Pod A: Mannemerak, Cleopatra, Bonnie and Clyde

At 10h45 we located roughly 500 common dolphin 1NM NW of Seal Island heading in a NW direction. Earlier en route to Seal Island we located a small splinter group of roughly 15 common dolphin 5 NM W of SI. These dolphins were not at all interested in interacting with our vessel and may have been separated from the main school earlier in the day by a previous hunt.

This was our 4th encounter in False Bay with the group of 4 since 2009 (now known to us as A pod) that includes two very noticeable individuals, Mannemerak, the friendly female orca (often bow rides or stern rides) with the bulbous hump on her dorsal surface anterior to her dorsal fin and then a large female (known now as Cleopatra, beautiful but lethal) that has a very falcate fin with a chink missing at the top. Cleopatra seems to be the lead hunter on 7 of the hunts we have seen this group undertake to date. 4 of the 7 have been successful.

April 1991 was a momentous time for great white sharks in South Africa and for that matter all around the world. It was the first time any country had had the foresight to take steps to protect these magnificent predators knowing the importance they played in the eco system.

Since 1991 the popularity of this species as a tourism attraction has ballooned beyond anyone’s imagination and today upwards of 50 000 people come to South Africa to see these animals alive in the wild.

The Great white shark is a mysterious animal and many aspects about them remain unknown. But, with regards to their movement patterns we believe this is largely dictated by prey source and availability. The marine life in False Bay is dictated by the seasons in terms what animals can be found here when.

Apex Shark Expeditions is a company owned by husband and wife team Chris and Monique Fallows, which focuses on providing a broad-based shark and wildlife experience. Going beyond the normal shark cage diving experience, Apex gives you the chance to really get up close and personal with these powerful predators, and offers expedition style packages which are led by some of the world’s foremost shark scientists and field biologists. This means that you have the opportunity to educate yourself about these remarkable creatures which are unfortunately so frequently misunderstood.

We would like to express our sincere condolences to the Family and friends of David Lilienfeld in regards to this tragic event on 19 April 2012.

Our operation, Apex Shark Expeditions, was completely against the Ocearch/DEA (Department of Environmental Affairs) /SharkMen initiative from the beginning. We expressed our concerns to DEA before the commencement of the project. These concerns included the ethics of this type of invasive handling of the sharks and the subsequent wellbeing of those animals that would be handled. We also expressed our concerns of sensitive water users in False Bay and the need to provide communication about the project and possible consequences to water users.

BREACHING SHARK PHOTOS | GREAT WHITE SHARK PHOTOS

Chris did not start out to be a shark or wildlife photographer. Rather his passion comes first from spending time with nature. Of course being one of the first people to document great white sharks breaching gave way to the opportunity of also capturing this incredible wildlife spectacle on camera.
His first breaching shark photos were met with disbelief and also fascination. And the more he saw this amazing behaviour, the more he wanted to be able to obtain these amazing shark photos.

Dear Shark Lovers,

My apologies for the late newsletter. Chris & I have been away in Argentina and then I think the Easter Weekend just caught up with me!
There is a lot to chat about in this month’s news. I do unfortunately start with bad news, that of a white shark that was caught and killed off Fish Hoek bay.
On the good news front Chris & I had a fascinating and spectacular experience watching Orcas that strand themselves in order to hunt South American sea lions in Argentina. And the best news of all is another great month of Great Whites at Seal Island.

Every summer Chris and I aim to try and dive with this normally shy species of shark. Spotted Gully Sharks live in temperate waters and can be found in the kelp forests, shallow bays and off sandy beaches. They are endemic to Southern Africa but are cousins to the American Leopard shark.

PUNTE NORTE, PENINSULA VALDES, ORCA TRIP REPORT
PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA

In terms of spectacular wildlife events I am sure for many of you a number of instances instantly come to mind. In my case Orcas stranding themselves in order to hunt sea lion pups is right up there, even though I did not know much about it.

During the middle of 2011 friends of ours booked an expedition in the hopes of seeing and photographing this unique behaviour. When David told us about it we immediately had our interest pricked and a few weeks later we were also booked!

I must confess that I knew very little about this wildlife event, where it was (other than Argentina) and the circumstances that bring about this hunting technique. I had heard about Mel. He is probably one of the most famous Orcas in the world as he is the only adult male that hunts in this fashion. When you see this footage, it is normally Mel in spectacular action. Chris & I were under the impression that he was the only Orca in this area that hunted and as he is said to be 50 years old we wanted to be able to do this trip before the end of his life.