Beach – Page 19 – Learn to Dive Today Blog

Skipper’s notes on a great white shark encounter

I would never consider myself an expert on wild animals, but I have been diving for a while and no matter how long you spend underwater or on the water, every day can bring something new to look at. We had a very interesting experience on Saturday 14 September at one of our local dive sites. The Clan Stuart, an inshore wreck in 10 metres of water about 100 metres offshore, can be dived as a shore entry as well as a boat dive. Our group were all very experienced and mostly in their forties and fifties. Diving the wreck from the beach requires a challenging climb over the train tracks as well as a rock embankment plus a trip through the shore break. It is not for everyone, so we offer this site as a boat dive.

I took this photo of the Clan Stuart engine block while the divers were kitting up on the boat

The conditions were good. The water temperature was 15 degrees, visibility 6-8 metres and there was a manageable 2-3 metre swell (it wouldn’t have been manageable if we’d done it as a shore entry). The divers rolled into the water and head over the stern of the wreck. From our boat you dive with a buoy and a reel or you stay at home. There is far too much boat traffic in Cape Town to dive any other way. I always stay very close to the the divers in the first few minutes to ensure I can attend to problems quickly.

Five to seven minutes into the dive the buoy turned sharply and headed for shore at quite a pace. I moved in a little closer and a white shark surfaced perhaps 10 metres in front of the boat and about 10 metres behind the divers. It then disappeared briefly and came back heading for the divers. I started to head towards the shark to get between it and the divers, but it swam straight for them and simply swam through the group.

It then turned and came towards the boat and surfaced again, and I tossed a weight at it, not really knowing if it would help. The shark went below the boat and I never saw it again. By this time the group had reached the shallows and two of the group, Christo and Craig, were busy getting the others out of the water. I then went back to the jetty, left the boat there and drove to pick them up assisted by Clare as we were not getting six divers with kit into either of our cars.

As with any such interesting experience there are always a lot of helpful and insightful questions, comments and observations.

The first question posed to me was from the Divemaster, Craig. Did they do the right thing? Most definitely. I think he and Christo made an excellent decision in a very stressful situation. In our briefings I always touch lightly on the recommended course of action if you see a shark or any other large wild animal, and between Christo and Craig, both regular divers on our boat, they followed that plan to the letter. I tell the divers to get into a small group, stay close together, and – if possible – stay on the sea floor. They must wait until the shark has moved away before attempting to swim off in a calm manner. On no account should they surface while the shark is still in the area.

Interestingly, everyone agreed that the shark’s size was between 3-4 metres, and that it was very inquisitive but not overly aggressive. The shark had a fair amount of time to display any aggression as the swim from the wreck to the beach can take several minutes and in fact took a fair while as Christo and Craig kept the group tightly together despite the inclination from one diver to wander off. I asked if anyone had noticed if it was a male or female as I know our resident scientist and shark expert would like that info, and got this response from Christo: “It swam straight at me, I could see both its eyes, and when it was less than two metres away it turned so suddenly that I felt the wash from its tail.”

This comment from Christo impressed me the most. “I have had no interest in seeing a white shark underwater but having seen one I can understand why people find them to be beautiful and graceful.”

Shark Week, Cape Town style

Last Saturday, 14 September, Tony took a group of four Russian tourists (all very experienced divers in their forties and fifties), Divemaster trainee Craig, and experienced Cape Town diver Christo, for some boat dives. Their first dive was an hour-long dip at Photographer’s Reef, in very nice visibility. By the time they were ready to do a second dive, the wind had come up a bit, and they decided to visit the wreck of the Clan Stuart, which is close to shore and relatively sheltered.

The dive site

The Clan Stuart is most often dived from shore, but involves a crossing of a busy road in full dive gear, climbing over a low wall, crossing small dunes and a railway line, and then a scramble over some rocks onto the beach. Then there’s usually a breaker to get through – no mean feat at the best of times. One of the Russian divers has a prosthetic leg, which would have complicated the surf entry somewhat (and ended up complicating their exit slightly).

It should be mentioned that according to the Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay page about the Clan Stuart on wikivoyage, scuba divers have reported seeing white sharks on the Clan Stuart in 2010 and 2011. We did a very uncomfortable dive there in early 2012 during which we were swarmed by white steenbras, behaving in a manner which made us suspect shark presence, although we didn’t see a shark (and we couldn’t get out of the water fast enough). I’ve added the Clan Stuart to my winter-only dive site list, which includes anything near Fish Hoek or Glencairn, and especially Sunny Cove.

The dive

Very shortly after rolling into the water at the Clan Stuart, the divers encountered a curious great white shark, which circled them twice and then swam off. It was not aggressive at all. Tony saw the shark on the surface after it had circled the divers, as it came quite close to the boat. One of the Russian divers, Vladislav Tomshinskiy, had a video camera and the presence of mind to film the shark as she swam past, both times. The first bit of footage is very blurry; in the second, the shark is clearly visible as well as the bubbles of Christo and Craig, who was holding the buoy line. From the footage local shark expert Alison Kock estimates the shark to be 3 to 3.5 metres long, and a female.

Craig and Christo acted calmly, got the divers into a small group, and when the shark had left them alone, swam them close to the bottom, over the wreck and onto the beach, where Tony and I fetched them in our cars. Our Russian visitors were thrilled to have seen a white shark and perhaps would have liked to continue the dive at the Clan Stuart, but we judged it prudent to go elsewhere and they finished the day at Roman Rock.

We notified Shark Spotters, who informed the City of Cape Town and issued a shark advisory. If something similar happens to you, please let Shark Spotters know – they log all encounters between people and white sharks, for public awareness and research purposes.

Why talk about it?

There is always the chance that scuba divers in Cape Town waters will encounter a white shark, but very few such encounters actually occur. Tony almost always mentions sharks in his dive briefings (if I close my eyes I can practically recite the shark bit: “This is Cape Town, and we do have great white sharks here. It’s very unlikely that we’ll see one, but if we do, this is the plan…”). He speaks from experience, having encountered white sharks at Long Beach on two separate occasions. He’s been told by one or two of his divers that talking about sharks in a dive briefing is scary and they don’t want to hear that there’s a chance of seeing one – but ignoring the fact that encounters like this one at the Clan Stuart can happen is short sighted. Both Craig and Christo have heard the shark briefing tens of (and in Christo’s case possibly more than a hundred) times, and as a result had some idea of what to do because they can probably also recite Tony’s briefing to themselves without having to think too hard about it.

Hopefully the example set by the divers on this particular day will provide comfort that an encounter with a curious white shark need not be catastrophic, and show that there are things you can do to minimise your chances of a negative outcome. Also, it serves as a reminder that sharks don’t swim around looking for people to eat. This shark had probably never seen a diver before, and was understandably curious about these noisy creatures in its realm. It wasn’t looking for a meal. All six the divers behaved calmly and with discipline, not panicking or doing anything that would endanger themselves or their buddies. They were also all completely awe-struck by the experience of seeing the shark in its natural habitat, and variously remarked upon its grace, how quickly it turned, the powerful wash of water from its tail fin, and how majestic it looked.

Over the next few days we’ll feature accounts of the event from Tony, Christo and Craig, as well as the video footage that Vlad took of the shark. I hope that this can contribute to white shark awareness and safety in the diving community.

I think it’s a timely occasion to do this, as the City of Cape Town has recently released its annual safety tips and reminder that white sharks move inshore during the summer months. This inshore movement is related to the availability of fish such as white steenbras, and a number of other factors. Sharks are a reality of life and scuba diving (and surfing and swimming…) in Cape Town; an informed community of water users will enable us to appreciate and protect these animals whilst promoting water safety and a realistic assessment of the risks.

What’s coming up?

We’ll have reports on the incident from a few different perspectives. Also, I’ll post the video of the sighting taken by Vlad. I’ll update these links as the posts go live over the next few days:

Newsletter: Cooked underwater

Hi divers

To say it was a busy week is an understatement. It started out with a test run of the worlds first underwater braai device at Miller’s Point, conceived and executed (with the help of a marine engineer) by Jan Braai. The tide was against us but we finally got the unit out to deep enough water and lowered it below the surface. There were a few teething problems that needed to be dealt with before the final attempt on Tuesday.

The underwater braai in all its glory, with Craig (far left) and Mark (far right) helping out

Meanwhile, back to regular diving and on Saturday we launched for a group of Russians who wanted to dive with the cowsharks. Besides the fact they are currently missing, the weather wasn’t the greatest so we decided on Photographer’s Reef and the Clan Stuart. Their disappointment at being told there were no cowsharks was soon eclipsed but the appearance of a great white shark, over three metres long, within minutes of the backward roll at the Clan Stuart. The shark did a few passes and then allowed them to gather their wits and swim for shore. Well done to Craig and Christo for excellent leadership.

There’s a short video taken by one of the Russian divers here. Starting on Saturday we will feature some more information about this event on our blog, so if you’re ever in a similar situation you can hopefully refer back to how others have handled it. If you’re impatient you can read the Scenic South article here. The divers all felt very fortunate to have had this experience, even if it made their hearts beat a bit faster for a while! The other dives for the day, Photographer’s Reef and Roman Rock, were not as exciting but the viz was good.

Craig and Mark wondering what Mark van Coller of Atlantic Edge Films is doing crouched on the slipway

Back to the braai project we went, and on Tuesday we launched from Hout Bay, set anchors, buoys and a host of other gadgets including safety divers in preparation for the underwater braai. In calm and cool conditions we finally sank the unit to the required depth and the man Jan Braai, on scuba, lit the fire, waited for the wood to turn to charcoal, and cooked some boerewors. Once done we raised the unit, he removed the rear panel and ate a well prepared piece of meat. The show featuring this harebrained scheme will be broadcast on Kyknet on Friday 27 September. There’s some press coverage here and here, and a short video in Afrikaans here and an English one here.

Surfers looking like ants on the face of Dungeons

Yesterday we launched from Hout Bay again, this time for a bit of big wave action at Dungeons. A couple of big lenses and a few surfers with even bigger bravado and huge skills entertained us to almost four hours of some of the best surfing I have ever watched. The swell was huge, the sound alone is mind blowing and the speed at which they come down the face of this wall of water is astonishing. If you have not been to watch it is definitely something to add to your bucket list. There are some photos on facebook, here.

Training

We are busy with SDI and PADI Open Water and Advanced courses, Craig is about to step into the world of Divemasters, and summer is on its way.

The weekend and public holiday

Well, Saturday is World Oceans Day and an underwater cleanup event will happen in the yacht basin at False Bay Yacht Club in Simon’s Town. If you have always wondered what it looks like under the yachts moored there, sign up here.

I had planned to launch after the cleanup but sadly I doubt the conditions will be all that good, so I’ll do pool work in the afternoon. Sunday on the other hand does look good and we will launch, from the False Bay Yacht Club. I have a navigation dive with a few students so we will do this at Pyramid Rock and see if the cowsharks are back yet.

On Monday we will most likely do shore dives at either A-Frame or Long Beach (they’ve had several whale sightings at boring old Long Beach lately!) and will launch again on Tuesday. I think Tuesday’s swell and wind will make for a great opportunity to dive Batsata Maze and Atlantis.

If you want to dive, let me know by text message or email!

regards

Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/

Diving is addictive!

To subscribe to receive this newsletter by email, click here or use the form on this page!

A lesson about waves

At spring high tides, Fish Hoek beach is flooded all the way up to the barrier at the top of the beach. I’ve seen the subway flooded with waist deep water at times. One Sunday evening in September on a sunset stroll, Tony and I discovered that watching the waves roll in to the top of the beach when the tide is approaching its maximum is very soothing (if you like the sound of noisy water), and provides a nice object lesson about some aspects of wave behaviour.

When wave trains collide, they interfere with each other. This is mostly in evidence (from our point of view) when reading a swell forecast on MagicSeaweed. The direction of the swell that arrives at False Bay can be determined by multiple storms far out in the Southern Ocean. Waves generated by winds blowing in different directions collide – they interfere with each other – and travel to make landfall far away. The direction and height of the resulting swell arriving on the beach is derived from all the distant winds that combined to form it.

At Fish Hoek beach none of this is happening, except for swells making landfall. What does happen is that incoming waves curve in the shallower water against Jager Walk along the side of the beach. They then strike the wall in front of the subway and are deflected down the beach, perpendicular to the rest of the waves that haven’t curved because they’re still in deeper water. Where these sets of waves combine, we get to see interference at work. Here’s a video of the process. It’s like having one’s own personal wave tank to look at.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQSTgzBWzVE&w=540″]

Here’s some more footage, with very expert commentary by me and Tony:

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzpRwiLYUDA&w=540″]

More about the wreck of the Brunswick

I attended a talk about the Brunswick, which is wrecked off the end of Long Beach in Simon’s Town, at the Institute for Maritime Technology (IMT), in August. It was given by Jake Harding, who has just completed a thesis on the wreck for his Honours degree at the University of Cape Town. Considering that all I know about the Brunswick (even with reference to Shipwrecks and Salvage in South Africa) can be summed up in two sentences, it was extremely interesting to hear from someone who has researched the ship, and examined the wreck for further information.

The ship

The Brunswick was an East Indiaman, a merchant ship that transported goods between Britain and the East Indies. She was captured by the French vessel Marengo in 1805, and brought to Simon’s Town as a prize of war. She was captured on her sixth voyage and was in quite poor shape. Five or six voyages was considered a good lifespan for an East Indiaman. They travelled very long distances on each voyage and were away from their home ports for over a year at a time, sometimes much longer. During the time she was at anchor in Simon’s Bay, strong winds caused her anchor cables to part, and she ran aground. She was carrying a cargo of sandalwood and cotton, which was sold along with the wreck in an auction. Most of it was salvaged, although archaeologists have spotted the odd piece of sandalwood on the wreck site.

She had 30 guns, which is apparently quite a small number – warships of the time would have had hundreds of guns. At the time when the Brunswick was constructed (late 18th century), iron was used instead of hardwood for the braces or “knees” that held the hull of the ship out in its characteristic shape. She was about 40 metres long and 13 metres wide with three decks. Her hull was sheathed in copper, and the drift bolts holding the parts of the ship together are copper and iron.

The wreck

The wreck was officially discovered and identified as the Brunswick in 1993, although her rudder was found and salvaged in 1967. It can be seen in the courtyard of the Slave Lodge in central Cape Town, formerly the South African Cultural History Museum. It used to be covered with copper sheets, but those were mostly stripped off. It’s huge – over 4 metres long, but with all the original fittings it was likely over 5 metres in length.

It’s clear when you dive the site that there’s quite a lot of wreck hidden under the sand, and even in the few times we’ve dived her we’ve been able to see how the sand shifts and covers and uncovers various parts of the ship. The Simon’s Town harbour wall has led to a lot of sediment build up in the area. When the wreck was surveyed in 1994-1995 for Project Sandalwood, a survey done by IMT and the South African Cultural History Museum, they recorded pieces three metres high sticking out of the sand. There’s nothing like that today. Longshore currents also cause periodic sediment build up and removal, and the cryptic little fish called steentjies annually uncover huge areas of the wreck during their mating displays.

According to Jake, the keelson (like a keel strip), part of the copper strap attaching the rudder to the boat, and a large number of iron knees (we have only seen a couple), and one or two pieces of sandalwood are still on the wreck site. We will be looking carefully for these elements next time we dive there.

Boat aground in Kalk Bay harbour

The boat is aground on the beach next to the railway line

Who doesn’t love a shipwreck? The Kalk Bay and St James Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, for one. This fishing boat ran aground inside Kalk Bay harbour over two years ago, and is now apparently a drug den and source of a variety of illicit activities that plague the residents of Kalk Bay. Predictably DAFF, who must make the final call on dismantling or removing the vessel, have failed to act, probably because they’re too busy awarding illegal tenders and going on overseas trips.

Tony and I visited Kalk Bay harbour in a gap between a series of winter storms, and popped down to the beach (right next to the main road) where the ship is aground. It is not in good shape, with the bow half melted after a fire. The vessel is obviously inhabited, with a small laundry line in place on the superstructure.

We would love a new wreck dive, if permission could be obtained from the relevant parties (DAFF, basically) to tow this boat out of the harbour and sink it in deeper water. The example of Malta in this respect is salutary.

In addition to these photos, I also walked partway around the boat and took this video:

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os1fKBRAyOk&w=540″]

If the quality looks totally horrible, please adjust your youtube player to show it in HD or at a higher frame rate… Helpfully, youtube reduces the quality at which it plays back video based on how fast it detects your Internet connection to be. In South Africa, that’s not very fast.

xkcd: Increased risk

Let us bear this extremely pertinent fact in mind, with particular reference to the maps about sharks we looked at last week (part I, part II): Doubling (or tripling, or quadrupling – you get the idea) a one in a million chance – of meeting a shark, say – makes it two in a million, which is still very unlikely. Keep some perspective here.

Stings and things

Box sea jellies (Carybdea branchi) are common in Cape waters, and we sometimes see great swarms of them. They are characterised by a roughly cubic bell, with a single tentacle emanating from each lower corner. The tentacles may be retracted at will (if you touch one by accident, the tentacle shortens), and the jellies seem to extend them further at night – possibly for feeding purposes.

Box sea jelly at Long Beach — Box sea jelly with tentacles of various lengths at Long Beach

It is these trailing tentacles that can, it turns out, deliver a nasty sting. I have swum too close to a box jelly before, and where its tentacles touched my exposed face I felt as though I’d been splashed with hot water (actually not a wholly unpleasant experience on a cold dive). Within a few minutes the sensation was gone, and no marks remained when I came out of the water. On a night dive at Long Beach in July, however, I had a proper experience of how these jellies can sting.

I didn’t even notice the jellyfish as I swam around the wreck, but suddenly became aware of an intense stinging sensation around my neck where the top of my wetsuit meets the edge of my hoodie. We were only ten minutes into the dive, so I put it to the back of my mind and continued swimming. The pain was still there when I exited the water, and became more intense as my skin dried. I rinsed off in fresh water at the beach, and we headed home. The lower half of the front of my neck was an angry red colour with raised white welts. More rinsing in warm fresh water, and then an application of (not joking) some All Stings Considered gel that Tony bought in Durban ages ago did little to dull the pain.

It was a full three days before my neck stopped looking and feeling angry, red and lumpy. Tony reluctantly sent me off to the office – wearing a scarf, lest my colleagues think he strangles me in his spare time. As the sting healed it progressed to looking like a severe case of adult onset acne. We washed my hoodie, wetsuit and rash vest thoroughly to make sure that no stinging cells remained on them, because they can retain their stinging power for some time. Unfortunately not thoroughly enough, because the following weekend when I put on my wetsuit I was stung again, quite extensively – in the same spot on the front of my neck, and also around the back. Time to washing machine the wetsuit!

Fortunately our box jelly is nowhere near as venomous as some of the varieties found in Australia and Indonesia. I very much doubt that anyone has died from a South African box jelly sting. That said, if you’re the sort of person who reacts violently to things and often needs antihistamines, I’d take care to avoid exposure where possible. The NSRI has a fascinating explanation of the stinging mechanism and a run down of some of the treatment options here.

We are actually very fortunate that there are very few ways to get stung in Cape waters. The odds of a sting when one wears so much exposure protection are very small. The other frequent stinging culprit is the bluebottle, which tends to affect swimmers and those strolling on the beach more than it does scuba divers. Don’t hate the jellyfish!

Sea life: Pyjama sharks

A reliable spot to see pyjama sharks (also called striped catsharks) is at the end of the pipeline at Long Beach. Unless raw sewerage is being pumped out there (unfortunately not as rare as you’d think), there is usually a small aggregation of these striking catsharks asleep in the shelter that the pipeline provides.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kFLyKyB6MI&w=540″]

These sharks are mostly nocturnal, and are endemic to South Africa – found in the Western and Eastern Cape. They eat other small sharks, shark egg cases, and invertebrates.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7qUamQqAo&w=540″]

Article: Men’s Journal on being lost at sea

Men’s Journal (I’m allowed to read it!) reports on a Walt and Christopher, a father and son swept out to sea while swimming off a beach in Florida. Christopher is autistic, and his son’s lack of verbal communication and feedback presents an additional challenge to his father as they struggle to survive.

Walt has tried to imagine what that night was like for Christopher. He has imagined it repeatedly, in his sleep, at his work, in his rented hotel suite with the curtains drawn, the empty plastic soup containers on the counter. He has imagined Christopher giggling and splashing, the fish touching his back and arms; Christopher staring in awe at the dolphin snouts and falling stars, soothed by the foam tops of the waves; has imagined the whole night was like this one big adventure, the biggest adventure Christopher will ever have in his life, floating on his back as the water warmed his ears, in wonder as the sounds changed beneath the surface; has imagined that those sounds captivated his son’s imagination, and that since Christopher loves to float and swim more than anything, perhaps he even had fun. And the phosphorescence, the most colorful thing, he hopes it passed his son in a trail on the top of the water, long and thin, sparkling there like something hopeful; prays that Christopher got to see it. He has to believe he did. He can just picture Christopher sticking his hand in the filmy substance, holding it up to the moonlight, slick and shiny and Disney green. In fact, he cannot bring himself to imagine anything else. Walt aches for the day, a day that will probably never come, when he’ll be able to actually talk to Christopher, and ask him about what he saw and what he felt and what he was thinking, how he survived.

Read the full article here.