~/trips/2018/south-africa
Aliwal Shoal & Ponta do Ouro
gear: Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II · Fantasea FG9X · INON S200 · Sea Dragon 2000 Dive Light
Ten days of shark diving on the east coast of southern Africa with Scuba Addicts: first from their lodge at Umkomaas for Aliwal Shoal in KwaZulu-Natal, then from their lodge over the border at Ponta do Ouro in southern Mozambique, with a last night at St Lucia before flying home from Durban.
It was ragged-tooth shark season. The raggies come to this coast in the southern winter and spring, and they hung in the gullies and under the overhangs in rows. On the baited shark dives, blacktips swept in close among the divers, several with a remora in tow. There were rays too: a manta with an escort of small fish, and a whole school of rays passing overhead in the haze.
The smaller stuff was good as well. There was a scorpionfish that took a while to spot, a bright orange frogfish, a lionfish, a nudibranch and a spiny lobster under a ledge hung with anemones. And the boats launched through the surf, straight off the beach.
Shot on a Canon G9 X Mark II with an INON S200 strobe, the new kit for 2018 after the SeaLife Micro HD+. There’s no dive log for this trip.
