Shark Volunteer Stories

Frank Heinen joined our volunteer programme in August and September. A little bit about Frank: I currently live in Roermond, a medium-sized (at least to Dutch standards) city in Limburg, the most southern province of the country. I have bachelor's degrees in ancient and contemporary political history and a master's degree in contemporary political history. I am a (freelance) reporter and writer, specialized in stories on history, nature and politics. From early childhood on nature and animals has been a lifelong passion. I'm especially captivated by terrestrial predators, reptiles & amphibians, birds of prey, ungulates, cetaceans and of course sharks. The great white shark ranks highly among my favourite animals. The mystery that still surrounds this animal, the power and grace of the great white, a truly intriguing animal. Here Frank shares his last observations with us:
The dreaded moment finally arrived: my last day amongst the magnificent great white sharks of Gansbaai. But what a fine last trip it turned out to be. Some beautiful sharks and a couple of fabulous displays of shark behavior. My last trip ended on a high note, when a very feisty shark grabbed the bait only a couple of inches from the cage and the boat. She even said goodbye with a big slap from her tail, leaving David and me covered in a wet and salty cloud of ocean spray. Luckily, David managed to get some good pictures of various dorsal fins today, very important information for research purposes. Saying goodbye to South Africa, the many inspiring people I met during my stay in Gansbaai and off course to the stunningly beautiful great whites was not easy. In the end the experience even superseded the already high expectations I had before I came to South Africa and highlighted - both on a personal and a collective level (as human beings) - the importance of shark conservation and the protection of all the other pristine ecosystems that planet earth still harbours. I would like to thank (in no specific order) all my fellow volunteers, Julia, Andreas, Rene, Charmaine, Andy, Jane, Gerald, Grant, Mandla, Maoli, Shaun, Abraham, Liz, David and all the other great people I met. Thanks for making me feel at home instantly and making all of this possible. Keep up the good work and hopefully we will meet again in the nearby future.

And the winner is!!!

Past and present clients and volunteers have overwhelmed us with the amazing memories they have captured on film. Working on the boats everyday, we fully appreciate how difficult it is to capture the moment, so we had a deep understanding for just how lucky all our entrants were. Thank you to everybody that entered their favourite White Shark Projects photograph. Lovely moments and stories were captured in the photos! As promised, your photograph could help shark conservation We're going to compile a coffee-table book of the best photographs, giving all photographers due credit. We'll sell these books at our Lodge, and donate the profits to the South African Shark Conservancy. So even if your photo were not the winning photo, your photograph might still be chosen for the book , you'll be making a contribution to shark conservation!
The judges had a tough time selecting a winner, for like always, there can only be one! A big thank you to Dave de Beer and Jeff Ayliffe that has assisted us in the huge task of sorting through all the spectacular photos we received. Dave is the authour of "Hermanus Whales" and a world-renowned photographer. Jeff is a free-lance photographer and radio presenter with Cape Talk.

Prizes First prize: A fully sponsored placement on the White Shark Projects wonderful 21-day volunteer programme. And the winning moment was captured by Ranil Kotinkaduwe from the United Kingdom. The picture was one of a series - I am sure you all will agree that this was a spectacular moment to capture! Congratulations Ranil, we are looking forward having you with us for 21 days of magic photography!


For more of these amazing photos have a look at our website http://www.whitesharkprojects.co.za/photo-competition

Summer Sharks!

This year has according to both skippers been the best February that we have ever had. Every trip has resulted in us seeing multiple sharks in the Jouberts Dam area opposite Pearly Beach. One trip that sticks out in mind involved a 3.5m female doing a full vertical breech 20 meters off the stern for absolutely no reason!! There were no prey items in the area, our visual target (the bait) and chum line which creates the artificial scavenging scenario for the shark was moving away from the boat in an SE direction. Given the fact that we were only in 10m depth of water the shark must have been doing in excess of 45kph the launch itself vertically straight out of the water (thanks goes to Mary one of our white shark projects volunteers who has graduated in physics for this estimate). Only a privileged few saw this spectacle (ah the benefits of getting involved with chumming!), the white underbelly gleaming in the bright sunshine was an awesome sight to behold! It also acts as a stark reminder of how beautiful and powerful these animals are.
This month has also seen some unusual environmental conditions, the water has been as warm as 21 C (the average temperature this time of year is normally between 9-14 C), and on some days the visibility has been nigh on perfect enabling those on board to see to the sandy bottom of Jouberts dam. The warmer water temperatures have resulted in the sharks being more active, and more willing to expend energy chasing the bait. One shark in particular called “Mickey” due to the pattern he has on his dorsal fin seems to relish the opportunity to rush the bait from deep, and on one occasion the bait line had been thrown out for the first time on an afternoon trip and before the bait handler had time to reach down to pick up the rope Mickey had the tuna head in his mouth and didn’t intend to let go!
We have also seen on two occasions the chum line attracting another great marine predator in this area a little lower down the food chain, that predator being the cape fur sea. We had two good working sharks both females and around 3M in length that had stayed around the boat for over an hour when the seal appeared. It swam towards the boat investigating the source of the chum, anticipation grew on the boat with everyone expecting the shark to burst from the depths and predate on the seal. Instead the seal came close to the boat and then it left without incident. The two sharks then reappeared 5 minutes later, given the sharks array of senses there is no doubt that the shark knew the seal was present (and vice versa) but chose not to attempt an attack. On another occasion a seal not only popped up in the chum line and swam to the boat but decided the tuna head on the bait line looked like quite a tempting free snack. The seal proceeded to attach itself to the tuna head and began to chew it!! Once again the seal left without incident despite there being sharks in the vicinity that we had been lucky enough to see on a regular basis. Who knows what amazing sights we will be privileged to on our next trip!!