Graeme Duane's Blog

THE WIND IS UPON US.

It's that time of year when the east blows tirelessly, we've been launching at Sodwana, and with the wind cutting across a 3m swell this week, it hasn't been an easy excercise. That's not to say that the sea is dead at this time of year. The tuna have been about, the Ragged Tooths are moving north, and the Garrick are moving inshore. Its just a question of being able to get out there... Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on September 4, 2008 at 4:14pm — No Comments

Hmmm.

I found these long silver fish with sort of yellow mouths swimming around the Nebo. There were so many of them that I couldn't concentrate on what I was trying to do. Had to chase them off with the camera housing... Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on August 20, 2008 at 3:30pm — 1 Comment

THE SHARKS MOVE IN.

After such a good sardine run, the spin offs are substantial. One of these is the huge population of Ragged Tooth sharks that have been "sucked up" to KZN by the run, and have colonised Aliwal and Protea to begin their breeding cycle. Numbers are high, and we can now see that these numb… Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on July 17, 2008 at 5:06pm — No Comments

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END.

It looks like the 2008 Sardine run is finally winding down. There is still sporadic action down south, but this is mostly lagging Red-eye. What a run its been. The south coast reefs are now full of sharks, waiting to kick off their breeding cycle, all fat & happy! What are we going to… Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on July 15, 2008 at 3:45pm — 2 Comments

THEY'RE BACK!

Sardines resurfaced with a vengence after the bad weather and heavy rain. The sea cleaned up miraculously, and we even had a days netting around Umkomaas on monday. The action off Mboyti and Waterfall Bluff was reported to be going ballistic, and as the water cleans up there too, the shoa… Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on June 25, 2008 at 5:22pm — 4 Comments

THEY'VE GONE..?

We got chased back to Durban by very bad weather. Port St Johns got flooded out as did half the KZN south coast, so we're licking our wounds, waiting for the sea to settle so that we can see if there are any decent shoals left. Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on June 20, 2008 at 12:38pm — No Comments

THEY'RE HERE...

Check this story out on Earth-Touch... Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on June 13, 2008 at 8:00am — No Comments

SARDINES MOVE NORTH.

A big shoal of sardines have moved past Waterfall Bluff, and extend up to Mnyameni. The fish should hit Port Edward tomorrow, and move north from there. Beach meshing should start on the KZN coast soon. Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on June 10, 2008 at 6:58pm — 2 Comments

SARDINES LEAVE EAST LONDON?

If the last few sard runs are to be consistent, then these little fish may well have past East London already. Optimists could say that the "motherload" is still coming, but over the last few years we've seen fewer sardines swimming up the coast. Massive netting operations could be the… Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on June 8, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments

SARDINES ARE HERE.

Sardines have been sighted regularly just north of East London. The shoals have been followed by sharks, Common dolphins, Cape Fur seals, Gannets and Brydes Whales. The action does seem to be dribbling up the coast, but there isn't any great volume yet. Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on June 4, 2008 at 3:16pm — 6 Comments

SEAHORSE AT SODWANA.

This is the last week that we have at Sodwana, and we finally found the seahorse that we've been searching for. At 31m on Roonies Grant found this little orange specimen. Its a Prickly Seahorse, and we get excited here because these things are pretty uncommon and difficult to spot. Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on June 3, 2008 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

THE TIGER SHARK STORY.

There's been a lot of talk about the killing of the three Tiger sharks at Rocky bay a few months ago, after Carte Blanche aired an insert on this story on sunday. If you click on FORUM above, you'll see a discussion about this, care to air your views? Its a long and complex argument, fueled by new, vague laws as well as by fierce mudslinging by commercial fishermen and shark diving operators. No one is Mr Clean in… Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on May 27, 2008 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

FALSE KILLER WHALES?

This still is from video taken off East London last week. It's of a big pod of cetaceans that were heading north at about 15 knots. We think they're False Killer Whales, but can't be sure as these are supposed to be quite uncommon. There are two more pics in the photos page. I'm hoping to get an ID from someone soon. Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on May 26, 2008 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment

UNDERWATER BOEINGS.

Our deep reef at Sodwana yielded a gem a few days ago. We were scratching around with macros when a huge manta did a military fly-past, almost over us as we crouched on the reef. This one had a wingspan of about 4 meters, it was huge. The full story is on Earth-touch. Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on May 21, 2008 at 3:30pm — No Comments

WHAT, NEW REEF AT SODWANA...?!

We've been diving a nice little set of reef just inside Wright Canyon at Sodwana. New reef here is not easy to come by, as the area has been intensively dived for decades. This reef is in the marlin grounds and sits on the edge of one of the Wright Canyons that protrudes inshore. Although not big, the reef holds an astounding array of different life, all in close proximity. The whole place is shrouded under a thick blanket of Slender Sweeper… Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on May 19, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments

ON THEIR TERMS.

This picture is taken by Fiona Ayerst, and shows the view from the cage looking out at a freediver working a White Shark with a video camera.

This is how our relationship with the ocean should be. Not from a boat or from secondary opinion, but on coal-face terms. How do we realise what's really happening down here unless we see for ourselves. This is why Saltwater has such a visual aspect to it. We try to show people who aren't th… Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on May 14, 2008 at 12:00pm — No Comments

BEAMING FROM SODWANA...

We're lucky enough to be set up in the Isimangaliso Wetland Park, at Sodwana, where we've been sending footage through to Earth-Touch.com. This happens on a daily basis, and the content can be seen on www.earth-touch.com. Sodwana has been good to us... Lots of Whale sharks, Dolphins and good vis have made seeking out the many natural stories a pleasure. I've been surveying 9 Mile reef, and this content has been going through to television in South Africa on a daily basis. We have about two wee… Continue

Added by Graeme Duane on May 13, 2008 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Graeme Duane's Blog (17)