Overview

Marine Dynamics is a collective of award-winning marine entities based in Gansbaai, South Africa – home of the Marine Big 5™. At its core is Marine Dynamics Shark & Whale Tours, offering responsible shark cage diving, immersive swimming with Cape fur seals, and boat-based whale-watching experiences led by marine biologists. Tours directly support the work of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT), which conducts vital research, community outreach, and environmental projects in the region. Guests are welcomed at The Great White House, the hospitality and education hub that hosts tour briefings, meals, and conservation events. The group also operates the African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) – a rehabilitation centre for injured and oiled seabirds, especially the endangered African penguin – open to the public for educational viewing. For students and future conservationists, the Marine Dynamics Academy offers immersive training and internship programmes, combining theory with hands-on experience in the field. Together, these entities form a unique and impactful model where tourism funds conservation, research drives awareness, and education empowers change.

Video overview

Activities offered

  • Diving
  • Whale-watching
  • Eco tourism
  • Adventure tourism
  • Transport
  • Cage Diving

Where we operate

  • South Africa

Where we’re based

  • South Africa

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Charities
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African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary

Website http://dict.org.za/dict-projects/african-penguin-seabird-sanctuary/

Opened in 2015, the APSS is as a custom-designed marine bird rehabilitation center.

We provide temporary care to diseased, displaced, injured, oiled and abandoned marine birds with special focus on the critically endangered African penguin. Marine bird rescue, rehabilitation and releases part of the conservation management plan to stabilize and maintain population numbers.

Rehabilitation is a re-active but important intervention. Every single penguin saved through rehabilitation contributes to the conservation effort, to prevent the extinction of the African penguin. 

Annually we have to remove African penguin chicks from Dyer Island, to treat and rehabilitate at the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary – APSS, while their parents on the island finish moulting.

African penguins go through a season where they moult, replacing their feathers for new ones. During this process the penguins are not “water proof,” preventing them from swimming and caring for their young. If we did not intervene the chicks will starve and the population will continue to decline.

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Dyer Island Conservation Trust

Website http://dict.org.za

The Dyer Island Conservation Trust was founded in 2006 by Wilfred Chivell, a true ocean warrior and the owner of Marine Dynamics Travel and Dyer Island Cruises. A native of Gansbaai, Wilfred knows the reefs, rocks and wrecks along the Gansbaai coastline like the inside of his home. His passion for the conservation of this diverse environment has placed the greater Dyer Island region on the international map.

Our operational model:

Our primary partners, Marine Dynamics & Dyer Island Cruises, provide the trust with significant funding and the operational platform from which the Trust operates.

Donations from tourists who come to view the Great white shark, visit the African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary or join the eco cruises contributes greatly towards our work.

We rely on continued partnerships with business and corporate sponsorships, and special partnerships like our partnership with Volkswagen South Africa’s – For Good initiative to meet our research and operational funding needs.

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