Slapping tail signals first sardine shoals in Port St Johns? - 09:35 pm

11 Jun 2009

After a slow start to the morning, which dawned warm and overcast with very little wind, things started to pick up in the afternoon. Having completed a recce north up to Waterfall Bluff, we slowly headed back south inshore before being drawn back out to sea by the appearance of a flock of gannets gathering above disturbed water. Expecting a pod of common dolphin, we were quite frankly astounded to discover that they were bottle nose dolphin, in all likelihood the larger type that ranges right off the continental shelf. What was astounding to us was the size of the pod - conservatively we estimate around 500 individuals, but quite possibly it was closer to 1000. Their behaviour was interesting as well - they travelled extremely slowly, almost languidly, and appeared to be in no hurry at all. Jumping in on scuba, we found them to be moving right through the water column - at our depth of 25m, they would disappear below us and out of site. Barry was able to get some great footage of this pod, given their relaxed pace and clearly inquisitive behaviour. A short while after filming this pod underwater, we came across a humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, slapping its tail on the surface repeatedly for around ten minutes. Quite what this behaviour indicates is unclear, with experts holding different positions on it - tongue in check, we have a gut feel that today it signalled the arrival of a pilot shoal of Sardinops sagax sardines in the area. Why do we think this? Quite simply, the load of animals moving into the area. Tomorrow we will surely get a sense if this hunch is true.

Posted by Earth - Touch Marine Crew: Roger Horrocks, Barry Skinstad, Ian Cook.

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