June 2000

Sardine Fever
Whilst in Kwa-Zulu Natal we were affected by a strange condition known as 'Sardine Fever'. It is a seasonal illness that only seems to afflict those in this region of South Africa during the month of June. The symptoms are easily recognised: You have a strong urge to ring the Sardine Hotline. An hour or so later, after having driven 100+km, you find yourself knee-deep in sea water grabbing handfuls of slippery sardines as they overflow from the fisherman's nets. Around you grannies elbow their way through the crowds, oblivious to their sodden petticoats; fist fights between fishermen are commonplace but seem ridiculous, there is so much to go round! It's absolute mayhem. Humans are not the only predators getting their fill of sardines; sharks, gannets, gamefish and dolphins gorge themselves too. Sharks are sometimes oblivious to being washed up on the beach, their bellies distended, too full to even swim......

We were fascinated by the chaos that these tiny fish create and decided to dedicate June to chasing and photographing sardines and the crazy events surrounding their arrival. We chased up and down the coast for 3 weeks starting on the 2nd June when the first sighting of 'sards' was reported from the Natal Shark's Board. Mike Andersen Reid - Operations Manager, directed us to Scottburgh beach, 40km south of Durban, where we found the first seine-netting crew getting ready haul in the visible black shoals hanging around the breakers. The sea was boiling black with fish being herded by sharks. We exchanged concerned glances when someone in the crowd said, "Its a big johnnie, at least 4 metres..." - we were relieved to discover that Johnnie is the local fisherman's term for sharks and not condoms as we'd first thought. The fishing boat (a small semi-rigid inflatable or 'duck') launched and beached within 1 minute. In that short space of time they manged to drive around the fish, throw out the net and encircle a small part of the shoal (also known as seine-netting). This fraction of the shoal added up to 250 crates worth of sardines. The price for one crate on the first day was high at 150R (£15). Two catches that day netted the fishermen over 60,000R (£6,000)! Once the word was out, the teams of netting crews looking for easy bucks, arrived from all over the country and the local crowds of frenzied sardine baggers soon filled the beaches.

Why do Sardines go north?
Some say it is an annual migration but Geremy Cliff, Chief Scientist of the Natal Sharks Board prefers to call it a 'range extension' as only a small percentage of the fish in the Western Cape actually move northwards. From June through to September, the southern cold waters stretch northwards with the currents hugging the coastline and the sardines simply move with them. Once they have outrun their food source and reach warmer waters they head for home sometimes following the cold currents out into the Indian Ocean and back around to the Cape.

Diving with Sardines - In search of the 'Bait Ball'
Diving with what is known as a sardine 'bait ball' is a mind blowing experience. Finding this bait ball is practically impossible. No matter what people may say, it can easily take several weeks of scouring the coastline before you come across this phenomenon. While we were there, film crews and photographers were spending thousands of pounds fruitlessly searching the Transkei and Kwazulu Natal coastline to capture the rare and fascinating images of sharks, dolphins and gannets engaged in a chaotic feeding frenzy. The Bait Ball occurs when the sharks and dolphins herd them towards the surface and force them into a tight ball in order to permit easy pickings. The water turns black in front of you and before you know it there are several hundred birds raining down on the bubbling feast.

To look for the sardine shoals, we contacted Mark and Michelle Addison of Blue Wilderness Dive Expeditions, who were the much talked about 'experts' in the field of diving the Sardine Run. This was the first year that Mark and Michelle were offering tourist trips to observe the marine life that usually accompanies the 'Run' and the itinerary was in no way set in stone. "Guests must be flexible if they want to dive with sardines....there is no way of planning the day's events, the sards are completely unpredictable". For most of June, Blue Wilderness base their operation along the Wild Coast (Transkei) between Mkumbati Nature Reserve and Port Edward. From here, guests must be ready to travel as the launch sites are totally dependant on the sardine activity sighted that day by the microlights.

We found ourselves amongst some of the world's underwater film and photographer glitterati, we won't blow their cover but will say that fans of the BBC's Blue Planet series are in for a treat. On our boat was a mixture of amateur and pro photograghers, in fact you could hardly move for pelican cases, models, dive gear, and expensive housings that were stroked reverently by their respective owner, each knob and dial checked at ever increasing intervals as the anticipated excitement approached. Click here to read about a few of the interesting people you get to meet if you dress in rubber and sit on a boat for a few hours.

After the first couple of hours we all settled into 'the patience game', this means spending around 5 hours per day in a 'rubber duck' kitted in ever damp wetsuits with scuba gear, cameras, masks and snorkels at the ready. Fortunately, the marine life around this coastline during the Sardine Run is enough to keep anyone occupied for long boat rides. In our search for the 'Bait Ball', we frequently came across pod's of 1,000 or more common dolphins charging around the ocean in search of food. Humpback Whales were often seen in pairs or trios, breaching (jumping out of the water), and lobtailing (slapping the tail repeatedly on the surface). One came right up to our boat and practically took us for a ride as he sneaked underneath. Although our hearts were set on sharks feeding on sardines, we weren't exactly disappointed after these 'once in a lifetime' encounters.

On the third weekend we headed out to sea, the sky was clear and the mood aboard was buoyant. There were only five on the boat, hence our mood. The other couple were Peter Pinnock and his wife, Jeanne who have worked together as a photography team for many years and were a great source of advice and amusing tales. Less than an hour into our quest we saw a huge flock of gannets futher out to sea. As we got a little closer we could see clearly that our search was over. Dolphins were hard at work generating exactly the kind of action we were after.......

Dive The Dream Log Book Entries:

Charlie "....Amongst the surface splashes of the Cape Gannets plummeting through bubbling black water, were larger more erratic splashes that turned out to be common dolphins and bronze whaler sharks feeding on the fish. "You'd better get in now" the urgency was in Rian's voice. Our skipper was relieved that we'd finally found our baitball after 3 weeks and didn't want us to miss a second's excitement. We hesitated only briefly before donning dive kit. To our dismay, we realised that having become accustomed to not finding sardines, we had not checked our equipment properly: Mark's tank was completely empty. The camera took priority and Mark grabbed my equipment, leaving me with my mask and snorkel and two out-of-practice lungs for freediving! I hesitantly slipped in and peeped under the surface. At first I saw nothing but blue and then a large flash of sheet silver charged towards me, sharply turning away again just milimetres from my mask. A mass of fish packed so tightly that it appeared to be one solid everchanging form. When freediving through the floor of sardines, they opened and formed a spinning cylinder around me. The ceiling overhead closed in and day became night. A wall in front of me suddenly split in two and through the blue opening came a streak of white and grey. The dolphin moved so fast that I span my head just in time to see its tail disappear into another wall of sardines. Stunned and short of breath I finned towards the surface, looked up and began to slowly exhale to clear my snorkel quickly. The escaping bubbles parted the fish and allowed the sunlight to filter through another silver tunnel of smooth movement. The sounds in this feeding frenzy were incredible. The dolphins audibly 'crash' into the walls of silent sardines and throughout the dive, I heard diver's bubbles and the dolphin's drawn out high pitched squeals that echoed eerily around us. The sharks were deadly silent. It all seemed dreamlike or as if we were observing the scene through a TV monitor. The sharks cruising through seemed uninterested in anything but sardines, the dolphins are frantic and at times looked very surprised to see divers amongst them. 30 minutes later, we were on the boat unable to grasp what had just happened. I was eager to know if Mark got some good shots......"

Mark "....Confusion, lack of discipline and composure mar this amazing dive. Having found a bait ball in clear water, something we thought would be impossible good fortune, we realise my cylinder is out of air and Charlie's is only half full! Crazy. What a couple of clowns. In a race to get ready I take Charlie's gear, get in and under. Do not take time out to really consider things. What shutter speed etc… and just fire off at this spectacle, frightened it will disappear too fast. Sharks cruise underneath the ball, dolphins charge through, their graceful choreography complemented by a writhing ball of silver. The sardines, herded into this bait ball, are suddenly sliced in two as dolphins shoot through. From above, the ball opens to allow a photographer and his model through. The model holds her pose, a huge halo of sardines above and around her. The disciplines of underwater photography are difficult to grasp as action is all around. Within a short while I need to return to the boat to reload with film. Racing against time. 'Come on Mark, you'll have to hurry, they won't hang around". 'Do you want strobes? How much air have you got?. Hurry. Hurry". 10 minutes later I'm back in the water. This time I am trying to get the shot of Charlie swimming down, of sardines parting and forming a perfect circle around her. The dolphins start to lose interest, we have a few minutes before the bait ball will disperse. I watch the other photographer briefly. An old pro, his composure in this is admirable. He's been here before, knows what to expect. I am forced to try a number of combinations in the hope that one will be successful. Out of film again and I return to the surface. Soon after the dolphins lose interest and the sardines disperse. The ecstasy of this moment is tinged with agony. A cold that I had thought had cleared up had not. I had spent some time yo-yoing between the surface and 10 metres. My ears are punishing me now for my sheer pig-headed determination to get these shots. In the evening, loaded with painkillers, I savour these images in my mind, an awe-inspiring phenomenon that we had seen once or twice on TV but never really expected to witness in real life."

The experiences above are surely the stuff of dreams so we find it quite appropriate to enter it as our finale for the past year spent Diving the Dream.

We'll be online and in touch while we raise funds for the next Dive The Dream adventure. Mozambique 2001. We will continue to keep the diving details up to date with the latest info so keep in touch and remember to tell all your diving buddies about this site.

For direct feedback please email: mc@divethedream.com