Diver UK – July 2019

Where in the world can you ride out in a small

boat and jump into the ocean to see dolphins,

sharks and whales up close, all in the same

day? It’s possible in South Africa when the

greatest show in the ocean takes place.

MORTEN BJORN LARSENjoins the Sardine Run

N

ATURE DOES WHATEVER

Nature wants... it’s a waiting

game!” said our RIB captain,

Louis, meaning that the only thing we

could do was to wait and see what

mood Mother Nature was in.

Sometimes that was a good thought

on which to focus as we sat there,

looking out at the choppy Indian

Ocean, with no sign of action.

I kept looking from side to side,

hoping to see what is called “boiling

water”. This is a way of describing the

visual effect when a tight school of

sardines is close to the surface. When

you see this phenomenon, it can be a

good sign that predators are hunting

and eating the sardines.

We also looked for birds diving from

the sky to catch the small fish. All the

while, Louis was listening for

interesting calls from Janneman in his

spotter plane. If the wind was right,

Janneman took off early in the

morning to be our eyes in the sky.

Suddenly, there was a call from

Janneman that made everyone in the

RIB sit up and listen. The walkie-talkie

was scatting a bit, but we had no doubt

when the pilot raised his voice and

spoke of action with dolphins and a

baitball – and then got on to the best

part: “It looks static.”

It was static. That meant that the

sardines were surrounded and not

moving at any pace faster than a

divEr 18

over, almost as quickly as it had begun.

I swam a little away from the

baitball, but now there was no sign

of dolphins, only the sardines swirling

around.

Suddenly I heard the loud sounds

that dolphins use to communicate, and

then, seconds later, they came

thundering back from the deep.

This time I got to shoot a few photos

before the attack was over. By now

I had learnt that the dolphins

communicate just before an attack.

That proved to be the signal for me to

get into position with my camera.

For the next 45 minutes, I succeeded

several times by taking a deep breath

as soon as I heard the dolphins

communicate, and diving the metre

down toward the baitball.

This technique didn’t work every

time they attacked; sometimes, I just

stayed at the surface to enjoy the show

as the dolphins came smashing

through the exposed sardines, and the

water filled with fish-scales.

At one point I saw a silhouette

beneath the sardines. It was moving

differently to the dolphins, so I took

a deep breath and dived down a bit.

Then I saw what it was – a dusky

shark, a species capable of growing up

to 4m in length. Duskies have sardines

listed high on their menu, so it had

smelt dinner and come to join the

party, but the dolphins still weren’t

finished and kept attacking, blowing

bubbles and keeping the baitball tight.

I

FOUND THAT,if I shot against the

sun, particles and scales from the

sardines in the water made the water

look greenish, but if I shot with the sun

to my back, the water was a much more

pleasing blue.

Once I realised this, when the

sardines were attacked again and I had

human could follow. Captain Louis put

the RIB to full speed, because we had

about five minutes to reach the baitball.

As we approached it I put on my fins,

weight-belt, mask and snorkel.

We didn’t yet know if it would be

possible to scuba-dive around the

baitball, but we could quickly see that

all the action was near the surface.

Now the expression “boiling water”

made complete sense. We decided to

jump in without scuba tanks.

I

SWAM AS FASTas I could. Just in

front of me was the baitball, and it

was under full attack from a pack of

common dolphins.

The dolphins work together in a very

well-planned pattern of blowing

bubbles beneath the sardines to keep

them close to the surface.

As I approached the baitball, I could

see thousands of sardines swimming in

tight formation. They do this to make

it more difficult for predators to pick

out individuals.

I lay on the side of the baitball,

trying to calm myself, but the

adrenaline and the joy of finally

experiencing this phenomenon made

my heart beat like crazy.

Then, in a swift move, the baitball

turned towards me, just as the dolphins

attacked again, seemingly at the speed

of light. I had just ducked my head

beneath the water when the attack was

Pictured: Morten admits

to rarely getting both a

shark and dolphins in the

same image.

Inset above left: The

spotter-plane pilot comes

down to say hello.

Inset above right:

Breaching humpbacks are

a common sight on the

Wild Coast.

FLY, RUN

DIVE

“