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Marine Big 5 Safari: Experience Wildlife at Dyer Island from Cape Town
4.4
139 Ratings
Overstrand
Embark on a thrilling Marine Big 5 Safari from Cape Town to Dyer Island. Witness Southern Right Whales, sharks, seals, penguins, and dolphins in their natural habitat.
Embark on a thrilling Marine Big 5 Safari from Cape Town to Dyer Island. Witness Southern Right Whales, sharks, seals, penguins, and dolphins in their natural habitat.
Duration:
10 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Dyer Island Cruises - Dyer Island Cruises operates around the world-famous Dyer Island where you might be fortunate enough to see the Marine Big 5: Southern Right / Humpback / Bryde’s Whales, Great White Sharks around the renowned Shark Alley, Cape Fur Seals, the endangered African Penguin and various visiting dolphin species. The are is also home…
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Dyer Island Cruises - Dyer Island Cruises operates around the world-famous Dyer Island where you might be fortunate enough to see the Marine Big 5: Southern Right / Humpback / Bryde’s Whales, Great White Sharks around the renowned Shark Alley, Cape Fur Seals, the endangered African Penguin and various visiting dolphin species. The are is also home to a variety of seabirds. Our Southern Right Whale Season is normally from June – December, but for the rest of the year we occasionally see Humpback and Bryde’s whales in the area. We have an on-board Marine biologist and experienced crew who promise and educational, life-changing experience.
Upon arrival at the Great White House, coffee/tea and muffins are served while listening to a dedicated safety and conservation briefing. We provide safety jackets and wet weather gear. After a short walk to the harbour we board custom deigned vessel, Dream Catcher and the adventure will commence. After the trip on sea, guests return to the Great White House for soup and bread followed by a debriefing. Quality trip footage can be bought, and you will receive a downloadable link.
A free visit to the African Penguin and Seabirds Sanctuary is also included. Dyer Island Cruises supports The Dyer Island Conservation Trust under which we have a number of conservation and community projects. Please be assured that Your choice makes a difference by booking with us and help to fulfil our dream to Discover & Protect.
If you make use of our dedicated shuttle, we will stop in the beautiful Hermanus. Here you can explore the walkway and curio craft market or have a snack to eat, before heading back to Cape Town.
What's Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- Bottled water
- Coffee/tea and muffins on arrival
- Inflatable life-jackets and wet weather gear
- Warm soup and bread/lasagne after the trip
- Free visit to our African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary (APSS)
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- Bottled water
- Coffee/tea and muffins on arrival
- Inflatable life-jackets and wet weather gear
- Warm soup and bread/lasagne after the trip
- Free visit to our African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary (APSS)
What's Not Included
- Trip footage available for purchase after the trip
- Trip footage available for purchase after the trip
Additional Information
Our operations are based out of Gansbaai, near the globally acclaimed Dyer Island. Here your luck may allow you to witness the Marine Big 5 – including Southern Right Whales, Humpback and Bryde’s Whales, assorted sharks, the Cape fur seal (with a population of about 60,000 on Geyser Rock), the at-risk African Penguin, and various transient dolphin…
Our operations are based out of Gansbaai, near the globally acclaimed Dyer Island. Here your luck may allow you to witness the Marine Big 5 – including Southern Right Whales, Humpback and Bryde’s Whales, assorted sharks, the Cape fur seal (with a population of about 60,000 on Geyser Rock), the at-risk African Penguin, and various transient dolphin species. The region also serves as a habitat to a broad spectrum of seabirds.
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Wheelchair accessible, we can accommodate 2 wheelchairs per trip. Please advise at time of booking if wheelchair assistance is required.
- Excellent crew - one crew member to look after 6-7 guests.
- Please note that the Conservation Fee is compulsory.
- This tour is 2 to 2.5 hours, excluding your travel and briefing time.
Location
Dyer Island Cruises
5 Geelbek Street,
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.4
(139 Ratings)
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Simoneed2
Oct 7, 2024
Best tour ever - This was easily the highlight of my trip to Cape Town. We have a baby Southern Right Whale swim right up to the boat.. once in a lifetime experience. We saw a total of 6 whales, penguins, seals and sharks. 10/10
Review provided by Viator
Corrie_c
Sep 27, 2024
Fun boat ride - Very well organised with excellent communication throughout. Managed to see 3 out of the marine 5 and received lots of interesting information from the on board biologist. It was a bit choppy but that just added to the fun for me.
Review provided by Viator
H5692gmlouiseg
Sep 16, 2024
Stunning - Just a fabulous trip. Highly recommended and so great to see wildlife happy in their natural habitat . The staff were so knowledgable and caring
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cynthia_t
Aug 30, 2024
You amaze - Lovely place. Powerful 4 engines. Very good skipper. Warm soup after the activity was very appropriate. Very good bread.
Review provided by Viator
Chubby228
Jul 25, 2024
Lucky enough to see the whales 🐋 - The trip is very educational and we were lucky got chance seeing 4 out 5 sea animals. People are nice at Dyer Island Cruises, our driver is very nice too. Only one thing you need to be aware is the pick up time from the hotel is over 3 hrs before boat departure time 9 am listed on the web. All of us were picked up before 5:30 am in different hotels.
Lucy
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Chrisbarton99
Jul 20, 2024
Whale watching - Amazing trip. Collected from Cape Town, stopped half way at a lovely coffee shop for a much needed pit stop and caffeine infusion.
When we arrived we were advised that the sea was quite rough.
We decided to carry on and the team looked after us amazingly well providing hot water bottles when people got cold and pointing out whales, birds, sunfish and seals.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elizabeth_n
Oct 5, 2024
Great experience - Was a bit cold and a rough ride on the boat but totally recommended, just bring anti sickness pills with you!! The best part was the seals island and the penguin sanctuary was amazing
Review provided by Viator
Kagisoo1988
Oct 3, 2024
Friendly and knowledgeable staff - The crew is very friendly and knowledgeable on top of that the tour itself helps conservation efforts. Will be coming back in the future to do the shark diving.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mrmrspip
Aug 27, 2024
Cool experience, though additional info would have been helpful - We were extremely fortunate to have great winter weather and sightings the day we went - a breaching humpback whale, a couple brydes whales and multiple southern right whales including a mama & baby. Saw dolphins, seals and penguins as well. Onboard staff was great at sharing information, allowing for photography by all and taking care of the couple of folks who suffered a bit of seasickness. The boat is very accommodating and the provided ponchos were welcome when the boat was moving and/or you weren’t in the sun. While we did see sharks, I was a little disappointed that they were seen only in the context of being baited for a nearby shark cage boat. I expected a little more given Marine Dynamics conservation mission and the proclamation on the website that we would be visiting the “Shark Alley famous for great white shark sightings”. On board biologists confirmed there actually haven’t been great white shark sightings in nearly a decade there so that felt a little misleading. Additionally it would be helpful if the website were clearer on how long this tour takes. From being picked up around 6am from your Cape Town hotel, to the safety briefing and coffee, to the time on the water itself plus the lunch after, mandatory visit to the penguin sanctuary and the return to Cape Town, this is an 11 hour day - we got back at 5p. So don’t make the mistake of planning something afterwards like we did. I will say though that the driver was exceptionally accommodating in dropping people off at their desired locations, even if it wasn’t where they were picked up. So overall an enjoyable experience that could be improved with some updates to the website information.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
707mariannec
Oct 5, 2024
Not Worth the Money - I wish I could give this trip a good review, but I can’t. First off, they don’t advise you that you will spend 3 hours to and another 3 hours back in a very uncomfortable minivan. Then it’s a half hour on the boat to go watch the people in cages chumming for sharks for a few minutes, then cruising by Dyer Island to see the tiny specks that they told us were penguins, then around to the other side of the island to see thousands of seals (ok, that was cool) and then on to looking for whales. We finally happened on one right whale which looked like a giant log in the water. They are very inactive and while we spent at least a half hour floating by it, we honestly didn’t get a single discernible picture. No mention of seeing dolphins was ever even made. Another half hour back to harbor and some vegetable soup and rolls. They do not provide bottled water as advertised but you will get a little mint on board the boat! All in all, very disappointing trip and definitely not worth the money. The van driver, the boat crew and the guide were very good. We understand that wildlife can be fickle but the description of this excursion is way exaggerated.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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