Sharkwatch SA Blog

I feel behind every good shot there should be a good story to go with it. I’ve been with Marine Dynamics for almost 3 ½ years now and picked out 10 of my best moments captured on camera, not necessarily the 10 best, sharpest or toothiest pics… but a few of them always sneak in in any case!

1. Scratch breaches in 2007. This isn’t the sharpest picture I’ve ever taken or the best by any stretch of the imagination. But it was the one that gave me the most joy and one of the first shark pictures I ever took. I was still a volunteer and Scratch was the most notorious shark in Joubertsdam, I can still remember every moment of this trip...


2. Warren’s bait handling. I re-joined Marine Dynamics in September 2009 having spent some time in Mossel Bay learning how to tag and track sharks. On this particular day the sharks just wouldn’t give up but Warren’s bait handling was in stupendous form, this shark changed direction and made a second attempt for the bait in mid-air!

3. One of the best days in my career came in November 2009. In the shallows, water crystal clear and sharks everywhere. This large female came up from below and the photo made its way to an article in Beyond Blue Magazine a year or so later.

4. I got this picture in 2010, my first winter in Gansbaai and the sharks certainly didn’t disappoint!

5. Later in 2010 once the whales had arrived we picked up a curious young male Southern Right by Shark Fever. This whale spy-hopped, circled and brushed the underside of the boat. It was getting in between the sharks and the bait and finally gave me this shot with shark and whale in the same frame and Dyer Island in the background.

6. Finally in 2011 we got a new platform to work off in Slashfin and a new camera; needless to say the quality of photos we could take went up dramatically. I got this one of a yellow nose albatross at Dyer Island that winter and is most likely the best bird shot I’ve ever taken.

7. This photo however, has more character and more of a story to it. Winter brings with it harsh storms to Dyer Island and we’re often found hiding behind Geyser Rock to avod the swells. On this occasion a turn came to visit us by Slashfin and in the photo he’s looking down over the stormy seas on a grey and cold winter's day...

8. No top 10 would be complete without a classic shark open mouth with lots of teeth – I know that’s what you all want to see! This shot was taken last December in Joubertsdam and has been used as part of our ‘Get This Close!’ marketing campaign.

9.    However you can’t beat the feeling when a 5m+ white shark decides to pop her head out of the water and give you a good eye-balling. It’s a privilege to be able to say I was there in winter 2011 when she did this, one of two giants we saw that day!

10. And finally they might not win any awards but getting a good fin ID of an old friend you’ve not seen in a while gives me more pleasure than and shot of an open mouth or even a breach. I’d like you to meet ‘Big Nemo’ one of my favourites and despite the hole in her dorsal fin and the missing pectoral fin, she’s still going strong, growing bigger and bigger and even checking out surfers now and again. She was also the shark who gave me my first scientific publication and if you’d like to know how she got such a unique fin please have a look here...

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