Once again we head out into Hout Bay to take 6 new freedivers to explore the underwater world. Hanli Prinsloo has been working hard on various projects but found time to share her passion of freediving to a group of enthusiastic students. The sea was quite rough and some seasickness occurred. The team stuck it out and had a great time swimming with the Cape Fur Seals of Duiker island.

Living life to the fullest

I put this short film together after a great days diving. We spent the day looking for yellowtail (Seriola lalandii) and I manage to film and shoot a fish. There were alot of ragged tooth sharks on the reef and one came up to try eat my yellowtail, which was nice to capture on film.They are only interested in the fish and can be easily pushed away.

Please have a look, the film speaks for it’s self ……………….

If you liked it, please let me know and PASS IT ON ……. I want to make some more of these

Cheers

Steve

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.

We headed into Mouri Bay for an afternoon of open water freediving with Hanli Pronsloo. The team enjoyed 20m vis and windless conditions. The team climbed into the Boss 400 and had a great time jumping off the deck and helicpoter pad!

Thanks to Hanli and the guys for a great day

Check the pics

Mark Sampson and Mat Bromley on the deck of the Boss400

Matt Bromley diving in Mouri bay

Hanli Prinsloo, Steve Benjamin, John de Villiers, John Bromley, Mat Bromley, Peter Raimondo and Mark Sampson

Hanli Prinsloo and John Bromley aboard the Boss400

Mat Bromley and Mark Sampson take the plundge

Peter Raimondo and John de Villiers on the heli pad just before they jumped off !

Mat Bromley and John de villiers

It was special day on Sunday in False bay, Glassy, great vis and warm. It was a real summers day with the vis of winter. We dived with the Sevengill cow sharks and seals most of the day. There were a lot of fishermen catching snoek nearby, however we didn’t catch anything. The entertainment coming from catching gurnards when someone got a birds nest and the lure stayed on the bottom to long.

It was just one of those days your happy to be alive. Here are a range of images from the day.

Thanks to everyone for the great times

Catshark video clip

Today saw the second coarse run by Hanli Prinsloo for the big wave surfers. Barry Futter, Jean Holmes, Sean Holmes, Cecilia Liebenberg, Chris Bertish and Greg Bertish had Hanli for the morning pushing then in the pool and dark waters of Houtbay!

Everyone was surprised by what they could do underwater, with personal best being achieved by everyone.

Hanli really shows people be it surfers or divers what they are capable achieving once you know what your doing.

It short  – she shows people to themselves. Hanli

This is what she had to write about the day

“There is something about people who truly love the ocean. I’m not sure what it is, a certain whatchamacallit… depth?
The last few weeks I’ve spent time with Cape Town’s Big Wave Surfers (yes all those capital letters are much deserved!) and what a pleasure. Earnest, honest, vibrant ocean people who seek to better themselves, their performance and they really do love the sea!
So this past Sunday saw me once again with a group of passionate people, giving and receiving in equal doses. Like last time, I was impressed by the mixture of physicality, mental focus and willingness to learn.”

Steve

Greg Bertish, Sean Holmes, Jean Holmes and Cecilia Liebenberg freediving theory by Hanli

James Taylor, Steve Benjamin, Greg Bertish, Chris Bertish and Barry Futter - open water freediving at Houtbay

Hanli about to go under

Freediving lessons under the eye of the sentinel and dungeons

A beautiful still day in the bay, spring is on the way. I picked up Hanli Prinsloo and Craig McKune and headed to Millers point for an afternoon of Cowshark freediving.

We entered the water and were greeted with 15m vis and 16C water…heaven!!!

I wanted to show the team what a healthy False Bay ecosystem should look like and point out a few fish species. I took them to the thick kelp bed near pyramid rock and by the third dive all the red roman, red steenbras, bankies and red stumpnose had come in from the surrounding areas to investigate the activity. Great to see these fish in the bay, it is near impossible to find them outside these safe areas.

We swam out into the sparse kelp forest that the Cowshark like to frequent and sure enough there they were. We dived on a small area and waited for the sharks to come to us. It is 12m deep in this area and simply by lying still on the bottom they came to investigate. I would guess we saw 10-15 sharks in total and 1 pregnant Spotted Gully shark.

As we headed into the shallows I spotted a puffadder shyshark. I love these sharks and dived to film it. I was getting a close up when a cowshark came from behind and swam straight into my camera and continued on its way, the clip is at the beginningCowshark diving of the video. Just goes to show you never know what can happen next.

Hanli Prinsloo and Cowshark

Hanli Prinsloo ran a specilist freediving course for big wave surfers. Andrew Marr, Simon Lowe, Reinhart Fourie, Jaques and James Taylor spent the finding out what they are capable of. In the pool sessions they manage great static apnea times a between 3 and 4:30 minuets.

The open water section of the training took place in Houtbay and saw the guys building sand castles on the bottom at 23m!! Everyone did personal bests. Hanli’s coarse really showed them just what they are capable off