I was alerted to an amazing event by a friend, Toby Esdar, who was catching crayfish in the area. He told me the water was black with fish, I had to have a look. I raced to Chapmans peak to see just what he was speaking about. I saw shoals of fish swirling in the bays below chappies as a few dusky dolphins and seals lunged to consume them. In particular we saw one pocket that had been separate from the main shoal and was the target of the predators. Jean Tresfon met me there and together watched.
Dusky dolphins work a baitball at the base of Chapmans peak, Hout Bay, Cape Town
Shoals of fish against the cliffs
I called Charles Maxwell and told him what was happening. He quickly mobilized and an hour later we were on the sea and heading towards the action. We found the shoals still in the same location but the dusky dolphins and seals had stopped feeding. The following images were taken by Jean Tresfon
Silver shoals and seal, Jean Tresfon
Shoal engulfs the cameraman, Jean Tresfon
Chappies and the shoal
Summers sun shines down on the shoal
Diving in the shoal
This is what Jean had to say :
” Yesterday at lunchtime I received a phone call from a friend to let me know that there was a lot of bird activity at Chapmans Peak. I drove out for a look and saw a huge baitball of fish up against the side. In the pic below you can clearly see the baitball in the centre of the picture, and in fact the entire dark mass above and to the left is also baitfish. The water was looking clean and we could see a few dolphins and seals smashing through the baitball and grabbing mouthfuls of fish.
I rushed home, grabbed my camera and dive kit and managed to be in the water within an hour of having first seen the shoal. Unfortunately it was too late for any predator action, as the dolphins had left and a few stuffed looking seals were swimming around lazily. Still a baitball in Hout Bay is not a common sight and I jumped in regardless. The shoal turned out to be anchovies and there were quite a few of them. The shoal was probably 60m long and 10m wide and it was incredible just to swim underneath it into the dark shadow and just watch the millions of fish moving in complete harmony. There were also a lot of Hottentot and Galjoen swimming around and I think they were feeding on the injured anchovies. ”
Steve Benjamin, Jean Tresfon and Charles Maxwell. Image by Roxy Towil
Another amazing day in Cape Town
