Great Whites often sport numerous scratches on their heads, most likely caused by seals defending themselves during predatory events

Peak white shark season, here we come!

It’s that time of year again…

On Thursday, April 5th, it was clear to us on the Blue Pointer II that the great white shark activity around Seal Island is starting to increase right on time for peak season (June-August). We saw a total of seven sharks, which is a great number of individuals to have but what made this trip and this past week stand out is the distinct behavioural changes we have begun to witness in the sharks. They are becoming more active on the surface, which indicates they are starting to come into feeding mode.

The great white sharks start to descend on Seal Island every year around February and March for the sole purpose of feeding on juvenile cape fur seals. This feeding behaviour starts to dramatically increase around this time of year. Not only have the sharks started to become more active on the surface, but also the breaching activity is picking up as well. One day last week we had two hits on our decoy! Natural predation around the island is also noticeably increasing, much to the delight of the seagulls! Hovering and diving seagulls is a tale tell sign of a seal being taken as the birds try to scavenge some scraps, and on board we have been witnessing more and more of this. On Thursday we got to witness a dead seal that was floating in the shallows taken by a very eager white shark. They are here and they are hungry!

All of the crew at African Shark Eco Charters aboard the Blue Pointer II are thrilled that the sharks are now consistently showing more typical predation behaviour. And there’s more good news…False Bay has been experiencing some murky water the past few weeks with limited visibility but the past few shark trips has shown that the water is clearing up beautifully. We had a full 6 meters of visibility on Thursday and hopefully that will improve even more after this weekend’s storm rolls through. Is anyone feeling up for some awesome shark viewing possibly coupled with intense predation behaviour with the famous AIRJAWS  of Seal Island? If so then don’t waste any more time and come join African Shark Eco Charters in Simon’s Town for the experience of a lifetime. Let our passion be your passion!