Sunday, January 25, 2009

STORIES EMERGE...


Malgas Island has turned out to be a very interesting location. The shortage of sardine stocks here on the west coast has triggered amazing behavior, and not all of it with happy endings, especially if you're a Cape gannet.

This is a self portrait, with f900, at sunset in my wind & gannet poo -proof, breathable SENQU gear.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

SLAUGHTER BAY

This morning three seals caused havoc in the little cove called "Slaughter Bay".

They circuited, killing any gannet that got in their way. No need for these seals to leave the water for food; there's more than enough flapping around in the sea.

MADNESS ON MALGAS

We've been here three days, and are beginning to get into the swing of things. The Gannet chicks are almost ready to fly and since their sense of self preservation leaves a lot to be desired, they've been falling victim to the Cape fur seals.

The depletion of the sardine stocks on the South African west coast is forcing the seals to predate heavily on Gannet chicks, and along with this lack of food for the Gannets themselves, the Gannet population has fallen some 30% over the last two years.

Monday, January 19, 2009

PLANET GANNET

Waking up on Malgas is easy. At 5am the cacauphony of Gannet calls filters through the smell of the guano and on sticking my head out the back window I was met with this view.

This island really does belong predominately to the Gannets, and Malgas is certainly their fortress against the radical recent drop in numbers.

MALGAS ISLAND

Today we arrived on Malgas Island upon a wild, wind-driven sea. We had to substitute our broken high speed inflatable for a 1955 tug boat that ploughed through the 3m swell and deposited us precariously on the jetty.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

THE CORAL STORY


The Seychelles seems to be at the hub of coral die-off and regeneration, and as such stands as an important natural guage of the wellness of our greater environment. Any pitch in global warming can send warm spells and El Ninos into bleaching events, and as such, we need to watch the state of these Indian Ocean corals closely.

The last big die-off was in 1995, and subsequently coral has begun to grow quite nicely in select locations. While we've seen some real grave-yards, some of the reefs are refreshing reminders that nature is more robust than we think.