False Bay Map Diving in the deep blue sea... few can understand the tranquillity; the calm that the water brings when you fin through the ocean and marveling at its nature. So much of the ocean has yet to be discovered, much of it is in places humans are unable to reach. Driving to Simon’s Town along the False Bay coastal road, you’ll have passed the wreck of the SS Clan Stuart on your left. Her engine block protrudes from the water at low tide, and only the highest spring tides come close to covering it. The steamer [...]

Common names: Great White Shark, Great White, White Shark, White Pointer. Family: Lamnidae Scientific name: Carcharodon carcharias Size: Great White Sharks can reach up to 7.3 m in length (as per the largest White Shark ever caught on camera in Guadeloupe) and weigh up to 2.5 tons. The males reach sexual maturity between 3.5 and 4.1 m, and the females at a much larger size of 4 and 5 m. Coloration: The dorsal surface ranges from dark grey to light brown, while the underside is white. Range/Distribution: The Great White Shark is one of the most widely distributed of all sharks and has been sighted in [...]

False bay is a body of water defined by Cape Hangklip derived from the Dutch for Hanging-rock and the Cape Peninsula in the extreme south-west of South Africa, False Bay is enclosed by mountainous terrain and urban structure. Seal Island - The main breeding site of Cape Fur Seals. There is a small island in the bay called Seal Island, which is one of the main breeding sites for the Cape fur seal. The seals attract many great white sharks and some of the biggest sharks ever seen have been spotted in these waters. These sharks are famous for the [...]

The ocean - what do we really know about the ocean? The Earth has more water than land, but how much is more. About 71% of the Earth’s surface is water and 29% of the Earth’s surface is land.  The ocean holds about 96.5% of all Earth's water.  As we know water can be found in varies forms solid liquid or gaseous.  Water exists in the air as water vapour, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in the ground as soil moisture and in aquifers. The oceans is full of water, the ocean water is not pure H2O, [...]

Plastic in the environment 1. Plastic is everywhere. A lot of it ends up in the ocean. Most plastics in the ocean break up into very small particles. These small plastic bits are called "micro-plastics." Other plastics are intentionally designed to be small. They're called micro-beads and are used in many health and beauty products. They pass unchanged through waterways into the ocean. Aquatic life and birds can mistake micro-plastics for food. Research is being conducted. But there's still much we don't know. Plastic is the most prevalent type of marine debris found in our ocean and Great Lakes. Plastic [...]

Can Sharks Help Cure Cancer? Contrary to the song:”…what is it good for, absolutely nothing” Sharks have surprised us yet again, with yet another reason to keep them around for generations and generations! What is this new reason; well, sharks are helping find a cure for cancer! That’s right, you heard me, helping towards finding a cure for cancer, amongst other debilitating and fatal diseases! Talk about an about turn; from man-eating killing machine to life saving benevolent being! Sharks constantly find themselves having to defend themselves, from other sharks, humans and even prey. The Sharks’ battle tested immune system [...]

Let’s take a peek inside the diet of the ocean’s most feared predator. We know sharks eat other fish, sea turtles and seals, but what else can find in the diet of a beast. Food chains always start with a plant because they are producers. A food chain can only go in one direction. Animals get their energy by eating food. Some animals eat fish; some fish eat other fish. Some animals eat plants; (and in the oceans) some plants eat animals. There is a delicate web of the food chain in the ocean which is heavily relied on by [...]