another strange day

fish eagles with fish

Another beautiful day on the Wild Coast with really clear atmospheric conditions allowing for a fantastic view of the cliffs. On our way out we spotted a pair of fish eagles standing on the mud flats of the Mzimvubu Estuary. We noticed that one fish eagle was clutching a fish, and then he flew towards his partner, apparently to share the fish. Very nice indeed. We’re a lot less sharing when it comes to our bait box. In the photo below, you can clearly see the gannets tucking into their bait box, whilst making all the appropriate calls.

the gannets dive onto the bait box

Today was a fairly quiet day. Once again, within the 100 m isobath, there was plenty of fish, but it’s all deep – right on the bottom. Bits and pieces were brought to the surface, and some feeding was done, but this was mostly within 3 km from shore, and consequently the visibility was marginal. Later in the afternoon, we noticed very heavy but ephemeral activity out beyond the shelf edge, and guessed it was the same small fish as yesterday. When we got out there all hell was breaking loose as over 1000 gannets were feeding on long, thin fish that we’ve subsequently identified as saury, Scomberesox saury, thanks to Justin’s excellent photography. I’ll get a picture from him for tomorrow’s blog. There was a Bryde’s whale swimming through the chaos, but we didn’t see a feeding lunge. The activity was moving very rapidly around the ocean, and it did not ball in one place. Still, the water was clean and there were hundreds of common dolphins and sharks, so we jumped in. The action dissipated almost immediately, but we did have a nice moment when a large dusky shark swam up to inspect Vic and Justin. You can see a quick clip of that below.

All the boats from Mbotyi went north today. That is excellent news – fish must have gotten through Waterfall Bluff and there is a good chance they’re headed for KZN. Will keep my ears pressed to the wall. Still no satellite images for predictions. Sorry.
Happy hunting
Sean

Mzimvubu Estuary in the morning