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There's a flash of sardines to my left as the giant bait ball in front of me shifts to accommodate another predator swimming through it. For a brief second I think it must be the usual dolphin or perhaps a shark, but I quickly remember that megaladons don't exist anymore as a forty foot Bryde's whale comes rocketing by me. Its wide-open mouth looks more than capable of swallowing a bus. Half of the bait ball that I was staring at just seconds ago is gone, and I breathe a sigh of relief that I haven't disappeared with it. But the relief is short-lived, as I look down and see a tail the size of a car quickly approaching. Thankfully, another narrow escape. I'm on the Wild Coast of South Africa for the sardine run, a feeding frenzy of unrivaled proportions that takes place here every year. Dolphins, sharks, seabirds and whales come from all over the Indian Ocean and the eastern coast of Africa to feed on sardine shoals that can reach 20 kilometers in length. I'm being hosted by world-famous underwater photographer Michael AW and sardine run guru Walter Bernardis to learn more about communicating incredible natural events such as this to the public in the name of conserving the world's marine resources. Just a week earlier I was looking eye to eye with the ocean's most famous predator, the great white shark, and in a week's time I'll be filming for a National Geographic special. Life is good.
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