Sardine Run 2009

[philsokol 1]

Hi Everyone,

 

I just got back from S. Africa. Here's my report on the Run:

 

Myself and 3 other dive buddies departed the US on 6/27 via Heathrow and Capetown on our way to Durban. Unfortunately, Terminal 5 in Heathrow was up to it's old tricks, and my and another companion's checked bags didn't make it out of London. I had fortunately carried on all my photo equipment, but was left with only the clothes on my back and no scuba gear. With our measely GBP 150 compensation from British Air and assurances that our bags would be on the next flight, we traveled on to Durban and there met the SEAL representative. After a short detour to pick up rental scuba gear, we settled in for the 5 hour drive down the coast to the Mbotyi Lodge where we met our fearless trip leader Ken Knezick of Island Dreams Travel.

 

Nic de Gersigny has assembled an impressive operation with his Sea, Air, Land Expeditions (SEAL). There were 30 ft. Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIBs) in excellent condition, each with a dive master and captain, Land Rovers, communications, their own compressors, a tractor for the surf launches and an ultra light aircraft used to spot the early morning action. All the staff are highly experienced, safety conscious, outgoing and helpful in a uniquely S. African way. Highly recommended!

 

The grounds of the "3 star" Mbotyi Lodge are spacious and well maintained and the rooms are clean and comfortable each with it's own bath and balcony. Unfortunately, neither they or any of the common areas have heat, so when temps dropped into the 40's a couple nights, things got pretty chilly! There is a (unheated) pool, plus a bar and game room area with ping pong and small pool tables. They also have internet, although slow and with limited hours. The staff is friendly, but I found the service somewhat disorganized and lackadaisical, sort of on Africa Time, mon. The big problem for our group was the food. I'm not very picky when I'm dive traveling, but this was merely tolerable in my book. I didn't go hungry, but neither did I relish meal time. More importantly, I was the only one of our 5 who didn't come down with some kind of 24-48 hour GI illness at some point. After asking around, other groups, including the SEAL staff, reported the same. The Lodge management claimed it was an "airborne virus" prevalent on the coast. Hmmmm.....

 

There are some purported advantages to the Mbotyi's location approx. 30 km north of Port St. John's. Port St. John's sits at the mouth of a river, thus the visibility is generally better further north away from the outflow. Mbotyi has a river too, but it's a mere trickle compared to the one flowing past Port St. John's. Second, Port St. Johns is also at the mouth of a deep canyon and is therefore substantially colder than Mbotyi. Finally, the underwater topography around Waterfall Bluff just north of Mbotyi supposedly concentrates the bait fish, increasing the potential action there. This is merely what we as gullible first-timers were told, so anyone who's been and stayed other places, please feel free to chime in with the pros and cons.

 

An exciting thing about the Mbotyi location and SEAL's operation is the surf launches as opposed to river launches at Port St. John's. After watching and timing the swells, the tractor quickly back the RIBs into the water and tips them off the trailers. Everyone helps turn the boats into the waves and when the captain gives the order, everyone hops on, secures their feet and you bang out through the surf. This requires both timing and coordination and the SEAL team performed perfectly, even with the ever-changing surf and bottom conditions. The return is just as much fun as the captain speeds in and you surf the waves to shore, grounding the boat on the sand in a foot of water.

 

Yee-hah!

 

Day 1 (June 30)

 

We had arrived late in the evening after 4 days of the worst storm in recent memory. The surf was still big, so we were unable to launch. Here's the flip side to the Mbotyi location: one may be able to launch from Port St. Johns or other locations when a surf launch is too dangerous.

 

No launch, but a nice surf break...

 

Day 2 (July 1)

 

Surf conditions had improved and after launching we headed out for a check dive in blue water. Immediately upon descending to approx. 40 ft., we were met by 6-8 copper sharks who were very bold and inquisitive. Vis was pretty good at 25 ft. Of course,since this was only supposed to be a 5 minute check dive, none of us had brought our cameras. We headed closer to shore to look for any signs of a bait ball. The surface action was incredible - 100's of dolphins, 100's of gannets and at least a dozen Humpbacks. Each time we'd stop, our DM Clive would jump in to check the vis (for safety, SEAL has a policy of not getting in the water if vis is less than 15 ft). Despite all the surface action, vis was so poor (6-8 ft), we couldn't get in the water to see what was happening below.

 

Day 3 (July 2)

 

Again, great surface action. Found a couple small bait balls only one of which had a few dolphin hanging around. Vis was still pretty poor at right around 15 ft. but we were still able to get some nice shots right at the surface.

 

 

 

Day 4 (July 3)

 

We had had heavy rain through the night, enough so that by the morning the Mbotyi river was able to break through the sand berm built up by the previous week's storm and was now a torrent as the lagoon drained. We delayed launch until 9 and then again until 11 when the day was officially scratched. We were now batting .500 just getting out on the water. At least the bags finally arrived.

 

 

Day 5 (July 4)

 

An easy launch. Surface action not quite as heavy, but still saw what was becoming the typical 8-12 Humpbacks through the course of the morning. Got in on 3 small bait balls and finally got some of the wide, scenic pics I'd been hoping for. More frustrating was when all 6 divers from our boat were in the water, the dolphins would hang back and we were sometimes left staring at a few hundred sardines (well, red-eyed herring actually).

 

 

Day 6 (July 5)

 

Pretty quiet on the surface and not much happening below either. Found one small bait ball, but vis was only about 10 ft. Tried snorkeling with a couple Humpbacks, but they just dove beneath us. In researching and preparing for this trip, I had been told to moderate my expectations for this event, that it was very hit and miss. Nevertheless, a slight sense of disappointment had begun to creep in.

 

Day 7 (July 6)

 

Another easy launch. Even though vis was still poor, we snorkeled with a small bait ball right on the surface that quickly became a full-on feeding frenzy. Dolphins and sharks were all around us hitting the bait ball while gannets dived in from above. The dolphins squeaked madly and the gannets hit the water with a "Foom! Foom!" like artillery. The desperate bait fish tried to find shelter by huddling among us and we had to fin furiously to put distance between us and the now boiling water. After 20+ minutes and the destruction of the bait ball, we got out of the water and Capt. Paul joked he expected to see "limbs and body parts" flying out the action was so fierce!

 

14 dolphin and 3 copper sharks!

 

Those 20 minutes were so intense, they made the whole trip worthwhile! We came ashore knowing we had finally experienced at least a real taste of what the Sardine Run had to offer.

 

Day 8 (July 7)

 

Our last day. Hoping to repeat the previous day's success, we headed straight out towards some bird activity directly off shore, but couldn't find any organized action. We began to work our way north, but after an hour the sense that we had seen the best we were going to get began to sink in.

 

Then, it happened: We got a radio call from one of the other boats much further north that things were really hot. Capt. Paul put the boat in high gear and we slammed through the swells and chop to several km's north of Waterfall Bluff. Two boats were already there, so we got in our scuba gear and rolled in. As I furiously kicked to catch up with the bait ball, a huge wall began to loom through the murky water, a solid mass of tightly packed sardines. To call this a bait ball doesn't do it justice - a shoal is more accurate. It went from 15 ft down to at least 60 ft and stretched on forever. Sharks were everywhere! 50, 80, 100? Coppers, black tips, raggy sand tigers, a dusky or two and even a couple bulls. As they cruised the edges, the mass of sardines would try and give them a wide berth, forming an pocket for them. When the sharks slowly turned into the mass, the sardines would form an opening and then close behind them, like the sharks had disappeared into some kind of portal. Sharks would also just seem to appear from the shoal - the magic portal would open to allow the sharks exit as they continued to work the school.

 

 

 

The dolphins were there too, impossible to guess how many. Singles, pairs and small groups would work the outside of the shoal. Then there'd be a furious burst of squeaks and teams of 10-12 would smash up the side, peeling away a layer of sardines.

 

 

 

 

Towards the top, it was utter chaos - the sharks, dolphins were here too and now 100's of gannets rained out of the sky into the shoal. "Foom! Foom, foom! FOOM!!!" as one of them hit within a couple feet of me.

 

 

Even some game fish were getting into the act - we saw bonita dash in, hit the sardines and dash away again before the sharks had the chance to turn them into a more substantial meal. I ran out of air and got back to the boat and was told there was another tank, so I quickly changed and got back in. When I had huffed through that tank, I threw my gear onboard and grabbed my snorkel. The shoal was moving rapidly, so a couple times Capt. Paul picked us up and dropped us back in the action. There were now 5 boats on the huge ball, but the mass of sardines was so huge I could barely see another diver. At one point while snorkeling on the surface, I heard a cheer go up from a couple of the other boats and looked over to see a Bryde's whale in the middle of the shoal about 30 feet away from me.

 

We spent 3 hours on the non-stop action, traveling 2 km on either scuba or snorkel according to Capt. Paul's GPS. With all the predation, scales, and bubbles from the gannets, vis had deteriorated markedly to 6 ft at some spots. It was still going off when fuel concerns and utter exhaustion forced us to head back to Mboyti! There were big smiles all around as we bounced back through the swell. We all knew we had seen something very, very special, even by Sardine Run standards.

 

So the final tally for 8 days on the water: 2 scrapped days, 1 weak day, 2 OK days, one good day, one excellent day and one epic, once-in-a-lifetime, Nat Geo/BBC day. Much better than our best expectations. We know we were very, very lucky - another group at the Lodge couldn't even launch 6 out of their 9 days. Even with that possibility, I would gladly endure all the travel, the lost luggage, the crummy food, the bug bites and even the S. African Tick Bite Fever I've apparently returned home with for just the slim chance of seeing action like that again! Next year's out, but Sardine Run 2011, here I come!

 

Phil

 

P.S. All pics are with the Canon 10-22, usually at 10mm, no strobes. Full size of these and more at http://gallery.me.com/philsokol/100166. Special thanks to Drew, Ken Knezick and all the others who generously shared their knowledge and tips!

Edited July 21, 2009 by philsokol

[crubie 1]

Phil.

 

Great pictures and excellent report.

 

Seems like an amazing experience. You were very lucky it seems on your final Day !...

 

Definitely high on my list of future trips.

 

Thanks

[Steve Williams 0]

Congrats on a great trip Phil! The other shots on your website look great too. The last one with the whole gang of dolphins is wonderful. How did the rig hold up? Any new learnings you can share with the 10-22?

And oh yeah, I just have to ask, what was the total flight time from SD to SA?

 

Cheers,

Steve

[Alex_Mustard 0]

Excellent, Phil.

 

Pleased to see you go so much action.

 

Alex

[xariatay 1]

Wow! Greatly enjoyed your enthusiastic reporting! Nice photos (many more on your webpage too!)

[philsokol 1]

Thanks guys! Like I said, I think we were very, very lucky to catch that last day.

 

Steve, it was a new personal travel record to get there: San Diego to Chicago where I met my friends, then to LHR, 8 hour layover (thank god for the biz lounge!) then to Capetown (where the bags didn't arrive), on to Durban and the drive south to Mbotyi. 48 hours total travel time! The return was much easier as I left from Capetown and had much shorter layovers. I'm told there are a couple better ways to get to S. Africa from the western US, either through Dulles via Dakar or Delta has a direct from Atlanta to Jo'berg. Next time.

 

I wanted the Canon 10-22 for topside and this trip provided the perfect excuse to pick it up. It was OK, but for some reason I think a lot of the pics came out kinda soft. Now that could be being new to the lens, the murky conditions, trying new settings or more probably the fact that in all the intense action, I basically forgot whatever meager knowledge of u/w photography I've accumulated to this point and was reduced to "spraying and praying" I think I'll stick more with the Tokina 10-17 in the future.

 

Phil

[vazuw 1]

Great shots phil . you got some prize winners there

[stewsmith 14]

Fantastic shots Phil. A good report too. I remember watching the run up at Waterfall Bluff on David A's last series. They had plenty of excitement up there too. Witnessing that must be like nothing else. I am very jealous.

 

Stew

[DeanB 19]

Holy Sheesh ...

 

Awesome pics and a great report phil...

 

I love the Dolphin shots and the Gannets dropping onto what looks like a hillside of baitfish (last pic) is sooo cool...

 

Dive safe

 

DeanB

[Mike L 0]

Absolutely amazing. You hit it at the right time!!

[Drew 0]

The grounds of the "3 star" Mbotyi Lodge are spacious and well maintained and the rooms are clean and comfortable each with it's own bath and balcony. Unfortunately, neither they or any of the common areas have heat, so when temps dropped into the 40's a couple nights, things got pretty chilly! There is a (unheated) pool, plus a bar and game room area with ping pong and small pool tables. They also have internet, although slow and with limited hours. The staff is friendly, but I found the service somewhat disorganized and lackadaisical, sort of on Africa Time, mon. The big problem for our group was the food. I'm not very picky when I'm dive traveling, but this was merely tolerable in my book. I didn't go hungry, but neither did I relish meal time. More importantly, I was the only one of our 5 who didn't come down with some kind of 24-48 hour GI illness at some point. After asking around, other groups, including the SEAL staff, reported the same. The Lodge management claimed it was an "airborne virus" prevalent on the coast. Hmmmm.....

 

There are some purported advantages to the Mbotyi's location approx. 30 km north of Port St. John's. Port St. John's sits at the mouth of a river, thus the visibility is generally better further north away from the outflow. Mbotyi has a river too, but it's a mere trickle compared to the one flowing past Port St. John's. Second, Port St. Johns is also at the mouth of a deep canyon and is therefore substantially colder than Mbotyi. Finally, the underwater topography around Waterfall Bluff just north of Mbotyi supposedly concentrates the bait fish, increasing the potential action there. This is merely what we as gullible first-timers were told, so anyone who's been and stayed other places, please feel free to chime in with the pros and cons.

 

An exciting thing about the Mbotyi location and SEAL's operation is the surf launches as opposed to river launches at Port St. John's. After watching and timing the swells, the tractor quickly back the RIBs into the water and tips them off the trailers. Everyone helps turn the boats into the waves and when the captain gives the order, everyone hops on, secures their feet and you bang out through the surf. This requires both timing and coordination and the SEAL team performed perfectly, even with the ever-changing surf and bottom conditions. The return is just as much fun as the captain speeds in and you surf the waves to shore, grounding the boat on the sand in a foot of water.

Glad you had a great time and got images you wanted.

PS

Oh is that what Nic says about PSJ huh? Well he's a buddy so I'll just let others who've done both like Eric and Giles chime in

[bmyates 3]

Great report, Phil, and some awesome photos! Got my heart pumping faster just imagining how fast the action must have been with the dolphins and birds!! I'm really glad you had such a great experience!!

[daveerdoc 0]

Great report, Phil, and some awesome photos! Got my heart pumping faster just imagining how fast the action must have been with the dolphins and birds!! I'm really glad you had such a great experience!!

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone,

 

I was one of Phil's dive buddies for this trip, and the only one in our group with a video setup. Please click the link below for a 3 1/2 minute YouTube "highlights" video, shot with a Sony XR520V in a L&M Bluefin with Fathom 90 lens..

 

Phil's trip report is spot on, so I don't really have much to add, except that this is a MUST DO for anyone on Wetpixel. Will most certainly return for the chance to see this again!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQT6kxvyTpc

[diverdad 7]

Fantastic pics and a trip to remember for the rest of your days.

This is on my to do list!!

 

Lee

[DirkG 0]

Phil

 

Great report and nice photos

[tdpriest 115]

Great images!

 

Have you any advice on how to prepare to exploit that much luck?!

 

Tim