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