Don't get me wrong, I love photographing surfing but the surf competition at Maitlands River Mouth on the Indian Ocean near Port Elizabeth in South Africa was really special. Why? Well things change continually in the oceans and for a while the dolphins have been absent. Like any creature that can, they roam in search of food.
Looking past the surfers from my perch on the cliff-side I could see Cape Gannets diving into the sea in their characteristic way. This was interesting as they too had been absent for a while. Rather worrying was the number of dead birds on the beach. I later heard that they had mostly starved and had very heavy parasite loads, all signs of not finding sufficient food. To cut a long story short it does seem as though the annual Sardine run along our coast is starting again and that the seabirds and sea creatures are going to be present and active along our coast again.
Then I noticed several groups of dolphins fairly close to the shore, in-between the breakers. They were just hanging around, which is frustrating as they sometimes stay in an area for a while and just do nothing. They can do this for hours. Be that as it may, armed with several jackets (it was cold) and sun blocker (a paradox but having melanomas removed is not fun and best avoided) I sat for some five hours and was rewarded with lots of dolphin pictures and a few pictures of the surfers (sorry guys). Sometimes it is just great being a photographer!
