On Sunday evening I received a call from Steve Benjamin of Animal Ocean http://www.animalocean.co.za to say that he had spent the day in a patch of clean water off Llandudno and that there were some dolphins and whales around. We arranged to meet at Hout Bay Harbour at 09h00 the next morning. I was up early to pack, but driving to Hout Bay from Noordhoek along Chapman’s Peak the water was a horrible brown colour. I phoned a friend in Blouberg and he reported the same dirty water there. Arriving at the harbour I said to Steve that I wasn’t sure it was even worth having to wash the dive gear, the water looked that bad. I gave my wife a call to see what she was up to and she said that if I wasn’t diving she had several chores for me to take care of. So it was quickly decided that a dive was in fact a worthwhile endeavour and we set off for Seal Island. On board Steve had a very enthusiastic crew of non-divers who were keen to jump in the water and snorkel with some seals and perhaps even some dolphins. Arriving at the island there were not many seals in the water but everyone was keen to have a swim in any event. Some of the ladies were more than a little surprised at the water temperature, with several very un-ladylike shouts of “Oh f**k its cold!” A bit later we moved to Maori Bay where we found some surprisingly clean water and some dusky dolphins, but they were not interested in hanging about. We moved on to Sandy Bay and Llandudno where the water was less clean with a distinctly greenish tinge, but there was a very friendly pod of dusky’s about. Everyone bailed overboard and had their first experience of swimming with wild dolphins. To say that they enjoyed the experience is a bit like saying that you might be hurt if you jump off a tall building! After about 30 minutes the cold reasserted itself as the dominant force and everyone climbed back into the boat to continue watching the dolphins from the surface. I found myself alone in the water for over an hour with the dolphins. No other photographers to compete with, just me and them… And to think that I nearly bailed out on the trip!!!
The full set of pics can be seen at my Flickr site!
Regards
Jean.
LOL...
