AfricanDiver.com

Images by Petra and Rainer Schimpf (www.expert-tours.com)

These images were taken yesterday(8 February 2010) off Port Elizabeth by Petra and Rainer Schimpf from Expert Tours and they are expecting more sardines.

Important to know the difference of the Sardine Run event in 2010:

2010 is a really special Sardine Run year, not only because of the Soccer World Cup but mainly because we experience an “El Nino” par excellance in South Africa in 2010.

What does it mean for your Sardine Run trip: areas with little rain will have even less rain, areas with sufficiant rain will experiance flooding (already happening). Sea water temperatures will raise even higher where moderate to warm water occures.

This means for your Sardine Run trip 2010 there is a 99% probability that baitballs and sardine swarms will NOT occur in a timeframe from May until July in Kwazulu Natal!  El Nino has shown in previous years that only on one or two days during an el Nino year Red Eyes (similar to sardines) were seen off Mboiti in the Eastern Cape.

The armada of sardines, dolphins, whales, sharks and orcas however stayed put in front of Port Elizabeth already from February on into July the last El Nino phenomen.  Between 15 to 25 nauticle miles offshore in cristal clear water (see “Oceans” from Galatee Films this year in the cinemas!).

Already now,  February 2010, the same phenomen repeats itself!   For a couple of weeks now we have exactly what we predicted: sardines, dolphins, whales, sharks and orcas.  All these predators hunt in deep water for sardines and shallow water for garfish and makarele.

This means that for your Sardine Run booking you need to act fast and book your trip in and around Port Elizabeth between February 2010 to May 2010 only.