Privacy & cookies

Who we are

This website is run by Captain Jacks Boat Charters, a boat-based whale, dolphin and seal watching operator at Ticket Office #4, Hout Bay Harbour, Cape Town, 7806. Under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA), we are the responsible party for the personal information you give us.

Questions or requests about your information go to our Information Officer at info@captainjacks.co.za or +27 (0)60 894 0029.

What we collect

When you send an enquiry or a booking request on this site, we collect what you type into the form:

• your name, email address and (if you give it) phone number
• the trip, date, time and number of adults and children you’re asking about
• how you’d prefer to pay, and anything you write in the message box

We do not take card or banking details on this website. If you choose a payment link, payment is handled on our payment provider’s secure page, and we never see your card number.

Like every website, our host’s servers automatically record basic technical details of each visit (your IP address, browser type and the pages requested) to keep the site running and secure. To stop spam, the forms briefly keep a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address for ten minutes; the raw address is not stored.

When you come aboard, we also ask for an indemnity form (signed by a parent or guardian for anyone under 18) and may ask for an emergency contact. That paper or office record is covered by this policy too.

How we use it

• to answer your enquiry and confirm, change or cancel your booking
• to send you a copy of your request and, later, payment and trip details
• to contact you about the weather, if the sea forces us to move or cancel your trip
• for passenger safety and the records maritime law requires us to keep
• to keep accounting records required by tax law

We process your information because you asked us to (to take steps towards and carry out your booking), because the law requires it, or with your consent. We do not send marketing. If you ask us for sea-life alerts, we use your number or email only for those alerts, and you can opt out at any time by replying “stop” or contacting us. We never sell your information.

Who we share it with

Only with the service providers who help us run the website and our bookings, and only what they need:

• Our website host, which stores the site and its server logs.
• Webnova, our web developer, whose mail server delivers form submissions to our inbox and who may see them while maintaining the site.
• Our email provider, which holds our inbox.
• Our payment provider, only if you choose a payment link.
• Google reCAPTCHA, which checks that form submissions come from a person (see Cookies).

These providers act on our instructions and must keep your information confidential and secure. We may also disclose information where the law requires it, for example to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) or the authorities after an incident at sea.

If you contact us on WhatsApp, or follow our links to Facebook, Instagram or Tripadvisor, those services are run by other companies and their own privacy policies apply.

Information sent outside South Africa

The fonts on this site are loaded from Google’s servers, which may be outside South Africa, so your browser sends your IP address to Google when a page loads. Google’s reCAPTCHA spam check, which runs when you use a form, is processed there too. WhatsApp (Meta) also processes messages outside South Africa. These providers are subject to data-protection laws or agreements that give protection comparable to POPIA, as POPIA section 72 requires.

How long we keep it

• Enquiries that don’t become a booking: up to 12 months, then deleted.
• Bookings and payment records: five years, as tax law requires.
• Indemnity and safety records: as long as maritime and legal requirements say we must.
• Spam-protection data: ten minutes.

How we protect it

The site is served over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, form submissions are emailed over an encrypted connection, and only our office staff and the providers named above can reach your details. If we ever learn of a breach affecting your information, we’ll tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

Children

Bookings must be made by an adult. We don’t knowingly collect information from children through this website; children’s names and ages come from the adult making the booking, and an adult signs the indemnity for anyone under 18.

Your rights

Under POPIA you can ask us, at no cost:

• whether we hold information about you, and for a copy of it
• to correct it if it’s wrong, or delete it if we no longer need it
• to stop using it, or to withdraw any consent you’ve given

Email info@captainjacks.co.za and we’ll respond within a reasonable time. We may need to confirm who you are first. Some records, such as tax and safety records, we’re legally required to keep.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforegulator.org.za.

Cookies

This website sets no cookies of its own. It has no analytics, advertising or tracking tools, which is why there’s no cookie banner.

Other companies are involved in only these ways:

• Google Fonts. Our typeface is loaded from Google’s servers, which receive your IP address and browser details to deliver it. Google says it doesn’t set cookies for this service.
• Google reCAPTCHA, our spam filter. It loads only once you start filling in a form; just browsing the site never triggers it. To tell people from bots it looks at your IP address, browser details and how the page is used, and it may set a security cookie. We use it only to protect our forms, never for advertising. Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
• Links to other sites. WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Tripadvisor may set their own cookies once you follow a link to them. Their cookie policies apply there.

If we ever add analytics or similar tools, we’ll update this section first and ask for your consent before any non-essential cookie is set.

Changes to this policy

We’ll update this page if what we collect or how we use it changes. The “last updated” date under On this page shows when it last changed.