Just wanted to say we spent a week with Sardine Run South Africa (Blue Ocean Dive Resort) doing exactly this. The itinerary was:
Day 1: pick up from airport (we were picked up from Durban) and transfer to Aliwal Shoal
Day 2: 3 dives in Aliwal Shoal
Day 3: 1 dive in Aliwal Shoal then 5 hour transfer to Port St Johns
Day 4-8: Sardine run
Day 9: transport back to Durban / airport / St Lucia (extension for safari in Hluhluwe– iMfolozi Park available)
Might as well do the review while writing this!
Diving in Aliwal Shoal:
Normally the visibility is apparently very good this time of the year but there was a big rain two days before diving. Visibility was no more than 5 meters the first day and 2nd day dive we aborted due to very poor visibility.
We saw ragged tooth sharks, potato groupers, electric eel, scorpion fish and eagle rays. One of the dives we even swam with pods of bottle nosed dolphins. They would have been great dives if the vis was better. There was big swell under water which made me almost seasick. None of the dive sites were deep and we were all given nitrox. We would have appreciated better dive briefing.
The boat is launched either from the river or from the beach. It was rather exciting but not good for my back (or my arms), holding on through some very aggressive waves. The launch is the same in Port St Johns except it starts from the jetty which makes it a little easier than the beach.
Sardine run:
The experience of this trip will be different for everyone but we did luck out with our timing. I do think below is above average experience based on what I heard from others.
Day 1 we saw several humpback whales. We snorkeled with them a few times.
Day 2 this was the start of the bait ball spotting. We snorkeled with one that was not very large but had plenty of dolphins and bird action. To top it off a humpback whale swam underneath us and the bait ball. Several sharks were also spotted.
Day 3 this was the bad weather day. We drove to see a waterfall. It was also a nice break from getting into cold and wet wetsuits at 7 in the morning and being out on the water.
Day 4 another great bait ball day - we had a larger one with lots of swimming birds and sharks getting into the action as well. A couple of times people went swimming with the dolphins then ended up having humpback whales swim very close to them. Some great humpback whale interactions this day.
Day 5 one small bait ball in the morning but nothing much the rest of the day. Our group was happy with the week and called it quits relatively early.
The day started at 6:30 breakfast, 7-7:15 getting ready to get on the water and return typically around 2:30 to 3pm. It was very cold particularly in the morning. Most of us wore 5mm. I wore another 5mm hooded vest but was still cold on some days. The boat supplied windbreaker and hot chocolate / water. It is still pretty tough trip. We had a great time but I was happy when it was over.
My husband can free dive and enjoyed swimming with the dolphins immensely. He wants to go back so I'm going to try to learn to free dive before going back. I also plan to have a better solution for the cold. Port St Johns was much colder than Durban and winter jacket with warm shoes would have helped.
The boat carried scuba gear and people apparently do sometimes scuba with bait ball if it's big enough but this would be rare since by the time bait ball is spotted the predators have chomped it through somewhat. Also scuba divers disturb the dolphins with the bubbles so are likely to mess up the bait ball. Apparently there is a dive site that people can choose to go diving if there isn't much happening and the vis is good. We ended up ditching the dive gear on the last day so that they can dry. I would be happy with the trip not including any scuba diving. It felt rather pointless dragging all the gear throughout the week.
Overall we had a wonderful week and we'll definitely come back. I would prefer though to skip the diving altogether.
