Thursday, October 29, 2009

Seven gill sharks in numbers


We have been spending many days this year diving with the seven gill’s. Over the last 4 weeks we have been seeing an increase in the number of sharks in the area.


At the moment we are recording between 20 and 30 different sharks on a single dive! On our last dive we had one of the largest sevengill’s we have ever dived with, measuring in at about 3meters and weighing in at around 500pounds...she looked pregnant!


We also had a record 7 different shark species on a single dive! This is one of my favourite dives at the moment – the kelp forests and beautiful reef structures makes this a very rewarding experience.


The seals are always a hit and we often find ourselves amongst these playful animals when we dive this location.

Into the blue


The tuna season is in full swing and with it comes blue sharks and mako sharks. We did a trip out there on the 24th October to see what we could find.


The weather was good, the water was warm and the wildlife certainly didn’t disappoint us!


We had giant yellow fin tuna, sharks, dolphins and at least 8 different pelagic bird species (of which 3 were albatross).


The season lasts till the end December and sometimes even into January. The weather has to be good before we head out 30miles from land, but what an experience!

Borderhop – Mozambique 2009


Mozambique is a very special place with some incredible diving opportunities. We took on the road early October for a short 8-day-dive-as-much-as-u-can-expedition. We travelled 4500km in 8 days and got to dive 4 days on two different locations.


The first location was Sodwana bay. We joined Digger from blue juice for some sub tropical diving. On our first dive we ran into a Manta and a Ragged tooth shark! As we are sharky people, this was just what we were hoping for.


Our plan was to dive Sodwana and then go up to Ponta da ouro to dive the pinnacles and possibly run into some bull sharks, hammerheads and whale sharks.


Unfortunately the weather didn’t play in our favour and we had green, cold water with loads of jellyfish....but no sharks! The currents along the east coast can be very unforgiving. We still had a great time diving and surfing in Mozambique. We are already planning our next trip!

A busy year behind the camera


From Bassas to Cape town, from dusk till dawn, from white sharks to bull sharks, from 60minutes to Animal planet, from Anderson Cooper to Jeff Corwin....it doesn’t get much better than this!


2009 has been a challenging year for me behind the camera, but a very rewarding one indeed. I was lucky enough to be contracted as underwater cameraman on four high-end film productions about sharks.


White sharks were on the top of the shotlists and we (Mike Rutzen and myself) spent over 30hrs in the water with them this season. I can’t say much right now....but stay tuned for updates on the screening of these groundbreaking films. NOT TO BE MISSED!