Must be confident, outgoing ,willing to work week-ends and standby. Preferably live in area.
Email CV to airjaws@mweb.co.za

Beer advert should have had a great white shark

This is a Great Beer Advert. Pity it didnt have a great white shark

A great shark dive

Rob and the crew,

I cannot thank you enough for the dive this morning. I am so thrilled with every bit of how it went, all of the photographs that I was able to get, and even some great video! I wanted to share the photos and video with you - nowhere near as incredible as Rob's and Chris's, but some good shots all the same.

I will remember the dive forever, and can now cross it off my "MUST DO" list. That said, I'm sure that I need to do this a few more times, so I'll be back at some point. Thanks for making a long time dream come true.

photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanders5

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnckIjmkvuU

Jenna Sanders, RN, BSN

Breaching Great White Shark of False Bay

Pic taken by Rob Lawrence

Watch out for those chairs......

Elections and Voting

Yes, we voted. I stood in the queue for an hour and cast my secret ballot.

I wont get into the in's and out of voting and my opinion, as politics is such a hot topic that I am bound to get a million replies, both good and bad.

Rob voted in the evening as we had a shark trip that day. He saw three shark predations but they where in the distance. No sharks around the boat unfortunately. I think if the group had not left so early (they only wanted a short trip), I am sure we would have had sharks to the boat.

Adam, our little chap was wheezing really badly. It got worse towards late afternoon and so I carted him off to the medi-clinic. As there was only 1 doc on duty, we waited longer than it took me to vote. There is only so much you can do to entertain a 20 month toddler before they start causing havoc. He thought that the wheel chairs where great fun and tried to push them around the halls.Thankfully the admin staff had a sense of humour and let him have some fun.

After the diagnosis that he has bronchitis, we headed for home. Being super mom I made the kids supper(omelettes, quick and easy), ordered the kids into the shower with Rob and dashed off to a lecture. Tired and hungry, my course seemed to go on forever...and ever...and ever, and I was very grateful that it was the last night of it.

Today I sit here, cup of coffee in hand and bleary eyed, yet grateful that I didn't have to get up at 5.30 am to go to sea.

Shark Cage diving...No experience necessary

I was going through our website the other day, doing some changes, when I noticed that I had some old information regarding cage diving on it, where it still said you need to be scuba qualified to scuba dive.

You do not need any dive experience or qualifications to use the scuba gear in our shark cages. We keep the dive tanks on board the boat, and we use long air hoses that go from the dive tanks to the diver in the shark cage. This is called a hookah system. It allows you to have a more enjoyable dive without the cumbersome dive gear.

It also means that the non diver can get the chance to dive without having to resort to snorkelling.

New Website

Last year I wanted to "refresh" our website, and stay in touch with the latest trends.
Our web hosts WSI have now completely revamped our website, and I think it looks really great.

Bookings were really slow in January and I was hoping that this would not be a trend for our shark season. Now over the last two weeks, we have received a lot of bookings, especially for June and July, so if you are planning on joining us, please book sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment.

Please feel free to visit our website and comment on the "new look".

T'is the season for snakes

We, ourselves, represent the most ferocious animal ever to inhabit the planet earth.

With summer here in Cape Town, not only do you have to be aware of sharks, but its also SNAKE season. The two snakes that are very much local to our area are the Cape Cobra and the Puff Adder. Both are extremely dangerous and can inflict serious damage if help is not immediately taken.

The Puff Adder is a slow moving lazy snake with a bad temper. This snake you will probably meet whilst hiking and almost stepping on it.When annoyed, it strikes vigorously in all directions and has the capability of a lightning-fast sideways strike without withdrawing the head. Fortunately it often gives warning of its intentions by hissing noisily. It relies on its perfect camouflage to escape detection and will rather freeze than move off. I think that it is a beautiful looking reptile.Here below are pics of Puff Adders.



The Cape Cobra is considered the most venomous African cobra, and is the cause of sudden snake bite fatalities. This snake is aggressive and will rear with its hood spread and advance in this posture if it is surprised or pursued.

Both feed on rats, mice, lizards, birds ( Cape Cobra) etc.

So now that I have mentioned the scary facts on these two beautiful reptiles, snakes play an extremely important role in nature and its really important that we conserve them.Someone as passionate for snakes as we are for sharks is Sean Thomas. First pic is of Sean with a Cape Cobra.He is an amateur herpetologist, who lives just around the corner from us, in Glencairn.(Nice snake territory!!), He has been involved with reptiles for over 22yrs and also does snake tour to teach people more about snakes and promote conservation of them.

Why not be brave and join him for a snake tour? His website is www.seanthomas.net

I think I will!!
Karen

Great White Found dead at Macassar beach False Bay

It always saddens us to hear about great whites that are found dead. This shark was found on Oct 25 2008 at Macassar Beach in False Bay (South Africa).It was a nice healthy looking big shark of 4.6m. There was no idication of how it died.

Trying to get boat maintenance done.

Well after a few weeks away and a long shark season we have got down to boat repairs, painting the deck,checking the wiring and other general repairs. However,it looks like Wellington and myself will have a few days off as a very big Southerly storm is blowing into Cape Town.
So I think I will take this opportunity over the next few days to do some editing of footage I shot during the season.(Note to self:I actually need to get a new computer especially for my footage).

We did one very successful Pelagic trip last week where we had 15 Blue sharks and 1 Mako around the boat. The water viz was not that great, but it was nice to be back in the water and to see sharks again. ROB

Mooove Over

On our way back from the mouth we had to wait for a herd of cows to moooove out the way. The kids just loved the little black calf.

Its hard travelling with little kids, but I think we have little outdoor enthusiasts. Adam thought it was such fun as our vehicle negotiated the sandy roads. He sat in his little car seat being bumped around as if he was on a dodgem car. The harder the bump the more he laughed. Jordan just loved everything she saw, especially the kids. There where an incredible amount of schools everywhere, all in the middle of no where, which is mind boggling. One would think that they would all be at the nearest town or village, not scattered around.

Great pic and planning a holiday.

This is a great pic of an attempted predation. This was taken in July by a friend, Ian Kloppers. It sums up the perfect cat and mouse chase between the shark and the seal. I never get tired of seeing tpics like this.

The last week or so has been great for me, as for the last 6 months we both have worked flat out, and I really have been needing a break. So with no trips, I have had time to catch up with friends and Rob has started to do the off season stuff, like repainting the boat.

As the weather is still very much winter here, except for the odd day which we get blessed with sunshine and no wind, I have said to Rob that I want to go away some where that it is warm. My criteria is warmth, no rain and I want a beach thrown it the mix, (with warm water!) and the usual 4x4 type of holiday that we both love. So with much delving onto the internet, Rob has come up with Kozi Bay, (on the SA/Mozambican border). This is much to my delight, as I have been there before and its one of the most beautiful, pristine places on the earth.
Just one small problem, and that is travelling there from Cape Town, in our SUV with a 13 month baby and a very bouncy three year old. We are just in time for turtle season and If i get to witness these little turtle hatchings racing the odds to get as fast as possible to the ocean, it will be such a thrill for me.
I am going to be looking over Robs itinery just now, and then I can fill you all in on the details. I am getting excited already!

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.

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.