Africa Dive Expeditions

We had a great double tank dive at Cathedral, where around 15 – 20 raggies were sighted inside Cathedral.  Half of which were males and the other half females.  3 humpback whales sighted as well as a large pod of bottlenose dolphins.  On the 2nd dive at Raggie Cave, 4 animals were in and about the site, with 1 very large male in particular moving around the outskirts of Raggie Cave and a smaller female inside Raggie Cave itself.

It looks like the first few sharks have put in an appearance on Aliwal Shoal with 3 large females at Cathedral and 2 large males inside the cave at Raggie Cave.  This is the start of the exciting seasonal arrival of the ragged tooth sharks and we will keep you posted of more arrivals.

After the huge south westerly, which caused a 2 day of no-launching,we had amazing dives for the rest of the long weekend.  A dive to Cathedral gave us a 3.5m scalloped hammerhead shark which was in no hurry to leave the area.  This healthy, robust male shark seemed to be interested in the surge and motion of the ocean around the Cathedral area, enough to keep coming back in, using the entire water column to its advantage, almost in an aerial display motion of up and down swooping motions.  Fascinating to watch.  On a drift up north towards the Pinnacles on the same dive, we encountered 7 bottlenose dolphins underwater, in no apparent hurry at having encountered divers, even though they had 2 young with them, who were extremely playful with their pod all the while.  On the tiger dive outing, we had the privilege of 2 tiger sharks, one in particular coming in and out throughout the entire 70 minute dive, giving everyone a spectacular view of her impressive size and attitude of knowing that she is an apex predator.  We encountered 2 blacktip sharks on this dive, small numbers in comparison to what is usually around, but nevertheless exciting for all.  A dorado was spotted skimming the surface, heading inshore.

Further sightings for the weekend produced plenty of scorpionfish, 1 raggedtooth shark at Raggie Cave, green turtle, plenty of nudibranches and large shoals of fusiliers, mixed with red fang trigger fish, coachman and large numbers of orbicular batfish.  Incredible dives took place over this time.