From Johannesburg, a short flight to East London where you are welcomed by the crew. You meet Chris Fallow, one of the world’s leading marine wildlife photographers and shark guru. You are briefed on the security measures, you are fitted your wetsuit, hoodies, booties, gloves and fins. These are the pros and you are going out with them on an expedition. Each year, the sardines migrate to warmer waters, and they are followed by a host of predators, from dolphins to sharks, from humpback whales to gannets. In terms of biomass, it is a bigger migration than that of Serengeti, and just as wild, if not more. The excitement makes it hard for you to fall asleep.
After breakfast, you embark and go out to sea. Chris obviously knows what he is doing and he is able to read the signs of nature as if they were written on clear lettering. At first he follows the gannets, they can spot the sardine shoals from above. Keeping up with the birds is no easy task. Then, a pod of dolphins crosses your path and Chris follows stays behind their fins. In a moment, a huge energy gathers all around you, the sea begins to foam, and the gannets dive from the sky at a huge speed, cutting the water surface and adding to the din. You have come to the feast, and your eyes are having their fill.
The action is impressive from the surface. How awe-inspiring it must be from beneath! You are about to find out. You dive into the fray and witness it all: the dolphins that herd the sardines who, in their synchronised dance, attempt to avoid becoming someone’s lunch. The sharks that charge into the baitballs and break the sardine shoals into smaller groups. It is a ballet, a symphony of the seas. Then the birds dive into the water precipitously, and put the last accent into this magnificent opera of Nature. As a humpback whale passes near you and moves you with its powerful swim, you realise you are where only a few can be, where only a few dare be.
After six hard days at sea, you are no longer the same person. The experience of the wild waters brings a lot of perspective. On retrospect, it was daring, it was wild and exciting. The exhilaration, brings fond memories and reaffirms in your mind the path you have chosen: you are an adventurer and an explorer..
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