Day six saw the team enter the much talked about Wild Coast stretch of coast. It certainly has a reputation for being one of the most remote and oceanographically treacherous locations on the planet. The team headed south from Port Edward and crossed the provincial boundary between KwaZulu/Natal and the Eastern Cape at the Mtamvuna river. Perfect riding conditions and low swell afforded the team an opportunity to beach at Horse Shoe Falls in the Mkambati Nature Reserve and scale the waterfall to gain a panoramic view over an area of immense natural beauty.

At the iconic rock massif of Waterfall Bluff Jason Ribbink stood under the waterfall as it cascaded directly into the sea. On to Cathedral Rock where the team spread some soil for a person who met us on the beach at Port Edward to remember his father who had died of cancer. Still no sign of marine life except a few wayward gannets that were heading south, clearly relocating to the now calmer and more bait rich waters of the Eastern Cape. The water samples still resembling mud and the team find it hard to see how the scientists in the lab are going to find any signs of life in this muck we collect at regular intervals.

On beaching at Coffee Bay the team were greeted by some fishermen who were catching shad which seemed to be plentiful – the first signs of marine activity since the team left KZN a few hours earlier.

Day seven saw the team depart from Coffee Bay en route to East London and this was to be our best sighting day of the trip up to and including their arrival in Simonstown.

At Hole-In-the-Wall Lance Klusener had the most incredible Humpback dolphin encounter as two Humpback dolphin played in his bow wave for some minutes before the rest of the team caught up with him after passing through the famous landmark of Hole-In-The-Wall numerous times. The calm seas were ideal for spotting marine life but it was a long while before the team would encounter the marine animal abundance that this stretch of coast is famous for. At Mazeppa Bay the first large pods of bottlenose dolphin appeared (in excess of 60 individuals). Almost every bay after that had pods ranging from five to fifty individuals. Off Gonubie Point the team had an exciting encounter with a Manta Ray, dolphin, sun fish and marauding tuna. The water sample in this area was the most interesting yet and to the naked eye we could see all manner of organisms propelling themselves up, down and around in their new found home of a collection container. More exciting sightings were to follow as the team encountered the elusive Brydes whale in the shallow waters of Nahoon Point. In the bay at East London the team encountered yet more bottlenose dolphin and cormorants fishing close to the landing sight at Orient beach.

After a well deserved break and a humbling visit to a cancer ward in East London the team were once again on the water on day nine of the expedition and were once again greeted by extremely favourable conditions for the trip to Port Alfred. The team saw a Brydes Whale off Cove Rock that had clearly disturbed a ragged tooth shark from the sea bed which proceeded to shake itself off on the surface before descending into the murky waters again. There was very little activity to speak of for the rest of this stretch.

Day ten saw the team exit the Kowie River at Port Alfred and head for Port Elizabeth. Very little activity was noted until the team reached Bird Island where penguins and seals became regular onlookers. The waters in the bay at Port Elizabeth were quite clear and there were isolated pockets of gannet activity without any real signs of the much anticipated sardine activity the team were hoping to find tucked away in the Bird Island channel.

Day eleven was a rest day in Port Elizabeth and day twelve saw the team head west in a choppy south easterly sea en route to Plettenberg Bay via a stop at Jefferies Bay. A building swell forced the team seaward of the treacherous rocky coastline between Cape St. Francis and Plettenberg Bay. Although a few squid boats were anchored at Oyster Bay there was very little to excite and the trip proved quite uneventful from a marine animal point of view.

Day thirteen saw the team pick up some Humpback dolphin on the trip between Plettenberg Bay and Mossel Bay with penguins, seals and the odd pod of bottlenose making an appearance. The team had a swim with the seals on the Robberg Peninsula and they were clearly curious and acrobatic in their approaches to the bobbing riders made all the more buoyant by their dakine life vest and thick Billabong wetsuits. Still the seals did not need chasing and interacted freely with the bobbing riders.The sea was very calm and the only noticeable increase in animal life was the diversity of bird species that the team encountered. Petrels, skua’s gannets and comorants were regularly sweeping over the calm sea or sitting at team stops as if to be included in the conversation.

On day fourteen the team raced between Mossel Bay and Gansbaai in an effort to get ahead of a looming bad weather pattern which stood to jeorpardise the team’s planned arrival in Simonstown two days hence. A pod of at least twenty Humpback dolphin greeted the team at the refuelling point in Stilbaai, which was an absolute treat for the team as this is a critically endangered dolphin species. Two more Humpback dolphin were spotted at Waenhuiskrans. Seals and penguins still made the odd appearence.

At the refuelling stop (previously planned to be the overnight stop) at Struisbaai the team were confronted by the beginning of a strong north westerly gale that would persist for days. The wind dirtied the waters in the Struisbaai harbour and thus only the murky dark outlines of the giagantic short tail sting rays could be seen. The team had a playful encounter with the some juvenile seals at Quoin Point and very little was spotted in the fading light as the team made Gansbaai’s small craft harbour at Kleinbaai just before nightfall.

On day fifteen the team were greeted with the now strong north westerly wind which was reaching gale force at times and had blown all night. The most noticeable marine activity was concentrated feeding by the comorants, gannets and petrels in sporadic bursts seaward of our ride path. The odd penguin and regular seal sightings were reinforcement of the grand design of form and function and the teams slow motorised progress towards Simonstown highlighted our poor adaptation to this harsh environment as we had been reduced to a snails pace whilst the seals were revelling in the conditions. Two dead penguins were encountered in the bay at Hawston. Both carcasses were badly decayed but no apparent scavenging had taken place.

Holed up in Cape Town and just awaiting a gap in the weather to get aound the point the team eagerly await the west coast with its dusky dolphin and the most endangered marine dolphin on the planet – the Heavisides dolphin. There are thought to be less than 1000 of these animals left on the planet and they all occur on this stretch of coast.