The Sardine Run, Wild Coast, South Africa
We left new friends at the Blue Marlin Hotel and Crystal Divers and crossed over to Port St. John by van with a scuba gear and luggage trailer for the eleven and one quarter of us. It took about five hours through dry grass knolls and fields broken by Gum tree and Pine tree farming stations. Apparently the gum tree was brought over from Australia and really took hold to the point that it is now a weed used for heat, burning. Speaking of weed the area around Port St. John has a bit of a reputation for growing the stuff. I do have to say that it has a lot more uses than medicinal. The government burns down crops of weed every year but to no avail, it’s still prevalent. The night before we left the boys at Crystal Divers pulled a fast one on our dive guide/driver from Pro Dive South Africa and we had a really nice bon fire conversation and a night out on the town instead of early to bed.
After five hours we arrived at Port St. John’s River Lodge where our boat captain, Louie Van Aardt, was waiting to greet us and give us our pre-dive talk. Our trip was organized through www.prodivetravel.co.za based in Port Elizabeth a full day drive away. I was impressed with the river lodge, the rooms, cleanliness, family feel with kids playing everywhere, the food, and the boat waited for us at the end of the dock available for the fun to begin. It was too easy.
We were used to crashing through breakers to get out to dive sites but on this side of South Africa it was a little different. After everybody got personal gear sorted the first evening and got in the boat the next morning before 7 am, we were lucky or unlucky with the weather. It was clear skies, a mild swell, and the water was a little warm at 19 C. We toured up and down the coast looking for birds really, the first sign of the Sardine Run. They had begun showing up the day before we got there with Gannet, Storm Petrels, and a few Albatross gliding just above the swells without moving a wing. Where the birds went we went for a while and check out if a bait ball had formed, if so we were going to jump in and snorkel first rather than waste a tank of air on something that might break up after we got in the water.
Dolphins by the thousands are cruising this coastline right now and we had numerous opportunities to jump in and swim with them or get photos and film. It seemed better if you just stayed still rather than chase them; they come to you out of curiosity.
Below the dolphin we often found a shark trailing along because when the Dolphin circle the sardines into a ball doing all the work the sharks can swim through the ‘bait-ball’ as well and feed. Smart.
Not connected to the Sardine Run but equally impressive is the amount of Humpback whales migrating at the same time. Usually a little further out we would watch whales breaching and splashing around.
Louie mentioned that the juvenile whales were a lot more playful and approachable. On a day I missed due to the onset of an injury I couldn’t afford, the group got to dive with whales and get some great footage. If you’re interested in seeing some of this footage, I think www.stevewoodsphotography.commight do the trick. Two divers had massive cameras and the rest of us ranged from GoPros, Olympus, Canon, all in water housings.
I’m not one to sit around much but when book characters call out I usually have to reschedule activities around them. Once the characters are taken care of, I’m off exploring. While the group dived with whales the River Lodge arranged a guide to show me around some of the sites above water. My guide met me at the lodge and took a local truck taxi into town where a lot of people seem to gather during the day to sell fruit, vegetables, clothing etc. We walked up to the Jungle Monkey Backpackers. www.junglemonkey.co.za. It sits on a knoll overlooking ‘First’ Beach at the edge of town. Unfortunately their kitchen/bar/and music stage burned down recently but the dorm and the doubles are still available and the barbeque is up and running. My guide didn’t have a car so this was going to be a bit of an adventure without effort. One of the owners was willing to give us a lift out to a place called the ‘Gap’ and we could walk to the blowhole below it.
We got out, thanked him, and headed down to the blowhole. To get there is a bit of a climb including ladders and a safety cable hanging down the rock slope. The Gap and the blowhole are closer to ‘Second’ beach where I watched ‘Sin Sets’ of waves roll in without one surfer on them. I was told 8 or 9 people have been attacked by sharks here and so that keeps a lot of surfers out of the water even if those attacked were usually not surfing but swimming or spear fishing. The wind was right, blowing off shore holding up the waves and spraying over the tops in a rainbow. I watched Dolphin surf and play in the shallows as we sat waiting for the blowhole to do its thing. It wasn’t very active.
Once we got back up to the parking lot my guide finally got the drift that I wanted to go to the airstrip on the top of a plateau nearby. He figured the best possibility would be to go to Amapondo Backpackers Lodge and figure it out from there. We walked down a coastal single-track trail watching the waves the whole way. We found a few fishermen out on a point throwing their lines in. It’s best not to surf or swim when fishermen are fishing, they draw up everything including sharks.
On one of the rough days we came in from the sea early and did a quick look around and went to lunch at a place called Delicious Monster and the food and atmosphere were perfect for a place to eat basically outside. They do have a few rooms also. I had a seafood soup and crayfish and mussels. It was a really nice relaxing afternoon with the gang.
We found Amapondo Backpackers Lodge nearby and went in for tea and waited around for people to begin stirring. The backpackers had quite a few guests and it overlooks Second beach. The whole area of Port St John is loaded with hiking trails, some as long as five days and new ones being put in even longer. I spoke with the owner and he hooked us up with a guy who was off to collect wood from a Gum tree stand on my way. We hoped in and he drove us up to the airplane strip after dropping off his workers and chainsaws. He realized he could allow them to collect all the wood while giving me a lift back to my River Lodge and then he’d have a lighter day of it. Everybody was happy in the end.
We were all waiting for a cold front to blow in and cool the water but with the front come bigger swells and usually boat and wind spray. On big days we’d be wet pretty much from the get go. We did bring hot drinks in individual thermoses lunch. On such a day I could feel the beginning of a stiff back and had to opt out for the last couple days of boating. To be honest, it was okay with me because the River Lodge is in such a picturesque setting I could easily while away the hours writing and watching the waterfowl hunt on the riverbanks and I’d bask in the sun and take a break. I was expecting more diving than we did but the sights we all saw were also spectacular and worth it.
One rough day we came in a little early and we went up to the airstrip to catch the sunset and have a few beers. You literally have to look both ways when you get to the airstrip because there isn’t a tower or anything; you just drive on the strip and get to the end and out of the way in case of in coming. It was a beautiful sunset and we all returned to the Lodge for dinner.
There was a film crew staying at the lodge or using the restaurant and bar when the footy, ‘Rugby’ was on. There was a big party on their last night with all of us and they put a lamb on the spit and had quite the feed. These people know their business and it remains a lovely memory with a smile.
When it came time for everyone to scatter, many chose to go back to the Blue Marlin Hotel and get at least one more dive in if not two. Due to my mild injury and recognition of an up coming adventure trekking in Upper Dolpa out of Jumla I chose to carry on to the ‘Sak ‘n Pak Luxury Guest House in Ballito, Kwazulu Natal. www.saknpak.co.za. The room was awesome with a big bathroom, balcony over looking the ocean and a boardwalk up and down the coast. It’s a B&B so breakfast came with it and that too was great. The ladies running it are wonderful and willing to help get you situated. It’s a bit more posh in the Ballito area than the ‘wild coast’ of St. John or Durban. I did spend some time wandering the coastline before the sun went over the mountains. From the airport it’s about 20 minutes up the coast.
The Sardine Run never really came to fruition but the people I met and the shared dives were all worth it. They say the run is hit or miss and we may have been a little early but not from what I saw. It was a well planned, orchestrated trip with lots of laughs and good footage.
I’m sitting in the Istanbul International Airport writing this up because I have a long layover here. Considering the suicide bombings recently, this place is running like nothing happened except for the extra time spent going through your carry-on. It’s really busy here right now and all I can think of is getting back to Nepal for a 24 day trek along the Tibetan border searching for Snow Leopards and the Red Panda. It is a bit wet at the moment but hey; we should be able to find tracks a little easier. We are watching the weather in western Nepal and it’s an early monsoon season so we are waiting for the tail end to go. Jumla is in a downpour and plane flights are being cancelled at the moment. I’ll keep you posted.
Books by David Dagley:
Titles; ‘Cale Dixon and the Moguk Murders’, ‘White Bars’, ‘Women Of Cho’.
For more travel adventures go to my site listed below and click on a picture for a story and more pictures.
