Every year on the South African coast between the months of May and August, shoals of sardines (Sardinops Sagax) travel north from the Agulhas banks off Cape Town. They swim along the coastline as they make their way up along Transkei and KwaZulu-Natal.

The Sardine Run is a multi faceted spectacle of predators and prey. It is a marine wildlife extravaganza rivaling the Great Migration of the wildebeest. Dolphins, sharks, whales and birds gorge themselves on the sardines allowing the diver to witness first hand a show that will live on in memory for ever.

Copper shark cruising through sardine bait ball - Jean Tresfon

A friend, Jean Tresfon, had been enthusiastically discussing putting an expedition together to go and experience the sardine run from Port st Johns. We wanted a small, like minded team, so we could quickly mobilize in the mornings and have minimal impact on the animal’s behavior in the water. It didn’t take long for us to find six eager divers; we booked a wonderful lodge, packed the cars and hit the road.

This was to be my 3^rd Sardine run, but the first one under my own name, ANIMAL OCEAN. I was filled with excitement thinking back to the sights I have been blessed enough to see and the though that I would be there again. A hint of apprehension lingered with me as I knew that there are no guarantees for this trip.

So many elements have to come together for divers to have a successful trip.

By this I mean that the boats have to be able to launch through the surf zone, the visibility has to be good enough to see and divers have to enter quickly without disturbing the animals. The sardines have to enter the area where we are based and the predators have to find the fish and then form the balls

If all these things happen then you stand a chance of experiencing this madness. Luckily the team knew all this and were prepared for anything. With this attitude you will have a great time.

We ended up spending our week with great ocean conditions and lots of action. We only had 1 day where the ocean was quite. This is however a relative term because we still had many dolphins, gannets and whales with us but they weren’t feeding.

We got to experience many different kinds of bait balls, including one morning were we dived on a ball of baitfish being devoured by sharks and Eastern little tuna. In the image you can see hundreds of little tuna as they shot in to feed. They ate every single last bait fish.

Eastern little tuna and sharks devour a shoal of baitfish on the surface - Jean Tresfon

We found bait balls comprising of shad (Pomatomus saltatrix), mackerel and red eyes (Etrumeus whiteheadi), each behaving differently as a whole. Some such as red eye form loose fast moving shoals that can be hard to follow while shad form shoals that actively seek protection amongst the divers.

Shad flee as a common dolohin enters the water in persuit - Jean Tresfon

Other highlights were seeing so many humpback whales travelling up the coast line towards their calving grounds to the north. It is always a privilege to hear the sound of a pod of whales breathing as they surface or watch as they breach in the distance

Humpback whale breaches

I have tried to describe two of the days that really stand out to me, but Im afraid words fail me. I can only hope to fill in your minds eye with the amazing images that Jean Tresfon captured on his trip with me.

Bryde’s whale mayhem

The day didn’t look good and by 10am we had failed to spot any early morning action. The wind was blowing strong from the North East and the sea had whipped itself into a mess of whitecaps and choppy swells. I had received a call that there was potential action “10km” of shore. I knew that the boat didn’t have a GPS and I couldn’t be certain if 10km was actually 5 or 15 km. We searched unsuccessfully none the less and slowly headed back towards Port St Johns. Luckily we spotted action off the river mouth and we jumped in. Jean was first on this small bait ball and had the pick of the shark action. He took this image as one came careening at him.

Sharks feeding - Jean Tresfon

Another boat arrived and told me about the great baitball they had just come from and where to find it. We beat into the wind and found what everyone was speaking about. As I arrived I saw one of the skippers flailing around in his swimming shorts squealing with glee as a Byrde’s whale surged through a black mass just under the surface. Snorkelers were washing off its back as the head and body broke the surface.

In a heartbeat we were in the water with the swirling mass of sardines. The ball was roughly 10m wide and 6m deep and just being hammered buy a pod of common dolphins, countless dusky, blacktip and copper sharks. And there was a Brydes whale sporadically lunging though. All the animals were unperturbed by the many divers bobbing in the water. The team set them selves up around the action and got to witness first hand the splendor of so many predators feeding on this writhing shinning mass of fish.

Jean Tresfon

Jean Tresfon

Hello BRYDES WHALE !!

Diver and whale - Jean Tresfon

The bait ball marathon

We launched as usual into a beautiful day and headed north. I though it would be best to check the area of yesterdays amazing action, if there was nothing then “oh well”, we’ll search elsewhere. There were quite a few boats in the area as the operators form Mboyti had heard about the previous days baitball.

Gannet searching

I spotted a small pocket of bird diving not far off and headed towards it, I could see another boat rapidly approaching. They arrived just before I did,  I cruised up and we chatted. After waiting 20mins we jumped in and enjoyed this delightful little ball all to ourselves. The action consisted of only a handful of dolphins but I knew that we had sardines and that no one else would bother with such a small ball after the behemoth of a sardine baitball of the previous day.

Boats came and went, even with me inviting them to dive.

After hours of sitting on this one baitball the team was relaxed and happily soaking in the slow but steady dolphin action. I even put the boat on top of the fish so the team could get split screen images of the boat and the fish.

Animal Ocean and the sardines

It all changed at 2 pm (after 6 hours of us diving). It was as if all the predators in the area got hungry and realised that there was a single shoal of sardines to feast on. The sky filled with gannets, the sharks welled up from below and the handful of dolphins were joined by others. The feast had begun.

Gannets feast - Jean Tresfon

The photographers were scratching for memory cards, sucking the dregs of their cylinders and swapping batteries. After an entire day of action the best had only just started. We stayed with this now intense action until the gannet’s glowed orange in the light of the setting sun. The divers came up shrieking with joy. Mark van Coller was ecstatic with the evening light and wore a smile that was larger than his head. We headed in tired and extremely happy. What a way to spend a day.

Setting sun and sardine ball - Jean Tresfon

I hope this sheds some light on the sardine run and our experiences this year, please feel free to post your comments.

I have also included some links to more information and blog posts from friends about this years sardine run

Jean Tresfon Flickr stream

Drew Wong comments and review

Mark van Coller images

I will be heading to Port St John in June – July 2011, if you would like to join me. Please email me and we can plan another amazing adventure.

All the best

Steve Benjamin

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.

Jean Tresfon wrote  – Last week Buoyweather was predicting 5m swells at a 15 second period for Thursday. Steve Benjamin from Animal Ocean called and asked if I’d like to try taking pictures of the big wave surfers at Sunset. Not have done much of this sort of thing and always up for a new experience I thought I’d give it a go. Those guys are seriously not well!!! The waves were huge, in fact so big that they were struggling to paddle into them. A few of the guys caught a wave or two and then they bailed back to shore to grab the tow in boards. Dave Smith and Shaun Holmes towed into some absolute monsters. From a photography point of view total concentration is required, which gets harder as a freight train of white water comes rushing at you. Total trust in the skipper is required and Steve is a master! All in all a very entertaining day on the water…

All images by Jean Tresfon

Dave Smith at Sunset

Simon Lowe Flying down the face

Dave Smith and rider Sean Holmes on a Sunset beast

Sean Holmes at Sunset

Its a beast...Sean Holmes

Simon Lowe

Over the falls....

On February 5th, after another dive with the seven gill sharks (or cowsharks, as they’re called here) off of Miller’s Point, Steve Benjamin (Animal Ocean) took me up to Cape Point at the Cape of Good Hope, the most south-western point of Africa.  Although it’s not the tip of Africa, it’s definitely the photogenic tip of Africa, and Steve and I had a good time taking pictures and hiking up to the new lighthouse.  We saw ostriches and baboons as well!

Myfanwy Rowlands at Cape Point

In the afternoon, we toured the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, which are absolutely stunning.  So much botanical knowledge in one place, it was mind-boggling and academically very inspiring — but to those friends who are all-too-familiar with my vocational ADD,  I’m happy to report that despite the amazing visit I’m still planning on studying marine biology & conservation, not botany.  Although I do have my sights set on marine plants.

For the past three days (Feb. 6-9), I’ve had the privilege of accompanying Thomas Peschak, Chief Photographer for the Save Our Seas Foundation, on an underwater photo shoot here in Cape Town.  We’ve been out every day on Steve Benjamin’s Animal Oceans boat, and it’s been amazing to watch such a high-calibre photographer at work.

Thomas is also a tremendous advocate for shark conservation and a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers;  I would not have been able to come to South Africa if it weren’t for his help in finding experiences in South Africa for me on my scholarship.

Today the swell was up, so Steve Benjamin (Animal Ocean) and I took a group of professional photographers out chasing the big wave surfers at Sunset Reef, a surf spot here in Cape Town with a reputation almost as deadly as Dungeons.  We were out there for half the day, and I was absolutely blown away what these guys can do on the water.  Below is a picture by Jean Tresfon — the surfer is Sean Holmes, one of South Africa’s finest big-wave surfers.

The waves were unbelievable.  Browse below if will, and try and imagine riding down the face of one of these.  Also out there today were Mike Baleta, Simon Lowe, Dave Smith and Mickey Dufus.

Sean Holmes first wave on the tow at Sunset

Over the falls

I wanted to share these images by Kieron Dunn (UCT Zoology honors studant) on Dassen Island. They show the real inhabitants and the stark beauty of the island.

African penguins at home on their island

Kelp gulls own the skies

Dassen sunset

Flocks of terns cover the shore line in the evenings

The beach at Huisbaai, Dassen Island

Leaving huisbaai

Rabbits everywhere !

More often occupied by rock pigeons and rabbits than people

I received this email a few weeks ago “Hello!  My name is Myfanwy Rowlands. I’m currently traveling on a diving and marine educational scholarship sponsored by Rolex and the Our World Underwater Society.  I was hoping to see whether my volunteering with your organization would be a possibility?…….” I had heard of the programme and was very happy and honored to be involved. How could I say no?,a chance to show some one around the city and ocean I enjoy so much, maybe she would be able to keep up!

A little history from the Our world – Underwater society scholarship’s website -
Each year the society awards year-long scholarships designed to expose a qualified young person to a wide range of experiences in various marine-related fields. With continued generous funding from the Rolex Corporation, the awards are now known as the Rolex Scholarships.

For 2010, three Rolex scholarships will be offered: one in Australasia, one in North America, and one in Europe. Each Rolex Scholarship provides a hands-on introduction to underwater and other aquatic-related endeavours for a young person considering a career in an underwater-related discipline. One scholar is selected from each of the three regions and each scholar spends approximately one year working side by side with current leaders in underwater fields. Each scholar travels primarily within his or her region, but may have opportunities throughout the underwater world. The range of experiences may include active participation in field studies, underwater research, scientific expeditions, laboratory assignments, equipment testing and design, photographic instruction, and other specialized assignments.

I wanted to give her a chance to see and meet as many people as possible, needless to say she hit the ground running. She arrived from Tasmania after a 23 hour journey only to find herself being taken to Dassen Island, a place she had never heard off and certainly not on the tourist maps. Here is what Von has had to say about some of her experiences with me in Cape Town so far (Source) -

Wow!  First blog update in awhile, sorry — you can blame Steven Benjamin, my awesomely over-achieving local Cape Town host, for that.  We’ve been on a whirlwind tour of Cape Town’s aquatic environments, and I’m going to post about them individually in the next few days!  Steven runs Animal Ocean, an all-inclusive ocean eco-tourism operation that offers personalized outdoor marine and aqua experiences.  Spearfishing, freediving, shark diving, photographic excursions — you name it, if it’s in the ocean in the Cape Town area, Steve’s probably an expert in it.   Let’s just say that today I had a bunch of 1.5m-long cowsharks swimming around my head, and I’m absolutely loving life.

29 Jan 2010

Right!  So I’ve got some backlogs to do, starting with the day I arrived in Cape Town, South Africa.  I was met at the airport by local dive and underwater guru Steven Benjamin, who operates Animal Ocean, which is an all-encompassing marine eco-tourism operation.  We had some breakfast, and then Steve whisked us off to Dassen Island with 25 University of Cape Town’s 2010 Zoology Honours students.  Dassen Island is a special place – it’s managed by the Nature Conservation, South Africa’s government environmental agency.  No one is allowed on the island without a permit, so we were very, very lucky to be able to go.  The island itself is a haven for bird life, including penguins!  The history behind the penguins of Dassen Island is tumultuous; because their eggs were harvested aggressively until the 1960s, their numbers are reduced now to less then 10% of what they were at the turn of the century

Dassen Island research accomadation tucked behind the dunes

Myfanwy Rowlands at Dassen Island

True Dassen Island locals....

Penguin wall

This picture shows the Dassen Island lighthouse and a portion of the penguin wall that was constructed years ago and encircles the entire island.  It was built to keep the penguins from building their nests too far inland and facilitate easier collection of their eggs.  It’s now breached in numerous places and the penguins have no trouble getting to the interior of the island.

1 Feb 2010

Steven Benjamin (my Cape Town guide and owner of Animal Ocean) and I returned from Dassen Island on Sunday, March 31st.  On Monday, Steve took me along on one of his dive charters to Duiker Island, home of a very friendly colony of Cape fur seals.

Cape Fur seal leaps from the water at Houtbay

They were magic to dive with, but seals always make me feel like an absolute robot underwater.  After the dive, Steve took us snorkeling to a little rocky beach just beyond the point of Hout Bay Harbor, because he wanted to show us the site of an abalone poaching operations.  The picture below shows the pile of empty abalone shells we found there.

A pile of poached and scraped abalone shells.

What happens is, abalone divers go outside the harbor in little rubber duck boats, collect the abalone and bring them to this beach, which is hidden from sight and around the point from Haut Bay slipway.  The poachers unload their illegally harvested abalone on the beach, stacked up in piles, before taking their now empty boats back to the slipways of Hout Bay Harbor, which are monitored for illegal abalone fishing.  Then the poachers hike over the point down to the beach, and carry the illegal harvest of abalone meat overland, thereby avoiding getting caught.  It’s quite a racket.

2 Feb 2010

The one day that should of been 6  !!!!

What an amazing day February 2nd was.   I’ll take you through the pictures below and explain the chronology that way. I tagged along with Steve Benjamin (Animal Ocean) on a dive charter to dive with a natural aggregation of seven-gill sharks, or cowsharks (as they’re called in Cape Town) just past Miller’s Point near Simons Town.  It’s an unbelievable spot, as the cowsharks are gathered there in significant numbers and they’re VERY curious… not at all shy of divers.  It was fantastic!  We had at least 7 sharks around us at any one time, and we reckon we saw about 20 total.

Sevengill Cowshark - Image by Sjimon de Waal

After the cowsharks, we stopped at the boat ramp at Millers Point to see the snoek boats coming in.  The picture below is of a man counting the snoeks as he tosses them in a bucky to be carried to market.

A good days catch of snoek

Then we stopped by Muizenburg beach, and were just in time to see the Treknet fishermen bringing in a fresh catch of yellowtail kingfish!  This type of fishing is a bit different from your average industrial trawler or purse-seiner…the whole community gets out on the beach to help pitch the nets.  It was fun to watch.

Trek net fishing on fish hoek beach

We left Muizenburg Beach and drove up Boyes Drive to the overlook of Muizenburg in False Bay.  From there, you can see Seal Island (remember that AWESOME series in Planet Earth that shows great white sharks breaching?  That’s Seal Island), as well as the entire stretch of Muizenberg Beach.  To our unbelievable luck, the Shark Spotter on duty, (her name is Vivian) spotted  a great white just moments after we arrived!

Von and Vivian watch a great white shark swimming in the surf zone

It was unbelievable.   I’ve shown the picture below fully scaled out and then zoomed in to give you an idea of perspective – the shark was about 2.5m-3m long.  The Shark Spotter program is a wonderful alternative to shark nets (which can be found all along the eastern beaches of South Africa, in Durban).  Shark nets “work” because they kill everything in their path, shark and fish and dolphin and seal alike.  The Shark Spotter program works, and eliminates the unnecessary slaughter that shark nets unleash.

And that was (most of) our day!  It was banner.  The days have been packed, and I’m still catching up – more to come.

3 Feb 2010

February 3rd was the day that Steve Benjamin (Animal Ocean) and I went up into the mountains to meet Jeremy Sheldon, Ph.D. student at the University of Cape Town.  Jeremy is doing his Ph.D. thesis on the streams and rivers of the Bain’s Kloof region, in the mountains Northeast of the Cape.  He’s comparing the ecology of streams that have been invaded with trout (100 years ago they were brought over and introduced for game fishing) to that of those streams and rivers where trout haven’t infiltrated.

Jeremy Sheldon happy doing field work

Tierhok Rivier

A gorgeous, gorgeous day of fieldwork in a beautiful place.  I’m now seriously considering studying river otters along with sea otters.

One of the Netherlands most acclaimed award-winning underwater photographers, Peter Voerhoog, traveled to Cape Town with the goal of photographing blue sharks for his latest book “Sharks, close encounters”.

Sharks, close encounters by Peter Verhoog

Here are some of the images he captured while diving with us in the Cape

Dusky Dolphins play in the cool Atlantic waters off Cape Town

Cape fur seals in Houtbay harbor

Steve Benjamin and Sevengill cowshark

Blue sharks investigate Peter off Cape Point

Cape fur seals playing off Duiker Island, Houtbay

Peter in tough conditions in order to get the blue shark images

I am looking forward to this inspiring book and am proud to have played a small part in it

Steve

We headed out into a gloomy cape morning, watching rain clouds on the horizon draw upon us as we neared our destination, “the canyon”. We did a small detour to investigate a fishing vessel called “Fox Glove”. We were searching for tuna. The divers jumped in but found only seals and fish heads. We left the ship and found an area that looked promising and started chumming.

Th spearo’s jumped in and were quickly joined by a hyper-active 1m long Shortfin mako, which quickly disappeared. I got in and enjoyed diving in the clean warm water. Lying on my back at 28m looking up I could clearly see the boat, looking down I could see out bait trail disappearing into the depths.

We were eventually joined by 2 Blue sharks that hoovered up any pilchards we put in the water. Jean, who was the inspiration for this trip was very seasick and I knew he  would not be happy if he sat this one out.  So I pushed, pulled and taunted but got him in the water.

A small 1m mako arrived, very excited and raced around and between the divers. I is amazing to seen the fastest shark in the ocean swimming with us. Mako’s are know to have bursts of up to 74 km/h (46 mph). A second slightly larger mako arrived and was much more comfortable with us. Everyone enjoyed watching the activity but most soon left the water. I was left alone with 2 blues, a very relaxed mako and Jean’s camera rig….a dream come true, thank you Jean.

I snapped away and here are the results…

Blue shark cruises in

A relaxed Mako comes in for a look

The fastest shark in our waters relaxed and swimming with us

The king of the open ocean cruising above me and under my boat

Mako tail, the caudal keel of is huge

Report by Jean Tresfon

- After hearing some good reports of tuna being caught at the Canyon (a spot 25nm SW of Cape Point) a few friends and I decided to spend a day at sea trying to shoot a few of these fish. My friends are all spearos and my weapon of choice was a Nikon. We went out with Steve Benjamin of Animal Ocean. The sea was very rough with fair size swell and around 20kts of wind. We did not find the tuna, but did manage to attract a few blue sharks and mako sharks. For me the day was characterised more by missed opportunities than by the results that were obtained. I was really sea-sick, worse than any time in the last 5 years despite being at sea every weekend. When Steve reported the arrival of the sharks I really could not have cared less and just lay on the deck heaving. Steve did not relent and would not rest until I had kitted up and dropped over the side. Being in the water did not help much but I took a few decent shots over the course of about 20 minutes. After that I started to throw up in the water and was in danger of drowning so I climbed back in the boat. (I also was no longer concentrating on watching the sharks which is not clever when there are excited makos darting around). I preset the exposure on the camera and handed it to Steve, who spent another half an hour in the water taking pictures. While my own memories of the day were not the most pleasant, I can only recommend the trip to others. These pelagic sharks are stunning, and being out there in the warm clean water, with 600m to the bottom and nothing but you and the sharks is just an experience that words and pictures just cannot do justice to. I will definitely be going back soon, but this time will be taking a few motion sickness tabs before hand!

Have a look at more pics from the day at Jeans Flickr stream here

Cheers

Happy diving

Steve

Hey guys

Its been awhile since my last blog entry. I find myself this evening with so many experiences I want to share and I dont know where to start. I always find its best to show people what we’ve been doing. So below I have chosen a few images from the last few weeks. The images come from a range a photographers to whom I am grateful.

Chapmans peak panoramic by Goeff Spiby

This image was taken on a photographic trip on the Atlantic seaboard. It really shows the beauty of being under Chapmans peak and the scale of the mountain. The wind was howling with this bay being slightly protected. I had to position myself in the lee of the granite boulders to keep the boat steady.

Bull and dead pup by Geoff Spiby

The seals have been pupping on Duiker Island, not all make it. Here we found a bull seal resting on a small granite boulder lying right next to young seals corpse seemingly oblivious to it. In the water we found many dead pups, most being scavanged apon by giant petrols and seagulls, the strong winds and waves washing possibly washing them off the island.

Steve Benjamin filming for Charles Maxwell at Duiker Island by Jean Tresfon

Trying to capture the seals swimming in thick kelp was tough but once one finds a pattern in the seeming chaos of swirling seals we got the shots.

Swimming seal by Jean Tresfon

Here Jean captured the seal just as it darted “flew” away

Chapmans peak, Geoff Spiby

We were traveling along the base of Chapmans peak, mostly trying to stay out of the howling wind, when we arrived at my faverite crayfishing spot. This turned out to be a well know location to others on the boat. We jumped into the cold but clean water to see what could be captured. These anemonies are covering the granite boulders in the shallows . One can see the mussel zone at the top of the rock.

Chapmans peak ledges Geoff Spiby

This was taken at the same location as the last image but just a bit deeper. You can see the small crayfish that dwell in these crevases. That crack at the top of the image used to hold huge crayfish but not anymore. The photographer in the background is Mark Van Coller.

Dusky Dolphins by Peter Lambert

Dusky dolphin pod by Peter Lambert

On this day we encountered the local pod of Dusky dolphins as they were aggregating. The can be a very inquisitive species of dolphin and came to investigate the divers.

Jellyfish by Jean Tresfon

There have been an abundance of Jellyfish on our coastline latley, which make beautiful subjects. It has also lead to the appearance of many sunfish.

Jean Tresfon Sunfish

Sunfish by Jean Tresfon

It took me awhile to figure out how to get photographers close to these small sunfish, they just kept swimming away. The larger individuals seem to be less skittish and easier to work with, but also less common. We encountered up to 5 small individuals at a time and got extremely close in often dirty water.  Here Jean Tresfon captures the beauty of a sunfish in Table Bay.

Jean Tresfon and Sunfish by Geoff Spiby

Here one can see that these are small individuals and Jean tries to get a close up with his wide angle lens

Sevengill Cowshark by Steve Benjamin

Although not a pro image I wanted to mention the Sevengill sharks. They have returned in full force.  We have done several dives there in the last week and I am always blown away. On one occasion I had 13 in my field of view, from the bottom to about 8m in the water column.On another dive I found seal remains (flipper, fur and intestine), Iether a seal carcas washed in or the Sevengills got hungry.

Well I hope you have gotten an idea of what I have been up to. There are some fun project in the pipline so get in contact to see what is going on and how I can help

Cheers

Steve