Confessions of a Sardine Run virgin:

For years I have wanted to dive the Sardine Run. Whenever I’ve been asked why I have not done it yet I’ve had all the excuses ready, mostly all legitimate. The usual is not having enough leave, or money, or some combination thereof. Over the last few years I’ve read accounts and seen photographs published by many photographers having been on the Sardine Run. Most of these have been from either the USA or from the UK, and have made the pilgrimage to see what is now being described as “The greatest shoal on earth” and “one of nature’s great events”. Living in Cape Town, just a chip and a putt from where the action takes place, I felt almost ashamed that I had not yet been there and done that. So I decided that 2009 was to be the year that I had to be there.

Thus began the research into what is in effect a lottery. Most of us have seen some fantastic images from the run, and almost all of us have seen the BBC footage that took over two years to acquire. The only problem with this is that people do tend to arrive with some very high expectations. It really does need to be understood that the sardines migrate at their own pace, and there are so many environmental and oceanographic factors that have to fall into place to make things happen. The cold water has to spread up the coast. The dolphins have to herd the sardines into baitballs. The weather has to be good enough to launch. The skipper has to find the action. The water needs to be clean enough to photograph the action. The action has to remain stationary and consistent for long enough to be captured. The divers have to cooperate so as not to scare off the predators. But when it all comes together it is as spectacular as can be imagined.

A lot of potential visitors are put off at the prospect of paying large amounts of cash with no guarantee of sardine action. This is the gamble that must be taken. A lot depends on when you go, where you go, and for how long you can afford to stay. There have been some years where nothing happened at all, and some where the action has been incredible. Prior to the trip I had thought that I understood the gamble, but having done it I can say that the gamble is far more uncertain that I had anticipated.

I only made the decision to go in March and by then most operators were booked up. I managed to get a spot with Blue Wilderness (who prefer to operate from East London and catch the sardines a bit earlier than the operators at Port St. Johns) and the only date they had available was 11-18 June. As the time to depart drew closer a series of frantic phone calls to track the progress of the shoal ensued.

Together with two mates I decided to drive up from Cape Town and make an overnight stop in Port Alfred. The following day we made a dive at Fountain Rocks in 2m viz and used it as a shake down dive to make sure all kit and cameras were working. Everyone we spoke to in Port Alfred told us that we were too late and that the sardines had already gone past. We arrived in East London in the late afternoon and prepared the gear for the next morning.

After brief introductions were made between all those on the boat we set off out to sea. One of the perks (depending on how you see it) of using East London as a base is that there are no surf launches. The boat departs from the main harbour on the Buffalo River. Within an hour our skipper found some action off Gonubie. The birds were diving and the dolphins chasing from below so we rolled overboard to check it out. Most of us were free-diving at this point as we did not know how fast the shoals would move. What we found were six or seven separate bait balls that remained static for over a few hours. Between the ten passengers on board we almost managed to get a baitball each. There were not many sharks that I could see and the action consisted of mostly dolphins feeding on the sardines. The water was crystal clean. It was some of the most amazing diving I have ever done. After a while I swam back to the boat and collected my cylinder and dived back down for some more. Suddenly there was a sound like a canon shot and a gannet appeared in the shoal. Then again and again there would be a boom and the gannets were ripping into the shoal.

I had not been sure whether to take my 10.5mm fisheye or go with the 12-24mm and in the end I had gone with the fisheye. In hindsight it was probably the wrong choice but I just had to make the most of it. I had to get really close to the action to be able to have any chance at a decent photo. This was my first time photographing really fast action and having to use the motor-drive function. I would have an eye glued to the viewfinder, notice the shoal start to get skittish, hit the shutter release and then the dolphins would come tearing through. The one problem I found was that my strobes could not keep up and after three or four shots the next twenty would all be without any strobe light. In effect most shots turned out to be ambient light only. You need strobes with a really fast recycle time.

With one memory card full (+/-700 shots) I returned to the boat. Most of the others were already in the boat and total excitement was the order of the hour. I swopped out memory cards and we kitted up for a drop onto the next bait ball. Myself and one other diver were the first in the water and dropped in on the most amazing spectacle.

There were birds everywhere, and probably twenty sharks and even more dolphins attacking a small baitball. The visibility had dropped quite a bit. I felt a bump on my fin and turned to see a small dusky shark giving it a taste test. As soon as I made eye contact it swam off and I turned back to the sardines in time to see a large Zambezi/Bull shark having a go at them. I managed to shoot a few frames and then all of sudden all of the sharks disappeared leaving only the dolphins. I looked behind me and saw that all the other divers had joined us. The sharks are really fickle and more than a couple of divers is all it takes to scare them off. As I turned back to the shoal a massive shape materialised out of the gloom and a Brydes whale appeared, opened its mouth and swallowed half the shoal in one huge gulp. Unfortunately I was not paying attention and missed the shot (but managed to snap another one of these behemoths later on).

After an hour or so we returned to the surface and saw a Humback breaching. We asked our skipper to take us to the whale but he refused. He told us that baitball action like this was incredibly rare and that whales could be seen anytime. He insisted that we dive again and keep shooting and so we did. That night Blue Wilderness sponsored the champagne to celebrate an awesome day at sea.

The next day had similar action, but the visibility was down to a meter or two. I spend a few hours free-diving into the shoals and just enjoying the experience of being right in the middle of one of natures great spectacles. Photographically it was not a great day underwater but we shot some amazing topside action.

And then the show was over! The next four days were very quiet. We dived on the local reefs, followed whales, conducted television interviews for a well known South African investigative journalism program called Carte Blanche and generally had a good time, but no sardinops sagax!!!

Apparently we had had a pilot shoal that had moved up the coast. On the day I left the main shoal was reported as being 80km south of East London and having just passed Port Elizabeth, but as of yesterday they still had not arrived at East London.

The whole experience was fantastic, made even more so by the great people we met and the crew that went out of their way to make everything happen. We were very lucky to have that one brilliant day. (The people who had been there the week before us had no sardine action, but did see some killer whales). From a photographic perspective I was a little disappointed in my results and by the end of the week felt that I had learnt what I needed to know before having arrived. I needed just one more hour of decent action but nature has its own agenda.

So would I go again…? You bet! But next year I will try to book early and do two weeks. This is one trip you have to do at least once in your lifetime, but once you’ve done it you’ll definitely be coming back again.

Click HERE for pictures.

Regards
Jean.

Thanks for your detailed report and your pics !, i saw some familiar faces from the time i spent diving with Blue Wilderness last year ( Steve ,James,Mark,OJ and also Derek Watts that happens to be one day diving there )

Blue Wilderness are great , really passionate about what they do !

Regards

Jose Alejandro

Nice trip report. Sounds like you had a blast. Will be down there next year after spending some time on Aliwal with the Tiger Sharks.

Cheers,
Mark.

Sounds fantastic! Thansk for the report. I was planning a trip next year, but since the World Cup soccer has quadrupled ticket prices (!), have decided to knock it back to 2011.

I dived the sardine Run in about 1985/6-when it hit the Natal coast (it was a good year!)I remember really poor viz, and the sards bait balling around me-meaning I got too close to some big predators! At the time, no-one was doing it, in fact we got a severe telling off for giving it a try (irresponsible etc!)

Roll on 2011! Thanks again for your report

Adam

Considering that the run was first photographed & filmed in 1997 (by Peter Lamberti I think) then your dives must truly have been pioneering ones. I remember wanting to do it back in 1995 and having people tell me I was nuts! You must have some awesome memories from those years. Here's to more "irresponsible" behaviour!

Rgds
Jean.

Jean
good to hear some good news about the sardines
a guy dived with us at aliwal and said he only got ten minutes diving in (not sure if it was a day trip or a week)
next year its that and the sharks at Guadalupe for me
cheers
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