Seal Island is a small land mass located off the northern beaches of

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcat ...

, near

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The island is so named because of the great number of

Cape fur seals The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. ...

that occupy it. It is in area and home to 64,000 cape fur seals. It is also home to seabirds, and it is likely that non-marine species fly there to breed as well . The island is an outcrop of the

Cape granite A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

, and rises no more than about above the high tide mark. The island is long and narrow – . There is no vegetation, soil of any significance, or beach. A

radar mast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation li ...

was built on the island during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

by a crew who lived in prefabricated huts for the duration of the construction but this tower gradually succumbed to corrosion and was blown over in a winter storm in 1970. All that remains of it is rusty, twisted metal. There are the ruins of a few huts and other structures from the sealing and guano-collection era (first half of the 20th century). Some rock inscriptions made by sealers in the 1930s are still evident.

Fauna

Besides the Cape fur seal, there is the

Brown fur seal The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seal ...

, and the dense population of seals at certain times of the year attracts the seal's main predator, the

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocean ...

. Seal Island and the adjacent waters provide rare opportunities for those who wish to witness attacks by great whites on the Cape fur seal and to observe

social interactions A social relation or also described as a social interaction or social experience is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or more individuals ...

amongst creatures of both species. The island has become famous for the size of the sharks, and for their favoured way of catching their prey – a shark launching an attack will come up from underneath and hurl itself out of the water with the seal in its mouth. It has been shown that if the seals enter the "Ring of Death" (where the sharks circle the island) on the surface instead of at the murky bottom, they are more likely to be picked off by the faster and more aggressive great white. Since 2001, Seal Island, False Bay has been popularized by the Discovery Channel series Air Jaws, which feature the breaching behavior of Great Whites near the island. A 2019 sequel, "Air Jaws Strikes Back" names a "second Seal Island", this time located in

Mossel Bay Mossel Bay ( af, Mosselbaai) is a harbour town of about 99,000 people on the Southern Cape (or Garden Route) of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province. Mossel Bay lies 400 kilometres east of the ...

on the southeast coast of South Africa.

References

External links

Surface Pursuit of a Cape Fur Seal by a White Shark at Seal Island.

from National Geographic's web site {{coord, 34, 8, 10, S, 18, 34, 58, E, region:ZA_type:isle, display=title Uninhabited islands of South Africa Geography of Cape Town Atlantic islands of South Africa