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

No limit when it comes to the Raggies @ Protea!

Just before the weather turned nasty on us we managed to get a dive in. Went to the Northern Pinnacles. This time of the year there are garanteed Raggies in and around the caves. Lovely sight. Last week we only found 4 so i wasn't sure what we will find today.

Well, we got down and were greeted by a sight of Raggies everywhere we looked. With a visibility of 20m + we saw hundreds !!!! In fact, i counted close to 250 Raggies between the two caves and inside.

These are truely those dives who keep me going on Protea Banks forever.....

After we returned from Coffee Bay and not diving on Aliwal for a while a few sharks got scared when they saw us on Protea again!

And Protea did not dissappoint - there were more than enough sharks! The sea was literally infested with them. During the two baited dives we saw Tigersharks, countless Bullsharks and many Black Tips, as well as Duskys. The vis and the water were good to us and allowed for great viewing and filming. (Check out our videos!).

Today was sad Good Bye to our lovely group. We got to know each other and everybody started feeling really comfortable and opened up. Magic.

Tomorrow it is returning time for most and we are getting ready to welcome Alois Sima and his Czechs.

Sardine Update - 4 July

Our trip has come to an end. After driving around all day we came across countless whales, swam with the dolphins, watched turtles on the surface and even saw hammerhead sharks. As we were ready to go home - the day had one more surprise. Right in front of Hole in the Wall we found the only sardine activity of the day. The divers went in and saw gannets diving in an arm's length away, whilst the dolphins sounded the sardines into a ball. What a fantastic end to a great trip!

Sardine Update - 3 July

We saw it! Today was the day. We travelled north of Coffee Bay and nothing happened. Nothing at all... Just as we didn't know where else to go we saw the boiling water. We had sardines for hours and got right in the middle of the bait ball. Sharks, dolphins and gannets finally gave us the show we were looking for so desperately. A great day with everyone very happy!