Day at sea in Port Elizabeth


On 4 June 2011 Ryan and I spent the day out on the big blue ocean with Louis van Aardt of Pro-dive (Walmer ,PE ,South Africa (041) 5811144) It’s our fave place on earth to be  (on the ocean that is) and what a peaceful, sunny and perfect day it was. We got some great action out int he big blue being visited by two interested Mako sharks looking for a little snack. Unfortunately they didn’t hang around for too long but I did manage to get enough time to snap off a couple of shots. They also whetted our appetites for more and I am hoping that Ryan will want to try and find them off the Mossel Bay coastline where we live – as I would love to visit them often. What incredible looking sharks- my new favourite! Move over Bull sharks.

Mako Magic

After a lovely peaceful day on the ocean we headed back to shore and on the way in were treated to an incredible spectacle- a melange of 10000s of animals feeding on a ball or two of sardines. Yes, it’s the beginning of the annual Sardine Run that travels up our coastline.  It looks like this year ( 2011 ) may be a good one- if this action is anything to go by. We had 1000’s of common dolphins;9 brydes whales, 100’s of gannets, seals, penguins and copper sharks deeper down.

Sardine Run at sunset

Unfortunately the sunset had begun and so we only had about 15 minutes to enjoy the spectacle. It was one of those 15 minute time-spans that you want to remember forever. Unfortunately it was too dark and brief for me to get any photos but we did manage to capture some of it on video and I will post a couple of images from the video to show just how close Ryan got to a Brydes whale, that almost swallowed him as it chased sardines…

Peeking Brydes

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