2003 has been the busiest year by far for the SCUBAZOO team. The most exciting project of all has been the filming of our debut production, 'Facing Jaws' which we've co-produced with RDF International in UK on behalf of National Geographic US / International Channels.

This mega-production involved all 3 directors in South Africa for 5 weeks, filming the epic natural u/w phenomenon the Sardine Run. Simon Christopher (Associate Producer), Jason Isley and Simon Enderby (Underwater Cameramen) met up with Jenny Jones (Director) to film British u/w photographer, Tony White as he embarked on his quest to enter the water once again after being bitten by a shark in a feeding frenzy the previous year.

Jason and Simon's u/w footage of humpback whales and bait balls with sharks, hundreds of diving gannets, seals and dolphins, all screaming right past their cameras, is without doubt some of the most dramatic of the Sardine Run ever filmed!

We'll be entering this film into the 31st Antibes International Underwater festival in November this year so hopefully it will be popular with both the judges, and the viewers!

Simon Christopher :: Director

Though we’d worked in many places around the world, filming the epic underwater spectacle of the Sardine Run in South Africa had always been right at the top of our wish list, and with Tony’s remarkable story, along came our opportunity. Before we knew it, we had a three and a half week shoot doing exactly that, for our very own co-production with RDF International, ‘Facing Jaws’!

The emotional build up to the shoot was enormous. After many, many emails, three new Sony cameras, Amphibico u/w housings, and some superb wide angle lenses finally arrived, but only just before we were due to leave! Our send off at the airport was somewhat strained, with some very mixed emotions. Leaving for a shoot about a shark bite victim returning to the site of his incident lead to some very ‘interesting’ conversations with our various partners! With just about every disclaimer form imaginable signed off, we were on our way to South Africa - the legendary land of lions, elephants, rhinos... and sharks.

Our final destination was Mkambati Lodge, situated on the stunning wild coast of the Mkambati Game Reserve, south of Durban. The Lodge was packed full with interesting individuals - leading scientists and top cameramen from every corner of the globe. Each had their own goals - whether to observe and learn something of the biology of the Sardine Run, or simply film or photograph this spectacle, everyone’s mind was completely focused on these very ordinary little fish. Many were old hands who’d been going to Mkambati for years and their stories really started to get our adrenalin flowing! But so far this year, no one had seen any sardine activity at all and none of the telltale signs of their imminent arrival had yet to appear. The long waiting game had just begun.

Just a few days later and apparently out of nowhere, everyone was taken by surprise when a freak bait ball was spotted. From the accounts of the few lucky witnesses, this was by far the biggest bait ball that anyone had ever seen. Unluckily, even though we were only a few miles away, we never got to see it. This was of course incredibly frustrating, and the absence of sardines over the next two weeks only made this first missed opportunity even more painful. It seemed that Nature was not going to play ball this year.

Despite the sardine’s no show, the mood at the Lodge throughout the long wait was rarely despondent, with the mélange of characters keeping morale high. Days spent bobbing up and down on the ocean were punctuated by brief moments of excitement, with humpback whales migrating north and pods of dolphins waiting for the sardines to arrive. I myself had only ever seen humpback whales on TV screens so witnessing these awesome 40-ton leviathans breaching clear of the water was definitely one of the highlights of the trip . Despite being confined to the boat, I could not resist the temptation to get into the water to snorkel with these giants as they swam besides us - now that was definitely what I’d call a ‘religious experience!’

With only a few days left to the end of the shoot, we were getting desperate; we’d filmed Tony with whales, dolphins and a few sharks but we still had no ending to our story. I’ll never forget those telephone calls made from ‘Cell Phone City’ to Matthew Frank / RDF International (Executive Producer), explaining the rather dire situation at Mkambati Lodge. We had to try and predict the likelihood of our seeing at least some kind of action if the crew were to stay on. All we needed was to film Tony with some bait balls for a few minutes and our story would be complete. Thankfully the extension was approved but we did have a deadline - if we had no sardines by then, we were to come home regardless.

Back at the Lodge, there was much speculation - should people stay and hold out for the ‘sards’ to come to us or were the scientists right, and the water temperature was just too high? The alternatives were to head south and pursue the somewhat sketchy reports of bait ball sightings in Coffee Bay or pack up and leave for the UK. The final decision was made - south it was - if the sardines weren’t going to come to us, we’d go and find them! Our final filming destination was a stunning location close to the beautiful landmark known as ‘Hole in the Wall’. By the time we’d settled in and Kevin had arrived with his boat, we had just three filming days left. It then seemed that our luck really had run out - we had two days of bad weather during which the boat could not go out at all! And so it was down to the very last day, with everything hinging on our remaining few hours in South Africa. The crew’s mood on that final night could only be described as a little tense…

Our keen 5.30am start was greeted with a stunning crystal-blue sky - today would be the day, it just had to be! With the micro-light up in the air, it was back to the familiar waiting game, bobbing up and down on the ocean once again… nothing for well over an hour. Then at 11.00 o’clock, a massive spurt of adrenalin shot through our bodies when the microlite pilot excitedly announced he’d seen gannets diving, lots of them! We sped off towards the site and sure enough, we could see hundreds of birds circling on the horizon. After more than four weeks waiting, the excitement on the boat was incredible - this was the moment we’d all been waiting for.

As we approached, we watched this awesome natural spectacle unfold before our very eyes. The sea was simply boiling with life! Everywhere I looked, there was some kind of frantic activity. Loud bursts of humid air announced dolphins surfacing just metres from our boat, quickly followed by the clammer of hundreds of gannets diving in formation into the sea. It was quite simply remarkable, even better than I’d ever imagined! I will never forget the sights of that incredible final day and yet I suspect it will be the sounds and smells that will remain with me the longest - the deafening noise of volleys of gannets diving like bullets into the sea and the pungent smell of sardine oil, slicked across the surface as hundreds of thousands of these little fish were consumed directly beneath our boat! Strangely, I felt quite out of place, so insignificant bobbing up and down in the centre of this wild spectacle. However the activity continued relentlessly, undisturbed by our presence - this was Nature at its very best!

We now had the fairy tale ending we’d been waiting for. Jason and Simon filmed the action underwater continuously for almost 4 hrs and even though the visibility wasn’t the best, by the ecstatic grins on their faces every time they surfaced, I knew we were going to be OK. Our film was now going to be everything we’d hoped for, and more...

Jason Isley :: Director / Cameraman

Sitting on a boat every day for 4 weeks waiting for sardines to arrive was one of the most frustrating experiences of my career. It was only the daily sightings of dolphins and migrating humpback whales that gave us something to focus our attention on. Although the humpbacks were breaching and appeared to be in a playful mood, they were extremely shy underwater. Positioning the boat ahead of their path and quietly slipping into the water without scuba was the only way we managed to obtain some underwater footage. From the many attempts at doing this we came away with only three quality shots, however the sight of these huge mammals slipping into the depths was awesome. On one occasion my over ambitious attempts to get a shot left me sandwiched between two large whales - before I had a chance to react a huge fluke swept past my body and created a surge that rocked me backwards, a close encounter that could have done some serious damage to myself and the camera!

The lack of action underwater meant we had lots of time on our hands, giving us the opportunity to explore the local environment above the waves. Of course this was done with camera in hand and both myself and Simple managed to get involved with some of the topside filming, something we rarely get the chance to do. Topside cameraman Tim Chevallier gave some helpful hints and I became completely addicted to timelapse filming, often spending hours capturing a single scene. This opportunity was a valuable experience, especially as we had both Chevallier brothers to pass on their in-depth knowledge, and seeing some of our sequences used in the final production was very satisfying.

On the last day of filming we finally managed to get out to sea and find what we had been waiting for - the sardine action. As we travelled down the coast in the boat, the number of gannets increased, dolphins were leaping from the sea in every direction and we even saw a couple of playful cape fur seals. Expectations were growing as we were directed by the microlight to the first bait ball, however my first few dives were not what I had expected. Common dolphins were buzzing through and a single cape fur seal frequently dived down amongst the sardines, but there was only one copper shark and he quickly disappeared - hardly the underwater mayhem I had expected to see.

Then news came from the microlight that there was some 'bigger' action a little further north, and we headed off towards the clouds of diving gannets. Dropping into the cold, murky water I teamed up with Andrew my safety diver, positioned close to my back ready to push away any overzealous sharks with his spear gun. As we approached the bait ball the number of sharks increased, the dolphins got louder and louder and I began to hear strange explosive sounds like bombs or rifle cracks - it was the noise of the gannets hitting the water from above. We were 10m deep and the birds were coming down around our heads - my concern soon shifted from the sharks to the thought that I might surface with an unlucky seabird impaled in my head!

This was it! After 5 weeks I was finally in the thick of it - underwater mayhem, with sharks cruising over my shoulder, dolphins slicing through the bait ball, seals buzzing around and gannets dive-bombing from above. There was so much happening it was difficult to concentrate on one scene, and I would find myself filming a seal picking off sardines, switching to a shark bursting through the fish and all the while trying to capture the dolphins bubble netting from below. The fish were frantically trying to avoid predators coming from every direction and they suddenly headed towards us, something other photographers had warned me about. As the school swirled around our bodies the visibility got worse and soon the predators came even closer, with scant regard for our presence within their hunting ground. I felt Andrew’s hand on my shoulder and knew we had to descend immediately to get out of danger. Dropping towards the bottom, the bait ball danced overhead before quickly disappearing into the gloom, followed by the hungry sharks and dolphins.

We had just had 10 minutes of the most amazing, frantic feeding frenzy I have ever seen. As I swam to the surface with Andrew my heart was still pounding - I had been so focused on the filming I had not realized just how nerve racking the whole experience had been.

Simon Enderby :: Director / Cameraman

I jump in to the cold water, checking the camera and locking the settings and start finning towards the scene exploding in front of my eyes. In the distance I see an immense ball of fish, numbers impossible to count, and the only words that can describe what I see is ‘sheer panic’, for the school is being harried and hunted from every possible direction. I start rolling and finally begin to film an infamous Sardine Run bait ball!

We have been searching for this natural phenomenon now for four weeks, and so far have only been rewarded with tantalizing glimpses. Having said that, it hasn’t all been bad and we’ve snorkeled with humpback whales, inshore and offshore bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins and pan-tropical spotted dolphins, as well as dived with the odd copper, dusky and ragged tooth shark - but this is not why we came to South Africa. Having spent the last few weeks at Mkambati waiting for the sardines to arrive, we have now travelled much further south to meet the sardines as they move north up the Kwazulu-Natal coastline. And now we have found them and more importantly, so have the thousands of dolphins, Cape Gannets, dusky and copper sharks and Cape fur seals.

I adjust my position and camera as the silvery ball in my monitor suddenly melts to the left, like mercury slipping across the frame, and a pod of 15-20 common dolphins tears in from the right. As they wheel around the dolphins herd the fish with streams of bubbles, picking off stragglers at the sides and pushing the school towards the surface. Within split seconds I feel as if I am back on some desolate SE Asian reef being bombed by fishermen, as extremely loud underwater explosions resonate through the water and shake my body - it takes me a few seconds to realise that this volley of noise is the result of the tens of birds I now see swimming before me, jabbing at the panicked fish and leaving silvery trails of bubbles in their wake. Suddenly there is a loud metallic clang as my cylinder clashes with that of Keith, my safety diver, and a quick glance over my shoulder tells me he is working hard pushing away predator after predator.

Excited by the frantic maneuvers of the fish, 3-4m copper and dusky sharks circle beneath in holding patterns before swinging in and blindly chomping their way through the fish. However, their curiosity has to be satisfied first. The bigger sharks calmly swim up and try to bump us with their snouts, inquisitive as to what we are doing there, whilst the smaller animals dash up to us in a frantic game of chicken, turning away at the last moment to avoid collision. That’s of little consolation for Keith or myself, as we are here to document the Sardine Run through the eyes of a British underwater photographer bitten by a shark on his very first encounter with a bait ball. Anyway, my adrenalin levels are now so high I don't think I would have even noticed the loss of a leg or safety diver, unless it ruined my shot!

I'm in fully automated filming mode now and scan the scene for shots, although with so much action going on it’s virtually impossible. Just as one shot seems to finish there's another burst of activity and I continue to roll. The visibility gets worse and worse and I check the position of the sun trying to keep it behind me. In the murky water, what appears to be snow drifts around, as thousands of small silvery scales cascade from the school - I feel as if I am in one of those souvenir snow domes you keep on your desk as a paperweight. The bait ball is getting smaller now and its motion more frantic. The dolphins continue to wheel around in tight, organised packs, the bombing from the gannets above is relentless and the sharks brush past mouths agape, biting through the melee. Having risen with the mob I find myself suddenly surrounded by struggling sardines and can feel them between my legs and under my arms. This is not a good place to be! I fin backwards as the fish explode in front of me and a diving gannet suddenly fills the camera frame. Keeping up my backward momentum until I am outside once more, I pause to collect my thoughts just as a copper shark rams the front of the camera - “Wow! What was that for?" I think, checking the front of the dome port for scratches (my biggest nightmare). Thankfully the lens is unscathed - many thanks to Tom Campbell for the loan although he may not realize just how close the lens came to being shark food!

Just as I think that I have seen everything the Sardine Run has to offer, a Cape fur seal pirouettes down from above. Holding off by a few meters, he ‘barks’ at me before spinning up and into the fish, as graceful as any synchronized swimmer. It is now some 3 hours since we first jumped into this incredible spectacle, and as one bait ball is demolished another soon springs up and we are constantly on the move, in and out of the water, checking to see if we have enough tape and air for the next bit of action. Climbing aboard the boat for the last time we look upon the topside action in equal awe. Thousands of diving gannets fill the air with their screeches and calls, punctuated by the sudden blasts of air from surfacing dolphins. A truly unforgettable experience that leaves me trembling in an adrenalin high for several hours, not from the cold or any fear, but from thinking that this is the moment that I have lived for up until now, this is it, this is what it’s all about, the underwater world at its most dramatic. As the boat speeds back I close my eyes and let the images run through my mind, laughing in immense joy!