divEr 20
currents that, at this time of year, come
close to land. This, in turn, attracts a
number of predators, including common
and bottlenose dolphins, gannets, Bryde’s
and humpback whales, copper, bull,
dusky and sand tiger sharks, seals and
even, on occasion, sailfish.
For the past 10 years, the Sardine Run
had ranked high on my wish-list. I learnt
in 2017 that Danish company Kingfish
Dive & Travel, with which I had travelled
successfully before, had added the run to
its programme for 2018.
Because I live in Copenhagen, I visited
its offices to learn more about the trip. As
you can imagine, it didn’t take long to be
convinced to book a spot for the 2018
Sardine Run.
As I said, we never know what mood
Nature will be in, so you can't rely on
seeing baitballs every day. However, given
all the other things we saw during the
week, it didn’t matter that much.
The Sardine Run’s main attraction
might be baitballs under attack, but we
experienced more than enough
alternative action while sailing around to
pack a whole ocean safari.
We saw more humpback whales and
dolphins than I could count and, last but
not least, a small pack of orcas. Though
there were fewer orcas, just seeing these
magnificent animals come close to the
RIB was enough for me, so it really didn’t
matter how many there were.
Further, when we first spotted the orcasAbove: Sardines moving at
full pelt, trying to get away
from hungry dolphins.Left: Humpback whales.Below left: Front-row
position for “the Greatest
Show on Earth”.