South African Endemic Shark Photography Expedition

Day 1: Arrive in East London and check into the lodge. Once we’re all there, we’ll head out to a local restaurant for our first group dinner and a briefing about the adventure ahead!

Day 2: Our first dive in East London. We will go in search of brown shysharks and lined catsharks which are unique to this area. We’ll probably see some other catsharks too.

Day 3: This morning you will have another chance to see the endemic species from East London before transferring to Port Elizabeth and settling into our second lodge.

Day 4: Today we will dive the beautiful reefs of Port Elizabeth. You have a chance o see many species of sharks against a stunning backdrop of whip corals and hard coral ledges. This is an especially good spot to find leopard catsharks displaying intricate honeycomb patterns that you cannot see further southwest.

Day 5: On our second day of diving at Port Elizabeth, we will head to aptly named Shark Reef which is dominated by raggedtoothed sharks aka sandtiger sharks. We will also dive with many catshark species that live in the area. While on this reef, keep a look out for tope sharks which sometimes show up at this site.

Day 6: We’ll have time for two final dives in Port Elizabeth this morning, then we will set out for Simonstown, eating dinner along the way and arriving late in the evening.

Day 7: Our first day of diving in False Bay. We will probably start with a sevengill shark dive and then head to one of the reefs near the marina; a good spot to look for many different catsharks.

Day 8: Today we will explore the stunning help forests of False Bay. Expect four species of catsharks and keep an eye out for spotted gully sharks which live in caves deep in the kelp forest. After dark, we’ll drop anchor at a spot called the pipeline and look for tiger catsharks and enormous two-meter-wide bull rays that favor this spot.

Day 9: After another dive with enormous sevengill sharks, we’ll head over to Seal Island to chum for Bronze Whaler Sharks. In the evening, we’ll drop in for another dive at the pipeline to look for tiger catsharks. This is also a good spot to find biscuit skates.

Day 10: Weather permitting, today we will head far offshore into the deep South Atlantic to dive with blue sharks and mako sharks. This is a great spot to see lots of big sharks on a single dive.
On the way back to port, we’ll stop at a Cape Fur Seal colony to dive with playful seals and maybe look for a few more catsharks to photograph – they’re so photogenic!

Day 11: After a final breakfast at the hotel, we will transfer everyone to Cape Town Airport for their flight home.

After this Adventure, you’ll never look at shark diving the same way again.