Learning from the best in the world is what this scholarship year is about. I’m in South Africa thanks to Michael Aw, an incredible passionate underwater photographer and director of Ocean Geographic magazine. He not just invited me to join him to one of the most delightful spectacles on Earth (the Sardine Run), but is also making my experience the most complete as possible, telling me stories about his life as an underwater photographer and conservation activist. While my time here at South Africa, he just stopped Singapore Airlines from transporting shark fins by organizing worldwide protests. This achievement is just one of the many he has done by inspiring and convincing others about the importance of one of the greatest heritages this planet has to offer: the marine ecosystem.

Michael allowed me to meet two of the most amazing species of cartilaginous fish: The sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) and the oceanic black tip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus). The first one was the most unexpected underwater experiences I have ever had. A mouth full of pointing teeth makes this species look dangerous, aggressive and scary. Honestly I was not interested in meeting this shark at all before because they are the perfect representation of the negative perception of sharks. Away from the beautiful and elegant shape of other sharks, the sand tigers give the whole group of sharks a bad reputation due to their characteristic outer needle like teeth. However the personality of the ones I swam with was surprisingly different to what I expected them to be. They were not fast or elusive like the lemon sharks of the Bahamas for example. In contrast these sharks were a bit curios towards us, the divers, but once they discovered us by approaching our bodies, they completely lost interest and swam away. I really liked to see the behavior of this species and I can’t wait to dive with them again in Australia next month. Also on the same dive I saw many other creatures, including a big grouper that was inside a little cave with many colorful morays. 

The next two days we went to swim with the oceanic black tip sharks. We were delighted by the cool attitude of this population of pelagic wild animals. They are used to divers and are attracted by sardines bait balls set by the dive company African Watersports. They just come and swim around these balls and when the smell is gone, they go away and loose interest. They are very easy to take photos of and I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to try the A5000 Sony camera and the Nauticam water case I was given to use for the year by Photo Reef Studio.

Now I’m at the south coast of KwaZulu Natal waiting to watch the Sardine Run! Don’t miss the next post about this natural yet mystifying phenomenon!