STARSHIP is now in Gainsbaii. We left Capetown before 0600 hours today and arrived just after 1500 hours. The weather on this attempt was fantastic, the seas were very relaxed, the wind around 12 knots. A pleasurable cruise around the Cape of Good Hope. We averaged around 9.5 knots. Of all the passages I’ve made on STARSHIP today was certainly the calmest. 

On passage we get a chance to catch up on a whole bunch of things including sleep and the little jobs. This morning as we pulled out of the harbour I went up to the fly bridge, which is an open air bridge right above the main bridge. With coffee in hand I had the opportunity to sit and watch dawn envelope the city ... it was fantastic.

Cape Seal with fish.

You would be surprised, but even on a boat like STARSHIP there are still opportunities for solitude and peace. Everyone as I’ve learned has his or her own special space. We try to respect that as best we can, everyone needs some alone time every once and a while.

Our docking in Gainsbaii was a little hectic, the wave surge made it very complicated to get the lines secured. Jean Pierre Botha (pictured right) did us a great favour by putting on his diving gear and securing our lines to a submerged mooring. There was quite a crowd here to meet us as we arrived. On an amusing note, we made the paper in Capetown. The headline read “STARSHIP troopers invade City”, it made us all smile!

Gainsbaii is in many ways the heart of the Great White tourism industry. There are five companies operating in this area. Andre Hurtman is a diver and has been a Great White guide over the last 4 years and has watched incredible growth in the White Shark tourism business. 90% of the time people will see a shark here, the National Geographic article this year really boosted business. Eco-tourism is always and excellent way to encourage conservation and ecosystem protection. This shark-watching industry is about to become regulated much like the whale watching industry. 

Dyers Island is the home to approximately 55,000 seals and a number of endangered species. Dyers Island is two masses 2 hectors and 22 hectors respectively. The sharks patrol the waters off the island looking for individual seals swimming alone. Apparently sharks will not attack a group of seals as there is a danger the seals will turn on the shark. Andre says that each shark seems to have an individual hunting style. Some will attack and take a seal in one go while others will attack repeatedly, waiting for the animal to die before consuming it. Seals will fight back and they do on occasion get away from a shark. The seals have a slight advantage that they can be much more manoeuvrable and twist themselves out of the way. This of course is only if the seal sees the shark approaching. I’ve been told that the White sharks usually attack with tremendous speed and vigour. According to Andre you can spot the aggressive sharks because they are more likely to approach the bait from a boat and tend to have more scars. 

Seal colony.

STARSHIP is a buzz of activity right now, this expedition is going to be fascinating. There are many interesting people here participating with us. Over the next few days you will be meeting them and together we will be learning a great deal about this region, its wildlife and its culture. 

Tomorrow we are looking forward to getting right into the White Shark exploration using STARSHIP as our study base.

Fair winds, calm seas

Brady