Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

Seal Island

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Wednesday, 13th February 2008

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars

This small rocky outcrop off the coast of South Africa is Seal Island, which is named for the thousands of Cape Fur Seals that occupy it, and famous for the unique marine drama that unfolds here.

At various times of the year the island’s waters are home to a number of Great White Sharks that very much enjoy dining on the island’s seal population. In fact, the sharks regularly launch themselves vertically out of the water to attack the seals - a behaviour that may be unique to this one place. This is such a common occurrence that you can simply pay $210 US dollars to go and watch the sharks have the seals for breakfast. In mid-air.

This breathtaking behaviour featured in the BBC’s stunning Planet Earth tv series, as well as the Discovery Channel’s Air Jaws programmes. If you haven’t seen one of these shows, make sure you watch this truly incredible clip of the sharks in action on YouTube.

Thanks to Michael.

3 Responses to 'Seal Island'

  1. 1. julian says:

    Shark!! (Google Maps)

  2. 2. Sutch says:

    Video of shark snacking on a seal: http://www.neil4sharks.org/video/video_roblawrencesequence1.html

  3. 3. coronabot says:

    julian: that appears to be Roman Rock Lighthouse, built in 1861.
    http://www.lighthousedepot.com/database/uniquelighthouse.cfm?value=5154

    Anybody know what the red, black and blue dots are around the island?

Leave a Reply

This form will auto-link URLs or you can use simple HTML, <a href="http://googlesightseeing.com">Like this</a>.

Link to specific places either as a Google Maps page or a decimal latitude and longitude written like this: lat/lng:55.949400,-3.200000.

If you've found an unrelated sight that you think should be posted in its own entry then use the suggestion form!