26.3

The annual 'Sardine Run' in South Africa is not for the faint-hearted. It was by far the most incredible, demanding, adrenaline-pumping, frustrating and difficult photographic trip I've done to date. And after 18 months shooting small, still macro critters in the calm, warm waters in Lembeh, Indonesia, the sardine run is a mighty slap in the face!

On the flight over there, you may be thinking positively ''okay, we go there, see a gigantic baitball, jump in, and then fill your memory card with mind-blowing photos of dolphins, sharks, and birds all posing nicely with sardines in their mouths!'' ??? mwahahahaa! wrong, so wrong. I knew it couldn't be THAT easy, and it wasn't :-)

The reality is you spend 7 hours a day in rough seas on a small RIB, searching miles and miles of vast ocean for any sign of diving Gannets, and if you're lucky to find a tiny bit of action you jump into the cold choppy murky water, and fight your way through the crowd of other snorkellers and photographers, mumbling through your snorkel “get out of my f@$%ing way!” Then a small baitball of sardines flash past your eyes followed by some dolphins and a curtain of bubbles and fish scales, so you fire off a few photos only to realize they're out of focus because of tiny bubbles all over your camera's dome port, and anyway they had snorkellers fins and legs ruining them as another snorkeller flapping on the surface kicked you in the face (either accidentally or on purpose). Whatever, anyway no time to think! It seems so stupid - but relentlessly, you try and swim and catch up with the dolphins and sardines. Then just as you're out of breath from trying too hard, some more sardines and dolphins flash past you and you think you're about to take 'the worlds best underwater photo', but a big wave breaks over your head and throws you around like a rag-doll, water goes down your snorkel and you choke and flap around like the helpless land-animal that you are. Then another speedboat full of divers bulldozes into the middle of the action, and the dolphins and sardines disappear into the rest of the massive ocean. Game over...
So you let out a scream of frustration on the surface to make yourself feel better. Exhausted, you feebly pull yourself back into the boat. Then one of your fellow team members hands you a cup of hot chocolate and a lollipop, you relax, catch your breath and think ''aaahhh all’s better now, Hakuna matataaaa!!'' - and the search for sardine action starts all over again. Full speed ahead skipper!

Needless to say I ended up with a lot of messy images of reflective silver sardines, bubbles, scales, with a few dolphins here and there. This photo being a classic example of the photographic chaos you have to endure…
I’m totally in awe of Alexander Safonov's mind-blowing sardine run images over the last few years (and outrageously jealous), and how difficult it really really is to capture the action. If you haven’t seen his images, check them out on Divephotoguide.com

So after my cynical and classically English review of the sardine run, you might ask ‘would you do it again?’ – HELL YEAH!