South Africans are avid whale watchers and lots of know the well-known orca pair, Port and Starboard who frequent the nation’s shoreline. They’re each males and are estimated to be about 20 years outdated.
We spoke to the person who named them and has adopted their journey carefully for a few years. Dave Hurwitz, proprietor of Simon’s City Boat Firm within the Western Cape advised us a bit extra concerning the two.
How typically have you ever seen them within the space over time, and the way typically have you ever seen them this 12 months?
Port and Starboard have been first sighted in Lüderitz in 2009. I’ve stored a database of their actions since then. They’ve been sighted a complete of 55 occasions, between Lüderitz and Port Elizabeth (seems to be the extent of their vary). In 2020 (up till 10 July) they’ve been sighted 9 occasions – seven of which was in False Bay.
For the way lengthy have they been coming to Cape City?
They have been first sighted within the Cape in 2015 – as soon as offshore Cape Level, thrice in False Bay and as soon as in Gansbaai. I named them Port and Starboard as a result of one in every of their dorsal fins flops over to the left and the opposite to the appropriate. [‘Port’ and ‘starboard’ are nautical terms referring to the left hand side and the right hand side on ocean vessels].
The best variety of sightings since 2015 has been in False Bay, with 26 confirmed sightings on file.
Have you ever ever witnessed whales killing sharks? How frequent is it?
I’ve witnessed a predation and confirmed kill of a bronze whaler shark (copper shark), two separate makes an attempt on Mola-Molas (ocean sunfish) and harassing a Bryde’s whale.
These animals are undoubtedly specialist shark feeders as actually all places the place they’ve been sighted are recognized shark hotspots.
What’s the commonest whale to be sighted within the Cape?
The primary species of whales that we see in Cape City are Bryde’s whales (all 12 months spherical), humpback and southern proper whales (June to December).
What’s the finest time of the day for keen whale watchers to maintain an eye fixed on the water?
Any time of day is sweet for whale watching, both from land or by boat. For boat based mostly whale watching, we provide two journeys every day from late June till November at 10:30am and 2pm.
From land, I’d advocate a drive alongside the Atlantic Seaboard to Hout Bay, then over Chapman’s Peak and alongside the False Bay coast in direction of Cape Level – stopping at elevated lookout factors alongside the best way. Additionally, the Shark Spotters lookout level on Boyes drive (Muizenberg) is a good spot.
We stay up for resuming excursions and might be providing particular charges to locals in order that they can also get a dose of vitamin ‘SEA’! Come and revel in False Bay, which is at present teeming with whales, Hurwitz provides.
Photographs: Dave Hurwitz