Alan Tours

GREAT WHITE SHARK VIEWING AND SHARK CAGE DIVING

At a Glance

• Tour duration: Full day trip
• Group size: 2 to 10 people per tour
• Tour departs from: Port Elizabeth
• Price: From R8950 per person

Tour Highlights

• A marine cruise to view and Cage Dive with Great White Sharks
• 7000 Cape Fur Seals that breed on the Bird Island group of islands
• Seasonal Southern Right and Humpback Whales
• Bryde's Whale and Bottlenose Dolphins
• African Penguins

Suitable for those interested in Adventure, Cruise

Details

Cage Diving and Great White Shark viewing has arrived in Port Elizabeth! We are now able to offer a one of a kind, exciting marine safari to Bird Island on the north eastern coast of Algoa Bay as a full day excursion to this amazingly wild place. The day includes seasonal whale watching en route, Dolphins along the coastline as well as time spent with the endangered African penguins that breed on St Croix Island.

We meet you at your place of residence at 6:45 am and drive you to Port Elizabeth's harbour. Here we prepare for an exciting day on the waters of Algoa Bay. After the safety briefing, we set sail in a south easterly direction passed Cape Recife and its Lighthouse.

Our route is designed to take us into the seasonal migration path of the Humpback Whales as they make their way either further north when they first arrive or on their return journey after they leave the northern extent of their migration to return back into the waters of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica itself. These Whales will often be seen breaching, tail and fin slapping or simply cruising passed our boat providing us with amazing sightings of these gigantic creatures.

Once we get into the path of the migration, we change course and head north east, following their path as we set course for Bird Island. It will take about 3 hours at sea to arrive at the islands, taking into consideration time spent stopping to watch the wildlife en route. We set anchor in Bird Island, in the lee of Black Rocks and the seal colony for this is where we are likely to find the Great Whites lurking in wait for any unwary seals. It will take around 30 minutes for the sharks to scent the presence of the boat and come closer to investigate the intruder to their waters. While we wait, we take a light lunch and board the boat. Once the Great Whites arrive, there is a sense of excitement, intoxicated by the presence of these apex predators, we watch, as they circle the boat sometimes coming right up and touching the vessel; there is a focus, a sense of being drawn in, to the primordial power of these predators that find themselves at the very peak of the evolutionary scale.

We spend between an hour to two hours here before packing up and heading back home along the incredibly beautiful Woody Cape dune fields, a vast expanse of aeolian or shifting dunes, as we make our way parallel to the coast to the largest Island in the Bay, St Croix. It is while running along the coastline that we can anticipate spotting a pod or two of Bottlenose Dolphins surfing the shore break along the coast. There is a good possibility of getting some great photo opportunities with these playful marine mammals breaching through the back of the sunlit swells.

We soon arrive at St Croix with its breeding colony of African penguins and in most cases a pod of Bottlenose dolphins. After staying at this island for a while, we make our final run back to the harbour after an exhilarating day on the ocean in one of the wildest places left on this planet.

After getting your shore legs back we board the tour vehicle and return to your overnight accommodation or your choice of restaurant for a meal and the end of the tour.

Note

Please bring along:
• Packed breakfast
• Warm, waterproofed jacket
• Sun protection, hat

Tour includes:
* Guided marine tour
* Pick up and drop off at place of residence in Port Elizabeth
* Packed light lunch
* Bottled water