Easter Weekend 2024

As promised in last week’s post about our stay at Coral Divers in Sodwana Bay (read here), it is now time to see what it looks like underwater on the North Coast of South Africa.

Berto did 6 dives over the course of 4 days. There is so much beauty under the water, that we are going to split the diving part of our Sodwana Bay trip into two. Here follows the first two days of dives, which varied at a depth of 10 – 18m.

Friday, 29 March 2024:

On this day, Berto only did one dive early in the morning. This was his first dive after his health scare back in January 2023 and he just wanted to get a feel for how his lungs would cope after the operation. We are delighted to report that everything went very well and he couldn’t wait to dive again.

A Moray Eel welcomes Berto back in the water

School of fish among divers

Lionfish – a fierce predator thanks to their venomous spikes

School of fish

Surrounded by colourful fish

Saturday, 30 March 2024:

On this day there was a rainstorm which left the beach at Sodwana Bay almost empty. But the divers did not let this deter them and by 07:00 Berto was on his way to do his first dive of the day.

Small fish and colourful coral

‘Just follow me, I know where the food is’

Three different types of fish in one picture

Divers swim under an overhang

Clownfish move along with the ocean currents

Good visibility (between 20-30m) makes Sodwana Bay a sought-after dive destination

Fragile coral

Spotting a Loggerhead sea turtle while diving is always a highlight. Sometimes Berto only sees one during a week of diving, but he was very lucky to see several Loggerhead sea turtles on this diving weekend.

Loggerhead sea turtle

Fascinating coral

Swimming underneath delicate coral

With Berto’s second dive of the day, things got a lot more interesting (meaning more beautiful – if that’s possible – and somewhat dangerous).

Greeted once again by pretty fish and coral

Trumpet fish – a common reef predator that feed on small fish

Trumpet fish: ‘Don’t worry my friend, I won’t eat you – you’re too big’

Colourful coral

‘Oh hello. I’ll give you a pretty smile while you take a picture of me’

Aren’t these fish just so beautiful?

‘Hang on, I’m the pretty one here’

For the second time in one day, Berto again saw a Loggerhead sea turtle. This time the turtle swam gracefully between the divers.

Loggerhead sea turtle

Beautiful patterns on its shell

Lovely stripes on this fish (one from the side and the other from the back)

Before the dive ended, a large school of fish reappeared among the divers. Just after Berto took a picture of them, they suddenly split apart.

School of fish before they split apart

And the reason? A Whitetip shark suddenly appeared a short distance away, one of the most dangerous sharks to humans. They have been known to attack survivors of ship and plane wrecks at sea – a good excuse for the divers to return to their boat.

Shadow of a Whitetip shark (middle of photo)

This might also be a good time for us to take a break from all the diving. Next week we’ll tell you what else Berto encountered under the water.