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Sardine Run 2014 – The Holiday Diary

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It’s Sunday morning, day one. The alarm clock shows 6.00 am and its beeping makes it very clear that it’s time to get up. It’s still dark outside, the coffee fragrance is in the air leading us to the breakfast lounge of the Umkomaas lodge; a few muffins satisfy the stomach and get us ready to go. The equipment is all set-up, the wetsuits are on and the boat is loaded. It’s not often to see people getting up before dawn with a smile on the face, but when your early wakening anticipates two dives packed of sharks, then the perspective totally changes. The launch with our speedboat is still the same: hold on tight, put your feet in the straps and the jumping and slalom between the waves kicks the day off. The first dive is a baited dive, but not before having attracted a few dozen blacktip sharks around the boat. We kit-up and with a rollback we are in what looks more like a shark soup then a place in the Indian ocean. The washing machine drum full of smelly fish hangs at an eight meter depth and we’re looking all around at the blacktips getting crazy…

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The Hammerhead Triangle – Cocos, Galapagos and Malpelo

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So, you like sharks? Big sharks? Hammerhead sharks? Then the Hammerhead triangle is where you want to be in your next diving holiday. Hammerhead sharks Their bizarre shape, their wave-motion and their powerful grace makes this animal one of the most sough-after sharks. This shark variety may reach the 6 meters size and weigh up to 580 kg; the particular hammer-shape consents the shark to a 360 degrees eyesight. Their habits are not the most common among other sharks: they swim in schools during the day and hunt solitarily at night. Hammerheads can been spotted in warm waters, along the coastline of many places in the world but there is a special place where they particularly like to hang around: the hammerheads triangle. The hammerheads triangle The imaginary triangle formed between Cocos, Galapagos and Malpelo islands is a well-known location in the scuba diving community for its massive presence of hammerheads sharks. These three islands confine some of the best diving spots in the world where you can see of up to 200 / 300 hammerheads swimming in schools. Situated west of Central America, this golden triangle is formed among three different countries: Galapagos Islands, situated 1,000 km of the…

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Dive with Hammerhead Sharks in Gordon Rocks – Galapagos

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Three rocks emerge from the water, they are part of an extinct volcanic crater and, together with the submerged pinnacles, gives this dive the shape of an open semi-circle. In the middle of it, an imposing pinnacle (El Pinaculo) emerges from the 32 meters depth bottom and creates funky washing machines. In front of it, between two of the exposed rocks, other three aligned pinnacles are set as the gate: the entrance to the dive spot. Gordon Rocks is probably the best diving site that you can reach from Santa Cruz, without the need of joining a liveaboard excursion. You can reach it within 45 minutes to 1 hour navigation from Puerto Ayora. La Lavadora (washing machine), the local name of this site, is considered one of the most challenging dives in Galapagos. When there is current, it totally deserves the recognition. Like most of other places around the world, it depends on the day, the hour, the moon and many other factors, so as you could dive Gordon without a breeze of current, most of the time you’ll have from moderate to intense current as well. This is why it is not recommended for beginner divers. Knowing ahead that the…

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Dive Raja Ampat, Indonesia

How to Dive Raja Ampat – Indonesia

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When a diver thinks about Indonesia, one of the most immediate association he will make in his mind is with ‘’Biodiversity’’; this part of the world, in fact, is extremely famous for his great biodiversity: thousands of corals and fish populate this region. One of the most famous place in Indonesia, with no doubt, is Raja Ampat. Raja Ampat is the western point of the biggest island in the world, the New Guinea and it is politically divided in two parts: the south part is the ‘’Papua New Guinea’’ and it is an independent country; the north part is ‘’Papua’’ or ‘’Raja Ampat’’. Raja Ampat (literally ‘’the 4 kings’’) is divided into seven different protected marine areas. Certainly the underwater share of this great place is the better known because it is considered the epicenter of the marine biodiversity! Just to give some numbers characterizing this place: 1,628 species of reef fish in the Bird’s Head Seascape 1,430 species of reef fish in Raja Ampat 42 species of endemic reef fish found only in the Birds Head Seascape 603 species of hard coral recorded in the Bird’s Head Seascape 75% of all known coral species in the world 10 times…

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Shark diving top locations worldwide

Who Else Wants to Dive With Sharks? The 10 Top Locations

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1. South Africa South Africa is probably the best place on earth where to dive with sharks. You’re not just diving with any old sharks, either—among many other species, you’ll be taking to the water with the predatory king of the ocean: the great white. Plan a two week holiday diving the following South African sites, and you might just see more sharks than you will in a lifetime of diving other locations. False Bay and Gansbaai These are the prime spots for diving with Great Whites – in the cage if you have a family, just a snorkel and fins if you happen to be nuts. And while both are well worth visiting, False Bay is slightly less touristy, and also provides visitors the chance to dive with the cow sharks that populate in the area. Aliwal Shoal, Umkomaas Aliwal Shoal is famous for its abundance of oceanic blacktip sharks. Every day, hundreds of divers jump into baited waters containing packs of twenty or thirty blacktips. If you’re lucky and in the right season you may also see tiger sharks. Keep an eye out for sandtiger sharks discarded teeth down in the reef sand! Protea Banks Protea Banks has fewer sharks…