We’ve had an exciting couple of months at Ocean Odyssey with some wonderful whale and dolphin sightings.

On Wednesday 7th March we travelled over to Noetzie and the excitement began to build as we spotted a whale’s blow.  Shortly afterwards another blow appeared, then another, then another… Before we knew it we were surrounded by Bryde’s whales.  Bryde’s whales are a slender species of rorqual whale, measuring around 15m in length.  They are resident in our waters and we spot them on about 70% of cruises all year around.

Soon, gannets were flying overhead and we found ourselves right in the middle of a feeding frenzy with gannets dive bombing for fish all around us, and Bryde’s whales sweeping through the water, mouths open as they scooped up fish.

The whales were coming right along side the boat, even swimming underneath us.  As one whale approached, the skipper got a good view of a white flash on its pectoral fin, this one wasn’t a Bryde’s whale this was a minke whale!  The minke whale is smaller than the Bryde’s whale, measuring around 9m in length.  They are resident along the South African coastline, but sightings of minke whales are much less frequent than Bryde’s whale sightings.

We were privileged to have regular sightings of common dolphin, with group sizes of up to 2000.  Let’s not forget the sightings of humpback dolphins.  Usually found in small groups (5-8 individuals) the humpback dolphin is believed to be an endangered species. We’re fortunate in Knysna to have a resident group in Buffalo Bay that we see on over 80% of cruises.

During April we had an amazing sighting over around 200 penguins floating on ocean.  We see penguins fairly regularly on the boat, but usually they’re alone or in small groups of up to ten so to see two hundred of them together was fantastic.

We look forward to welcoming the humpback whales back soon as they travel past Knysna on their way to the warmer waters of Mozambique to mate and calf.