I was contacted buy Joshua Stewart from the ROLEX Our World Underwater Society, who wanted to come to Cape Town to explore the marine environment. The previous scholar, Myfanwy Rowlands, had mentioned Josh and his enthusiasm of documentary film making and diving, it was my pleasure to have him around.

Joshua Stewart and African penguins. His first day in the Cape

We managed to do a dive with the Sevengill Cowsharks were we focused on collecting photographic identification data and trying to count individuals. This data was to be used in a Masters project funded by the Save Our Seas Foundation. We did try to dive here a second time but the swell was quite large causing serious problems for our clumsy divers. I did get to witness josh being wash into a rock pool all whilst trying to protect his camera. It was quite a scene

Steve Benjamin capturing photo ID data

Josh films a Sevengill Cowshark

We also headed over to the Duiker Island seal colony were Josh spent some time with the playful Cape Fur Seals. The seals love to look at them selves in big dome ports and often put thier noses onto camera lenses. One even came and nuzzled Josh’s head..haha

A Cape Fur Seal having its way with Josh

Josh also got to spent time at the Universtiy of Cape Town talking to various scientists and students about thier projects and roles in research.We also joined to Baboon Research Unit for a morning of data collecting. Although this was not marine orientated it was great to observe these charasmatic primates to close range.

Josh put together a great video displaying his time here in Cape Town and Gaansbaai…have a look

Underwater Updates – Cape Town from Josh Stewart on Vimeo.

The Cadiz Freedom Swim is considered to be one of the toughest, most extreme long distance cold water sea swim races in the world – 7.5km across the famous Robben Island channel, known for its bitterly cold water (around 13 degrees) and strong, unpredictable currents.

We launch early on Sunday morning to avoid the chaos at Oceana slipway. I picked up my swimmers, team “2 shrimps and a sea monkey”. We joined the pack of boats floating just offshore of Robben Island. Every type of craft with an engine was waiting in anticipation for the swim to start. Here are some pics form the day…

The swimmers start

The team finished 4th in the relay division with a time of 2:37.27. The fastest time was 1:48 by Tryon Venter.

It was an amazing day and huge respect to all the swimmers that did the swim. It was tough, with quite a few not making it.

For results click here

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

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

Sunday saw us heading out in the rain to dungeons. The day started off slowly with large lulls in the sets. The tide was high in the morning making the waves not stand up like the would be in the afternoon, the wind was also strong making it difficult for the guys to paddle in. Simon Lowe got 2 bombs as well as Mike Slebach getting a great close out barrel. Frank Soloman had 3 horrible wipes on big 15ft set waves, we all cringed as we watched him skipping down the face in the barrel of a monster. Jake Kolnick got 9 stitches in the head from his board hitting him. Sammy came aboard the boat after a bad wipe out, eyes blood shot and bleeding from the ears!

Mat Bromley caught some great waves.

Other casualties included broken boards of Frank and Mike Baleta (Mad Mike), come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mike leave dungeons with any whole boards.

Thanks to all those that joined us for the day

The wind picked up as the swell died and we headed to the Lookout Deck where the party continued

Images from a rainy day in Summer

Image Kimmi Stewart

Mike Slebach wipe out

This is what Cape Town can be !!!

This is what Jean Tresfon had to say

Following several days of pumping SE winds the water on Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard on Saturday was looking about as good as it gets: 20m viz and a chilly 10 deg C. A few enthusiastic divers and photographers jumped onto a boat and headed out into the blue to see if we could get some good dolphin interactions. We saw some common dolphins on the hunt but they were not interested in stopping. The dusky dolphins however were a different story and spent almost half an hour with us allowing for a stunning interaction. While in the water a Brydes whale swam under me but I was not quick enough to get a photo. The excitement on board was infectious and we all agreed the day out had been worth it. On the way home some more dolphins appeared and we jumped back into the water. Finning fast and following some of the dolphins I saw a huge cloud of white water ahead and the next moment I was face to face with two 30 ton humpback whales. This was my first time in the water with a really big whale and I was blown away by how big these animals actually are up close. The law in South Africa prohibits approaching closer than 300m to a whale so we swam back to the boat, but not before taking a few photos of course! On the way back we stopped at Seal Island for a quick dip. So one boat ride out and we were able to dive with three different mammals in one afternoon, not too shabby for a day out in the Cape!

Jean Tresfon surrounded

Jean Tresfon and Dusky

Image by Steve Benjamin

By Jean Tresfon

By Jean Tresfon

By Jean Tresfon

By Jean Tresfon

By Jean Tresfon

We watched this Humpback whale breaching early in the morning in the chilly waters off Dassen Island

We explored Moari bay, Houtbay, and dived the wreck of the SS Moari, a 5317 ton steel screw steamer wrecked on 5 August 1909. She now lies completely underwater, just meters below the surface at the shallowest point. The conditions were good and the team really enjoyed the dive.

SS Moari wrecked near Houtbay 1909

We had some coffeE under the shadow of the BOSS 400, another wreck that lies on the rocks not far from the SS Moari, before heading for a dive with the seals of Duiker island.

The team under the BOSS 400

I joined Brian McFarlane for a day on his vessel at Dyer Island. I knew the water would be clean but I was stunned at the water conditions we found in the lee of the island. The operation and vessel  (42ft Leecat) were almost as impressive as the sharks themselves.

It is amazing how this industry has made this activity suitable and accessible for everyone. No snorkels or fins required, all one has to do is look down when told too. For the general tourist that’s GREAT.

The reason for this post is to show you the images I took on the day. It is key to remember that these were taken with a small OLYMPAS Mju Tough. It’s difficult to see the monster in these animals.