There is a palpably nervous urgency in the porpoising motion of the various packs of Cape fur seals, as they head for their fishing grounds from the sanctity of Seal Island. This is in sharp contrast to the prevailing tranquillity in False Bay off Cape Town’s coastline, on a fine winter’s morning. 

 

On the surface, all is calm and there is
little to suggest that there is anything
to disrupt the serenity of a perfect day. 

 

Suddenly a terrifying finned torpedo explodes out of the deep, and in a furious arc barrels back into the sea with a seal clenched in its razor edged trap of a mouth. Welcome to the world of Carcharodon Carcharias, or ‘Great White’ to his friends.

 

Chris Fallows, a young Cape Town researcher and wildlife photographer, has developed a unique decoy dragging system that has these gargantuan beasts leaping out of the water almost on demand, creating the most spectacular photographic opportunities. Simply explained, he tows a piece of carpet in the shape of a seal behind his boat at a certain speed and in a specific direction.

 

Cameras aimed at the decoy wait for a trailing shark to burst out of the water at 30kph and into their viewfinders. Each day in winter, he sets forth on eco-tours from the Simonstown harbour in his boat White Pointer 2, and frequently plays host to dedicated scientists and documentary film makers like National Geographic, and Discovery.

 

 

 

Lying a scant 5 kilometres offshore is the barren pile of rocks that is Seal Island. An assortment of features has combined to produce a really unique natural phenomenon – the breaching sharks of False Bay.  First up, is the seal population itself, numbering some 45,000 animals literally hunched shoulder to shoulder along the 450 metre length of the island. Add to this a south-western seaboard that drops sharply to a depth of 25 metres, providing a launching pad for the stalking sharks below. They need depth for camouflage, and the distance to build up sufficient breaching speed. Then there are the migratory habits of yellowtail, steenbrass and all the other species including other types of sharks that are the great white’s summer staple, and which move away from the Cape waters in winter. 

 

Finally there is the seals’ need for sustenance that drives them through a gauntlet of death known as ‘the Ring of Peril’, to their fishing grounds further out to sea. With these exclusive factors in place, the resident shark population has adapted its winter feeding modus operandi around a dynamic breaching technique. Although this form of predation also occurs at the Farralon Islands off San Francisco, and in South Africa at Mossel Bay and Dyer Island, it is the sheer regularity and intensity of the attacks that occur on a daily basis in False Bay that makes this the Great White Mecca.

 

Seals definitely believe that there’s safety
in numbers, and for good reason. 

 

Twisting, ducking and diving as they progress in tight groups, the Great Whites find it difficult to zero in on a specific target, and therefore tend to focus on animals swimming away from the pack. 

 

It is dusk, and a lone pup that has not yet learnt the penalties of rugged individualism, is heading homeward slightly behind her comrades. From the depths she is being tracked by a silent, aerodynamically perfect shape, with millions of years of evolution and survival in its genes. 

 

Too late, she recognises the impending danger in the swiftly approaching shadow, and she is blasted out of the water impaled on the teeth of those terrible jaws. In a split second, a traumatic finale replaces the loneliness of the long distance swimmer, as hunter and prey cascade back into the sea in a maelstrom of spray. 

 

With success rates ranging between 50 and 80 percent, depending on individual hunting skills, missed opportunities seldom result in second chances. Lucky escapees seek refuge by swimming just behind the monstrous mouth and engage in a cat and mouse contest of athleticism versus the need to breathe. Very often, the shark will simply abandon a second attempt, unless the intended victim was badly wounded on the initial breach. The island is full of animals bearing the scars of close encounters, and it is surprising to see how these animals survive seemingly fatal injuries.

 

Having been on board White Pointer to watch the filming of a Carte Blanche documentary, and been lucky enough to enjoy several eco-jaunts, the breaching Great White sharks of False Bay are a permanent fixture on my bucket list.

 

Photographs courtesy of Chris Fallows, many of which are
featured in ‘GREAT WHITE and eminent grey’ his sensational
 book recently released in all major bookstores.

For tours contact: Telephone +27 823642738
Website www.apexpredators.com

Roy Watts was infected with the travel bug at birth. He managed to hold this affliction at bay for much of his life by forcing his square body into the round hole of conformity. In 2003, after recovering from Guillain Barre, a paralysing neurological disease, he tossed his briefcase away and adopted a ‘Have Pen Will travel’ credo. This to more fully enjoy his mid life crisis!

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© Roy Watts