Experiences in a Limitless Ocean By Fiona Ayerst January 2006. Photographs by Roger Horrocks and Barry Skinstad
I was overwhelmed with excitement recently when free diver and master underwater videographer Mike Wood jolted me out of my boring office life. He proposed I join him with two other renowned free divers, spearo Barry Skinstad and marine adventurer Roger Horrocks, to make a documentary film about free diving with Zambezi sharks. They were going to film a documentary at the Pinnacles between Ponto d’Ouro and Mamoli, Southern Mozambique. What an opportunity! Mike and Roger teamed up to coproduce this documentary for local television with the intention of further developing the concept into a documentary series for international distribution. The entire team was generously sponsored wonderfully warm and stylish free divers wetsuits by Mike Hazell of Cressisub and Sergio Campos of Lizzard wetsuits. The plan was simple and my part would be to teach the two spearo’s about underwater photography. In return, they would teach me the basics of free diving and within a few days have me free diving with sharks. The difficulty was, they didn’t just want normal photos, they wanted to learn how to take award winning shots in just a few days. The subject matter was so exceptional that I decided to give it a try. I did not realise how seriously challenged I would be! At that stage I simply did not understand the difficulties I would face when free diving with sharks. This was exacerbated by the fact that most of my training was to take place with six to eight Zambezi’s circling in the water around me.
An important objective of the documentary was to show the interaction between free divers and sharks without scuba bubbles to scare them. We also agreed on the importance of driving home a conservation message about the plight of sharks along our coast. I am part of the conservation organisation “Sharklife” so this was especially important to me. In November, Roger emailed some breathhold landbased exercises for me to start working on. He warned me not to use these in the pool unless I was being watched! Unfortunately, December is busy in my office and the expedition was upon me without managing to do any preparation at all. I convinced myself that free diving could not be so difficult. We all arrived on the agreed date at the very beautiful and tranquil Ponto Mamoli in Southern Mozambique for the teaching and filming. Mike’s job in the production was to film each person learning in their respective ways and document their interaction with the sharks. He was to produce a twentysix minute documentary on our experiences. The first evening we were warmly welcomed by Bev and Kevin Collins of Mamoli. With a glass or two of good white wine in me, I felt very relaxed and keen for the adventure. Roger had chosen the Pinnacles to film their documentary as it is a world class destination for Zambezi shark viewing, especially between November and April but potentially all year round. There is also a massive concentration of kingfish and seapike that congregate there during this time. The next morning we had clean water but it was pretty windy with a choppy sea. We got going with our mutual teaching and in the afternoon set off for the pristine waters of the Pinnacles. Despite popular belief, it is not common to drop into blue waters and find sharks, so we knew we would have to bait them. By baiting I mean the luring in of sharks with the use of other fish. This is a controversial topic so more of that another time. Spearo’s often attract sharks whilst shooting fish as the vibrations emitted from a dead or dying fish, being their source of food, are very exciting for sharks. Free divers and snorkellers without any fish in the water around them are unlikely to attract the attention of most shark species for any length of time. Whilst the spearo’s shot a fish for bait I dropped into the water to test out some breathing skills and get used to the idea of snorkelling and using lungs rather than my usual scuba. Within about 30 minutes I was green! I felt very sick and headed back to the boat and some stability in the heaving ocean. I wondered what I was doing here, out of my depth and with no idea about what was going to happen or how I would feel. I was getting increasingly queasy and hoped Barry and Roger wouldn’t get a fish. Unfortunately they
did and so off we sped towards the Pinnacles and an increasingly choppy sea outside the protection of the Ponto Malongane Bay. When we got to the Pinnacles marks, Grant Smith from Sharklife, the free divers and I dropped into the water with the bait fish. Within seconds a Zambezi and a Black Tip shark arrived to investigate the movement in the water. Unfortunately, my woozy seasickness took over before the sharks came shallow enough for me to attempt to dive down to them and I had to get back on the boat. I had learned my first lesson; wait until the sharks are there you start lying face down in the water for any length of time! Next day we headed out again and followed the same plan except I stayed in the boat until the first free diver shouted “Shark! “. After the magic word I jumped in and was amazed to see four or five Zambezi sharks circling at about twenty metres. Soon they were joined by a Black Tip or two and then by another six Zambezi’s. I got back onto the boat for an hour to quell my queasiness and after about an hour got back in the water as the sharks had started to move up to the 15 metre mark and slowly closer to the bait. It became increasingly difficult to work out how many sharks there were in the water and I decided to join the free divers. I took a huge gulp of air and pinched my nose to equalize. Then I swam down head first. I could feel my wetsuit pressing against my skin and my ears popping and squeaking so I thought that I must be at the bottom. I flipped over to see how deep I was. Disappointingly, I couldn’t have been more than eight metres down. As I looked down the sharks were way below me with the other three free divers – far below my physical limit. Within what seemed like minutes, although it was only about ten seconds, I felt an uncontrollable urge to breathe. I quickly headed for the surface to get the air I needed. The rest of the afternoon passed in agony for me. There were twelve or more sharks interacting with the free divers below, while I spent the time sitting on the boat being sick and occasionally diving like a hapless duck to about eight metres for a few seconds. I was both devastated and exhilarated at the same time. It was a wonderful experience to paddle about with so many Zambezi’s but I was very frustrated that I couldn’t go down to twenty metres or more like the others. The seasickness didn’t help either. Hence lesson number two and three came to me: take seasickness pills and get some training in free diving. The next morning Roger and I went out into Mamoli Bay and he taught me some free diving techniques. The one short lesson made a huge difference that afternoon. We followed the same plan again that afternoon. This time I was better prepared. I had taken 2 seasickness tabs and I had had my lesson in breathhold under my belt. I waited for the words “Sharks coming up” and then gently slipped into the water in order not to overexcite or overexert myself. As the sharks slid up out of the depths I pinched my nose and glided down to meet them. A sleek Zambezi swam right in front of me and then I realised I was down there with them! I still have no idea how deep I was maybe about
fifteen metres. I saw Barry, close by, look at me and give me an appreciative “ok” signal and I felt I had finally made it. There I was, down there with the best of them, and free diving with one of the most beautiful and misunderstood animals on this earth. Unfortunately I still had much to learn and so my time in this silent limitless world was too short. After about twenty five seconds I felt the urge for air and pushed up with my fins to the surface. Thankfully I felt my lungs expand as I headed up and I had a little extra air to get me there. I didn’t want to leave this peaceful place and I decided then and there that it was pool sessions and breathhold training for me in the months to come. It was a wonderful feeling diving with the Sharks that day. We managed to spend at least three hours in the water observing them and interacting with them at a level that I have never achieved on scuba. It appears that the Sharks are scared off by the bubbles as they definitely came in much closer on breathhold. At times they would be only a meter away, or even closer. From an underwater photographers perspective this is a dream come true. It is not for the faint hearted though! I spent time with the free divers in the evenings going through some photography techniques. Luckily both Barry and Roger had a good knowledge of photography but they really needed to work on composition. I found that reminding the guys of some basic photography rules and ensuring that they took the time to implement them made a huge difference. Luckily, due to their prowess as free divers this was possible to achieve. They were photographing the sharks at around 15 m to 25 m’s for approximately 1 min 30 seconds. Taking an average free divers descent at 1 m per second, this gives roughly 1 minute to take pictures underwater. Application of just a few basic rules was paramount in this situation and worked incredibly well for both of my students. Both Roger and Barry came away with some images that could easily be entered into the international competition circuit and even more importantly the desire to take their photography further and to learn more. I felt I had fulfilled my role as teacher. I found myself being far more challenged by the task of learning to free dive. This has opened up yet another area of the ocean and diving for me to pursue. In the months to come I have much to learn. We have planned a trip to free dive with Tiger sharks off Umkomaas to make sure I keep my breath held and my head down in that Jo’burg swimming pool for the next few months. My report on the Tigers to follow!