Sardine Run Adventure Trip
This trip didn’t strike me as the most exciting adventure you could take. But taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that this is great opportunity to observe a real wonder of the natural world. Literally millions and millions of these remarkable little fish make an arduous journey of 1000 miles from Cape Agulhas (just south of Cape Town) due northeast to Durban.
Here’s some interesting foreword on this amazing trip from BigAnimals.com:
“Sardine Run Scuba TripNot one but millions of sardines make this trip through treacherous ocean currents along a rugged coastline while avoiding dodging flocks of birds numerous predators such as, game fish, Cape fur seals, thousands of Common and Bottlenose dolphins, sharks, fishing nets and underwater photographers as well.
Marine science does not have a clear answer to this phenomenon, nor have I any answers, despite the fact that I was “hunting” them, photographically speaking, for 23 days along the Wild Coast; the Eastern Shore of South Africa.
Sardine Run Scuba DivingEvery winter from the last week of May through early July (winter in the Southern Hemisphere), this parade of millions of sardine, named “Sardinops sagax” or Pilchards, is taking place along the KwaZulu Natal on the East Coast.
In South Africa, the main spawning grounds are on the Agulhas banks off the Southern Cape coast, where the adults gather for a prolonged breeding season through the spring and early summer. Their eggs are simply released into the water, fertilized and left to drift off in the open ocean. A benign ocean current carries most of the developing larvae westwards and northwards into the productive waters along the West Coast, Atlantic Ocean.
Sharks, such as the Bronze Whaler (copper), Dusky and Black Tip, join the game fish such as shad, garrick and geelback. Not be excluded, marine mammals like Humpback whales, Minke, the Cape fur seals, and thousands of Common and hundreds of Bottlenose dolphins are seen in hot pursuit of the reflective mass of pilchards. As the sardines are driven to the surface, Cape gannets, cormorants, terns and gulls, plummet out of the sky to pillage from above.”
If this is of interest you may want to also check out WetPixel. They seem to sell a similar trip for $4,225.
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