Tag: port st. johns

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Shark and Sardine Chaos with Offshore Africa sardine run 2018

shark and sardine chaos

Shark and Sardine Chaos with Offshore Africa

Shark and Sardine Chaos with Offshore Africa: Rob Nettleton and Debbie Smith (aka The Shark Lady), are the team that head up Offshore Africa Port St. Johns…and this is their specialty…the chaos of the Sardine Run.

The sharks kind of dominate but you can’t really be sure as hundreds of marine animals vie for top dog spot. The gannets are just like fighter jets as they swoop down on their enemy and blast them to pieces. They don’t just shoot one either, they can dog fight with the best…turning and veering and swerving…destroying the enemy.

The dolphins are so fast that Rob had to slow the video down in some places. And the seals! Well they seem to be the most aggressive!

Enjoy the video, it plays in up to 480p quality…

Bookings for The Sardine Run 2018, with all it’s shark and sardine action…are open now.

Head on over to Offshore Africa’s website, for more crazy imagery and action…and to get in touch.

http://offshoreportstjohns.com

Visit Offshore Africa on Facebook at…

https://www.facebook.com/offshoreafricaportstjohns/

Post prepped by The Sardine News

Visit us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/

Some imagery from previous sardine runs with Offshore Africa…

Waterfall Bluff as seen by Offshore Africas clients this 2017 sardine sunPSJ reports crazy sardines 3 July 2017Preparing for launch into the 2016 Sardine ReportThe sardines take a hammering from all kinds of marine wild life

Get in touch with Rob and Debbie to plan your Sardine Run 2018 adventure…

http://offshoreportstjohns.com

 

 

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Book your sardines now!

Book your sardines now!

Sardines! Coming fast!

Offshore Africa, The Sardine specialists down in The Transkei, have already started taking bookings, for their Sardine Run experience.

Which is…jump right in with them, sharks and all!

Make no mistake, it’s a military type operation, and Rob Nettleton and Debbie Smith, partners in the show, take it very seriously. Their combined experience adds up to decades on, and under the ocean. Heaps of this time surrounded by dangerous marine animals. It is this experience that allows the totally mind-blowing trips out to sea off Port St. Johns to happen. Coupled with reliable, fast boats, and well-trained skippers…the exhilarating ride out through the surf and up and down the awe inspiring Wild Coast, will never be forgotten.

Right from the word go, the adrenalin starts pumping. Loading up, and prepping the powerful RIBs growl into life, as the winter induced offshore wind pumps down the stupendously beautiful Umzimvubu Valley. The next thing your heart is in your mouth, as you face the most hardcore ride of your life – through the surf at the Port St. Johns river mouth! And out to sea!

Flying with Offshore
Flying with Offshore – Rob Nettleton at the helm

The sardines are easily spotted by the birds they attract. Seagulls, Gannets, Albatross, Skuas, Terns…they are all highly aware of the bounty at large. And where the sardines are, that’s where the dolphins, whales, sharks, fish…are.

Jump right in!

Yip! The next thing you are surrounded my marine wildlife. The clear blue waters reveal all. The entire food chain! Staying out of the food chain is not that difficult really, sticking together provides the single biggest advantage – confidence. Just float there calmly and observe the carefully controlled mayhem, as predators who normally are averse to each other, start to work as a Springbok team. Those poor sardines!

Enjoy this gallery from the 2015 Sardine Run…

The sardines take a hammering from all kinds of marine wild life

There is more amazing imagery and video at this link…

http://offshoreportstjohns.com/?product=the-sardine-run-6-nights-5-days

 

Enjoy this cool video montage assembled from some of Rob and Debbies best footage, shot in and around Port St. Johns.

To get in touch with Offshore Africa…

http://offshoreportstjohns.com

https://web.facebook.com/offshoreafricaportstjohns/

 

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Offshore Africa’s new sardine spotter plane

Sardine spotter "Tzulu"Dowsett will be piloting this awesome machine as he searches the seas for sardines and their predators

Offshore Africa’s new sardine spotter plane

Take a look at Offshore Africa’s new sardine spotter plane!

Yep, introducing “Tzulu” Dowsett as the pilot of the cool gyrocopter that he will be flying to locate shoals of sardines this year. Starting in about two months time, pilot shoals of sardines will have started making their way north, as the exodus starts. It’s estimated that almost 10% of the entire sardine population breaks from the main pack down in the southern oceans to form the greatest shoal on earth.

Having this facility will help put clients of Offshore Africa down in Port St. Johns, right on the button. Port St. Johns is the epi-centre of the sardine run each year – Offshore have been taking punters out and into the middle of the action for many seasons now – the longest operating dive facility there.

Rob Nettleton and Debbie Smith, the operators of Offshore Africa and Diving with Sharks, have been hard at work underwater for decades. Their local experience combined with excellent service reputation and happy customers, have made them first choice for anything sardine and radical!

Situated in the Transkei, on The Wild Coast – Offshore have many other things to do in Port St Johns, when you make it down there. The team there have a huge cruiser on the Umzimvubu River, aswell as an air boat – unbelievably one of only two in the country. Fun, fun, fun!

Enjoy this gallery from 2015 sardine run…it gives a great idea of what goes on down there!

The sardines take a hammering from all kinds of marine wild life
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Offshore Africa’s new air boat in Port St Johns 

Offshore Africa’s new air boat in Port St Johns 
Yes, you read right! Captain Rob Nettleton is now at the helm of a souped up super loud and super cool air boat in Port St Johns!

The huge V8 blows up a windstorm and gets the large craft with up to eight pax – flying!

The shallow Umtamvuna is now no match as the air boat skims across the water with hardly a few inches of draft.

The super cool ride is available to the extreme public.

Click on over to offshoreportstjohns.com for more information and to get in touch.

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Sardine Run 2016 around the corner!

Sardine Run 2016 around the corner!

“The red hot pokers have bloomed” – Louis Wolmarans (uttered every year, over and over, like a chant).

Louis, long time surfing guru on the KZN South Coast, is amping for the waves each year. When the aloes bloom in their red splendour each year, it marks the beginning of the surfing season. And the sardine run 2016 too! An odd combination of events considering their mutual denominator – sharks!

The hills through the Transkei and surrounds are covered red with the flower of the aloe. Temperatures have dropped. And the swells have been coming through huge! Few surfers made it out at the big waves spots, and it looks like more to follow as cold fronts line up across the Atlantic, marching methodically and with purpose.

But big swells and sardines do go together. The ocean in its wild eastern seaboard state, confuses the little fish as they make their way north. Often the sardines beach in the wildest conditions.

But the ocean is still very warm, and even though confirmed reports of sardines have been made deeper into the Transkei – we still have a while to go.

In a month or so, things should be really humming!

In the meantime, enjoy this spectacular underwater video clip of a bunch of gannets, completely at home underwater, swimming from aisle to aisle as they load up in the gannet supermarket, 5 metres down. They are competing with common dolphin – beautiful with their contrasting colours, and of course sharks.

If this kind of thing gets you going, hop on over to offshoreportstjohns.com or divingwithsharks.co.za and login with Rob or Debbie for some up close and personal sardine action. They do specialised sardine run diving trips and ocean safari style outings, right from where all the action is – Port St. Johns.