I have been 5 years of the last 6 in the region, hoping to do the world famous Sardine Run once. Well, now its done. Let me explain a little the process of the Sardine Run.
Each year, in June and July, the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa witness one of the biggest animal migration...underwater! Millions of sardines makes their way up from Port Elizabeth all the way to Durban. The highlight being the few weeks around the 1st July from the little town of Port St Johns to Coffee Bay in the Transkei. Put it simply....this is a mere 168kms from home if you had to draw a straight line from my home and the backpackers where we are staying in Transkei. But by road, its 380kms...and it takes just short of 6 hours driving through Transkei.
There are very few operators based all year long around the stretch of 70kms from Port St Johns to Coffee Bay. The area is better known for the living around this stretch of Ocean call the Wild Coast. So for few weeks, dive centers from all around the country to experience this
amazing migration. Sad news, its quite often super expensive. We speak easily of 4000usd per person for a little week (without transportation to the site)...and thats with pretty basic So you can imagine, first time ever Sardine Run my home dive center, I name Aquaplanet...I couldnt miss it...specially doing this with people I dive with multiple times per week...at a price way below half of what is normally charged by other operators!
What we do try to spot is a bait ball of sardines. Those are worked by dolphins. The dolphins are rounding the sardines into a huge ball than go and feed in. Ive got few amazing videos but I cannot post them anymore here. One is more special...while filming a bait ball on scuba....tens dolphins working the ball...and suddenly a bryde whales decided to pass just in front of me...simply magic!
So in I was...5 nights, 2 days on the road and 4 days in or on the water. We are based for the week at the Vukani Backpackers. Place is very basic, but views are superb...no internet here beside some basic mobile network connection few hours
per day. Food was super nice, and I did well to bring my own wine for the dinners! We are in the middle of Covid lockdown level 4...no booze can be sold in the country...but this is Transkei...slightly different story...beer is still available! We were also on the lucky side for the weather. Place is supposed to be super cold...with maximum day temperature often below 15 degrees. But we had beautiful sunny days most of the time, not a drop of rain and maximum temperature around 22 degrees...superb!
So each morning, you launch the zodiac around 7.30am...and we are go for 7 hours on the water. Not much diving here, I only put on the gears three times for 10 minutes each time maximum, some meter deep, over 4 days. So if you are only snorkeling, this is your place too. You just need to in open water...with a temperature just below 20 degrees...and surrounded by the big 5 of the oceans!
The idea is simple....millions of sardines migrate north following the coast line. So big things join the ride to feed on those sardines...I name thousand dolphins, bottle
nose dolphins, humpback whales, bryde whales, bronze whalers sharks and gannets. This is what Ive personally witnessed during my four days on the water. This season, they have also spotted few penguins as well as few orcas....a super rare sight!
Hope you enjoy the pictures. Im already on for next year...and it should be way more crowded too. No Sardine Run did happen in 2020...this year, around Coffee Bay area, we may have count 6 boats including us....thats a big maximum of 50 people! 2022 should be way different...hopefully Covid restrictions will be behind us. So book early for an amazing time!
Stay safe and take care....next blog, I guess only end of August...maybe! We are enjoying some quiet time at home...with solid golf, wine (got the stock)...
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