From Wim on the stormy ocean: This morning we headed out onto a very choppy sea with a northeasterly wind blowing strongly. We headed north into the wind and almost immediately found ourselves surrounded by a massive pod of dolphins. There were dolphins as far as the eye could see in all directions, with whales inbetween. We jumped into the water and spent ages with the frolicking, playful dolphins who swam and jumped around and past us in their hundreds - no, I think it was thousands! There was a constant stream, allowing us to take hundreds of magnificent photographs both above and under water. The dolphins found us quite interesting and many swam right up to us, giving us eye to eye contact again and again. After we clambered back onto the boat and set off again, we captured some wonderful seabird images against the backdrop of the restless...
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Blog posts tagged in Sardine Run
From Wim on the stormy ocean: This morning we headed out onto a very choppy sea with a northeasterly wind blowing strongly. We headed north into the wind and almost immediately found ourselves surrounded by a massive pod of dolphins. There were dolphins as far as the eye could see in all directions, with whales inbetween. We jumped into the water and spent ages with the frolicking, playful dolphins who swam and jumped around and past us in their hundreds - no, I think it was thousands! There was a constant stream, allowing us to take hundreds of magnificent photographs both above and under water. The dolphins found us quite interesting and many swam right up to us, giving us eye to eye contact again and again. After we clambered back onto the boat and set off again, we captured some wonderful seabird images against the backdrop of the restless...
Wim reports: This morning we were out on the ocean again shortly after sunrise, and before long we encountered a massive pod of Common Dolphin. This was very exciting for us. The Common Dolphins are usually an indication that sardines are in the vicinity. They follow the sardines, then isolate and herd thousands of the fish, forming a bait ball which they then feed on. When we caught up with the pod, we could see dolphins for hundreds of meters in all directions. This gave us a fabulous opportunity to take photographs of them jumping, breaching, splashing, and enjoying themselves. They were moving too rapidly for us to dive for underwater shots. We followed them until they swam away quite suddenly, leaving us with excellent photographs of the encounter. We were not alone for long as we found a large pod of Bottlenose Dolphins fairly close to the shore. This...
From Wim: The wonderful thing about safaris is that one must always expect the unexpected. This has never been more true than today. We were up early and rushed out - to be greeted by strong winds and stormy seas. There was no chance that any boat could be launched in those conditions. The area around southern KZN is really spectacular and we ventured inland to capture some of the wonderful landscapes. A beautiful waterfall kept us busy for quite some time. Hopefully the seas will be calmer tomorrow, so be ready for some amazing action and extraordinary photography ... ...
ODP Safaris is participating in this year's sardine run! This phenomenon occurs annually when billions of sardines which spawned in the cool waters of the Agulhas Bank migrate northward along the Eastern South African coast before turning toward the Indian ocean. Shoals measuring 7 kilometres long and 30 metres deep are accompanied by aquatic and flying predators by the thousands. Whales, sharks and dolphins accompany the shoals, while sea birds including uncountable gannets dive bomb the fish, creating extraordinary spectacles. We will give you a daily account of the excitement and experiences as related by the ODP participants. ...