Close up Underwater

A Cleaner/Sand shrimp waiting under a colourful overhang

As much as I love underwater reefscapes ie. the "big picture", I have a better camera in hand now and had a whole load of fun on my last 2 Sodwana trips getting as close as possible to some of the smaller creatures of the reefs.

When I started reviewing and editing those photos I realised, with delight, how intricately and delicately beautiful a coral reef can be when viewed close up.

I hope you enjoy this selection of photos I took over 2 trips to Sodwana Bay in 2018. Even if you are not a diver yourself you may marvel at the incredible beauty of the underwater world.

Chromodoris hamiltoni

The nudibranchs (sea-slugs) are always looked for, producing bright spots of colour on the sea floor.

Halgerda wasinensis

This year for the first time, I started really looking into the shadowed spaces of the branching corals. 

This was my first time seeing the tiny Bigeye scorpion fish and Leopard blenny. 

On one dive site I found the little scorpion fish in almost every coral head, often sharing with the polka-dotted coral crabs.

Bigeye scorpion fish

Leopard blenny

Coral crab

I've had a "thing"for clams for many years - their mantles are so incredibly varied and colourful. It's actually very difficult to capture digitally the colours & details that one can see with the naked eye.

These clams are usually very old & have a fascinating array of other sea creatures & plants residing on their ridged shells.

Giant clam

Giant clam

Giant clam

And a few other of the smaller creatures we can so easily overlook.......

Tube worm in a Cup sponge

Anemone crab lurking...

Eggshell cowrie browsing the Finger-lobed soft coral

Mid-winter on the South Coast

Hiking in Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve

Mild, sunny days (mostly),  flowering aloes, sharks & whales, zebra & wildebeest, endless sandy (and empty) beaches, tropical coastal forests, rolling grassy hills & sugarcane fields.......

That's what you get on the Kwa-Zulu Natal South Coast in mid-winter.

Here are some "snapshots" from a visit I made this last June.

Small villages form an almost continuous band of development down the coast line, but when you look closely enough there are pockets of coastal forest/thicket everywhere.......

Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve

 Moving away from the beaches, into the rolling hills of Zululand you will find endless sugarcane fields, dotted with Zulu villages and small nature reserves.

These reserves not only preserve the local flora and bird life, but often have zebra, wildebeest and other antelope

Vernon Crookes NR

Nudibranch

Then there's the diving on Aliwal Shoal. This is a prime destination in winter for the Ragged-tooth sharks (aka Raggies)

Of course there's a lot of other stuff to see as well, both underwater & on the surface at this time of the year.......

Ragged-tooth Shark

Humpback Whales

From June through to November we have Humpback whales migrating north & then back south again close to our eastern shoreline.

On our first dive, on Aliwal Shoal, we had whale song for the whole dive. An amazing experience.

On all 3 of our diving days we had incredible whale sightings from our  boat as we returned to shore......

Then there's the Sardine Run.

Every winter, millions of sardines move north up the Eastern Cape and southern Kwa-Zulu Natal coasts in massive shoals.

As with anything in nature, the timing, size, extent and duration of the Sardine Run can vary significantly year to year.

This year, the sardine shoals came close to shore near Pennington and Scottburgh at the same time I was there.

This was the sight that greeted us when we walked onto the beach to launch for our second Aliwal dive.

Chaos, excitement, wonder.......

The next morning there were no sardines, and the beach returned to it's normal mid-winter, mid-week emptiness........

All holidays come to an end, and we had some beautifully warm sunny weather on the last day to see me back to cold, dry Johannesburg.

A last walk on the beach and a cocktail at sunset!!

Diving Sodwana - June 2017

Feather Star

In June we had even better weather conditions, although the water was a lot colder. This meant we got to some of the further reefs where the small "stuff" in and amongst the coral was endlessly fascinating.....

Diving Sodwana (1) - March 2017

Bull-nose Ray

As I had decided to take some time off from safari work this year, I wanted to scuba dive as much as possible, and went to Sodwana Bay both in March and in June.

This gave me lot & lots of practice with my new little Canon camera which apart from being great for normal photography, also came with a specialised housing for the underwater world!

I've really struggled to come up with a short-list of photos to publish in just one posting, so I'm splitting them by separate dive trip.

Potato Bass

Manta Ray

Divers with Yellow Snapper and Goat-fish

 

Blue-lined and Yellow Snapper

Leaf (aka Paper or Frog) Fish

Guinea Fowl Moray Eel

Giant Clam

Blacktip Grouper