Mid March saw the freediving duo of the newly formed Ocean Encounters, 3x World Champion Fred Buyle and No fins dare devil William Winram arriving in Cape Town to a great weekend of weather. We headed out to the seal Duiker Island seal colony were we found cool 11C but clean water. We joined a playful group of 4 month old seal pups in the shallow secure waters near the island.
Fred Buyle with the seal pups of Duiker Island
William Winram with a playful pack of pups
These pups were born in Nov/Dec last year and seemed excited to play with the divers. It was time to warm up with some hot coffee while we searched for the next diving experience. It wasn’t long till I noticed a bird activity and a shimmering water surface a few kilometers offshore, it was a large pod of common dolphins!
Fred Buyle with a pod of common dolphins near Hout Bay
Attracted buy the possibility of riding our bow wave, they surrounded us. A magical experience right on our door step
The next day we headed to pyramid rocks to dive with the sevengill cow sharks. The light NW wind had brought in quite a bit of cloud cover so we dived while we waited for better lighting. The water was a massive 2 degrees warmer but slightly greener. With just about 10m vis, if I looked carefully I could see the sharks swimming on the bottom. The cowsharks did no disappoint with up to 15 sharks being present at the site.
Fred Buyle and William Winram with the Cowsharks
We dived until we were chilled to the bone and once again some hot coffee saved the day.
Considering the difficult ocean conditions we have been having lately the guys had a wonderful gap in the weather and some good diving.
