Protea Banks rocks

Protea Banks is just amazing. It doesn't matter what time of the year it is, there is always something which blows our minds.

Yesterday i have counted 120 Raggies on one dive at the Northern Pinnacles.

This is not just an average Raggy Dive, this is definitely unique.

Everyone on this dive will remember this sight for the rest of our lives....

Visibility is 30m and the weather has been absolutely perfect.

And to top the whole experience, we see whales breaching all over the ocean.

Wherever we look there are humpback whales.

Beautiful !!!!

Zambezis and Raggies on Protea Banks

The Tigershark season is slowly coming to its close. We still see them on the odd Baited Dive, but here the Zambezis ( = Bull Sharks ) are taking priority again.

While the tigers were dominant during the last three months, the bulls chose to keep a respectful distance.

We did see them on every Baited Dive, but they hardly came close to the bucket.

Now that the tigers are moving off, the bulls are back in touching distance to the divers. Beautiful

However,this time of the year is really all about the Sandtigers ( = Raggies )

They have arrived on Protea Banks on 12.May and have since steadily increased in numbers.

Yesterday we estimated over 100 raggies.

This is pretty unique in the world and an unbelievable sight.!!!

As divers calm down on the reef the sharks' curiosity brings them very close. Perfect for the awardwinning photo and unforgettable experience.

All this comes with perfect, really perfect weather and seaconditions.

Shark's Eye View

Wonder what weird creature this bullshark is looking at....maybe some hitec crayfish ?

Best Time to dive Protea Banks

The best time to dive Protea Banks is without a doubt now. Since mid March we see Tigersharks on every Baited Dive we do. We could actually give a guarantee on this !!! Besides tigers we always have bullsharks and luckily only one or two black tips. We have medium current and clear blue water with 27C Yesterday we even had a Marlin passing the bucket. Bulls were particualrly playful and posed for excellent close-ups. Today we saw 3 bulls, 7 black tips, 18 guitar sharks, 3 scallopped hammerheads, 1 great hammerhead, 2 duskys and 1 eagleray.....what more can one ask for ? And this one was without any bait. Vis 40m + These faerytale conditions should carry on during April, May, June and July.

Tigersharks and Bullsharks on Protea Banks

Every Baited Dive we do , we have Bullsharks. This seems to be quite the norm on Protea Banks.
This time of the year we are also expecting Tigersharks to come and stay during the dive.
Today was such a day.
Excellent visibility ( 25m ) warm water ( 26C ) and we had a nice size Tiger for a good 60 mins on our Baited Dive.
Besides the Tiger we had 3 Bullsharks , one Black Tip, and a Dusky plus Hammerhead in the background.
Our Baited Dives are done at a depth of 12m and in order to give our divers the best value for money, we do not limit the time of the dive.
This means, each diver decides when he has had enough, or when the air runs out the diver surfaces. Most our Baited Dives therefore last between 80 and 90 mins.
Tigers and Bulls are very relaxed sharks which swim very slowly around the bucket and the divers. Because there is no hectic or hyped up sharks, the divers are equally relaxed and can concentrate on viewing and photographing the animals.
This is truely a unique experience .....

Baited Zambezi Dive

On Sunday we did a Baited Zambezi Dive. We specifically targeted Zams for a group who never dived with Zams before.
It did.t take very long and we had 6 huge Bullsharks ( = Zambezis ) on our bait.
Vis was excellent, water warm and the sharks were fearless.
Sometimes i had to hold my breath when i saw them swimming past a filming diver in less than 10cm distance !!!
The divers loved it and were ecstatic after a 90 minute dive.

Next week we're off to Germany to the BOOT exhibition 2011. For the first time we participate as exhibitors at the show. All's looking set for South Africa to be a winning destination.
We sure will go out of our way to promote this magic country !!!!

2011 starts big...

After a few lousy days under water, the conditions have sorted themselves out bigtime.
Sure, we had 2 days with bad vis and few to no sharks. These days come and thankfully go quickly !!!
Today :

• Vis : 15m
• Current : 2 kn
• watertemp.: 24C
• Sightings : 1 Tigershark, 1 Sandshark, 1 Eagleray, 5 Zambezis, 20 Black Tips and schooling Hammerheads wherever you look. Guys, we are talking of hundreds of not thousands of Hammers !!!!!

Another huge plus : we have a clear, starry sky tonight !!! Hurray

Merry Christmas with the Hammerheads

Just in good time for christmas, we are having hammerheads with no end.
Today we saw several hundred of these beauties together with 3 Zambezis, 1 Black Tip and 3 Eaglerays.
Great vis, warm water and pretty hefty current.
A great dive for Protea Lovers who know how to do it !!!

I also want to take this opportunity to wish everybody a merry Christmas and hope that you all will get richly presented. ( preferably with diving trips to Protea Banks !!! )

A Christmas thought :
Most of my friends and family in Germany are moaning about the cold and excessive snow in Europe. I am sweating my butt off and wish i could sit by the oven with a glass of Whiskey and watch the snow fall.
I wish i could walk along the romantic Christmas market and drink a hot Gluehwein.
I miss it this time of the year.
So every situation life throws at us has an upside. This upside needs to be discovered and wholly enjoyed.
A such positive feeling will stay with you forever. Go look for it !!!!!

We are on Facebook now

After i haven't seen Beulah for the last two weeks she has resurfaced on facebook !!!
What an effort she made there.
Anybody interested can follow our daily dive reports and we would be happy if you all would sign up as friends .
See African Dive Adventures ( business page ) or Beulah Mauz
Lots and lots and lots of stunning photos and more.....

Tigersharks on Protea Banks

Today is the day we have been waiting for. Our first tigershark visited our Baited Dive for over 80 minutes.
We started our Baited Dive number 79 for this year with 5 Zambezis and 2 Black Tips in absolutely crystal clear water. Visibility of 35m + and watertemp of 25C was the perfect start of a good dive.
Col. Mike from Underwater Safaris in Germany was my VIP and good friend of many years.
The two of us amongst all these sharks in touching distance. It truely was a shark lover's dream.
And then Mike spotted the Tiger-Lady. What a beaut !!!!!
We will be back tomorrow and we are looking for more......

I almost forgot : Hammerheads everywhere

Diving with Bullsharks

Diving with Bullsharks or Zambezis as we call them here cannot get better.
Every single Baited Dive we do produces a full on success and happy customers.
Today we had 8 Zambezis on our bait station. Visibility 20m and warm 24C water made for a dive which will never be forgotten.
The sharks came really close to the divers - close as in 50cm - and the guys had to restrain themselves from touching the sharks.
Although it may be tempting to touch such an animal, we strictly don't allow this. We feel, the diver needs to respect the sharks at all times. We don't want the sharks to loose their respect for us either.
We believe that due to this attitude and a long list of absolut safety rules we never had an accident or even a threatening situation with these fascinating animals.
We will keep bringing the sharks close to our divers and help the divers to get more understanding for the sharks.

A must see movie

Every diver should see this - there are some things that I have never seen in my life and the most amazing shots as well! See it immediately!

Bullsharks and Hammerheads on Protea Banks

The Hammerheads are here !!!
It is actually almost cheeky how we start the dive briefing these days :
Do you want to see the Raggies in the caves or the Hammerheads in the South or do you want to be buzzed by Bullsharks on our famous Baited Dive .
And it works. We can deliver everytime without fail.
Amazing diving !!!
We all know it doesn't exactly stay like this, but we sure do enjoy it while it lasts.
We should see the last of this year's Raggies now. Maybe a few more weeks and they will move on .
Hammerheads should be around for quite a few months, peaking sometime around Christmas.
Tigers should come anytime soon.
Bullsharks just love it here on Protea Banks !!!!!

Great diving on Protea Banks

We had a heavy four days of doing three deep dives a day with the crazy Austrians and the Bavarian from Tauchertraum. Unbelievable that the guys did not weaken.!!!
Kyle and i gave them one day, but we sure underestimated them.
But the effort was rewarded with excellent shark sightings.
We saw everything from Raggies in the caves to Zambezies, Black Tips, Duskys, even Sandsharks.
Visibility always between 20m and 25m
Temp 21C - 23C
Sea was pretty rough with strong winds but manageable.
We really played with the sharks and had an unforgettable time.
Tomorrow Beulah and i are flying to Germany for two weeks. Family visit....

Shark killing contest cancelled

Protea Banks has been a little quiet in terms of shark sightings the last couple of days.
Visibility was great at 25m and current gentle.
The weather is far too good for this time of the year.

Although the underwater world has been quiet, above water in Shelly Beach we had a full on revolution between fishermen and people who care for the environment.
The fishermen of Shelly Beach originally planned a shark killing event to take place on 2.& 3. October.
They had 53 boats entered and were going to 'restore the balance on the reef '
It took less than half a day on the internet and the whole world climbed into the fishermen.
Absolutely amazing to see who powerful and how many people from all parts of the globe want to save sharks from being slaughtered.
The pressure became so strong that the fishermen backed down.
Exactly the same happened in 2007 with the Durban Ski Boat Club.
Some people never learn....
What was most amazing to see was the unity of so many people who worked tireless towards a common goal. To save the sharks of Protea Banks.
Maybe soon we can all stand together and put pressure on governments to protect our threatened sharks before it is too late...?????

Whales on Scuba on Protea Banks

It has been a while since i wrote some news. Beulah and i were in the Kruger Park for 8 days and had the time of our lives.
We saw so many lions, it was unbelievable. Besides lions we saw the big five on day 3.
Our leopard which we have searched for for years has finally come true. 2.5 hours of watching him in a tree barely 15m from the street. I'll see if i manage to upload a photo or two.

And in the meantime, old Kyle went crazy under water. Visibility seems to stay around 15m on pretty much every dive so far. Slight current and 25 C watertemp.
On his last dive he encountered 3 humpback whales, a pod of dolphins, 5 zams and 4 black tips.
Yes, humpbacks on SCUBA !!! This is the finest one could ever ask for.
Hope we get more of those before the season is over...

Raggies are full up at Protea Banks

We had a great diving weekend just before the big wind came late yesterday eve.
Divers had the pleasure of being amongst plus/minus 80 Raggies and over a dozen Zambezies.
Our Baited Dive number 60 for this year was-like all the others- a full success with 7 Zambezies and 4 Black Tips.
As always on our Baited Dives, sharks come really close up and personal . An incredible experience for anybody who dares.......

Here's some Raggie footage.

How much better does Protea still get ?????

We had a bit of a quiet week and managed to do things one never gets a chance to do, ever. Like fixing the kitchen cupboard...eish !!!
So come friday, i am now seriously suffering withdrawal symptoms. Especially as the weather has been absolutely perfect all week.
So i phone old Kylie-Boy and JP and get ole Meeaalville to top for us.
Off we go to meet at Shelly Beach.
We pump a 31% Nitrox all the way to 250bar so we can do a proper decodive of note !!!
As we get to the Playground we slowly descend through slightly murky water into ever cleaner and colder water at depth.
On the bottom we did't see any sharks at first. Until we looked up !!! Oh my god, what a magnificent sight.
There must have been about 50 Raggies in midwater mingling with Zambezies and Black Tips and schools and schools of Tunas and other fish.
It carried on like that throughout the dive. Probably hundreds of sharks mixed with maybe thousands of tunas and more.
The reef self was full of shark life, vis at least 25m - 30m.
We did a cool bottom time of 30 mins and slowly outgassed on our long way up.
During all tis time we had sharks swimming around us and even a Marlin came to show his magnificent beauty....
This was one of those dives one cannot describe in words.
It felt as if we had found paradise.....
Or as if we were watching National Geographic from the best loungechair in the world...........

ADA Helps charity

ADA will be helping Matla A Bana - A voice against child abuse, to raise funds by donating a baited shark dive and accommodation to the Bid or Buy Charity Auction.

This charity was founded by ex-hostages, Callie and Monique Strydom - who are keen ADA/Protea Bank supporters!

Why don't you help by bidding on this auction (btw it includes lunch with Mr SA as well!)?

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/seller/1662429/Matla_A_Bana