The Aliwal Shoal is app. 5 kilometers offshore south of Umkomaas. As a reference, the coordinates northern point of Aliwal Shoal, where the wreck of the Produce are laying are 30°15.636′S and 30°830′E. Umkomaas serves as the gateway to the Aliwal Shoal and is the home to the majority of the Aliwal dive charter operations. The Zulu name is Umkomanzi, which was given by King Shaka Zulu himself in 1928 on one of his royal processions with his ‘Impi’ (warriors). During a hunting sojourn, he saw a number of cow whales and calves which were basking in the shallows a short distance...

The legendary great white shark is far more fearsome in our imaginations than in reality. As scientific research on these elusive predators increases, their image as mindless killing machines is beginning to fade. Of the 100-plus annual shark attacks worldwide, fully one-third to one-half are attributable to great whites. However, most of these are not fatal, and new research finds that great whites, who are naturally curious, are “sample biting” then releasing their victims rather than preying on humans. It’s not a terribly comforting distinction, but it does indicate that humans...

The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow filter feeding shark that is the largest known living fish species. The species was first identified in April 1828 following the harpooning of a 4.6 metre (15.1 ft) specimen in Table Bay, South Africa. The name “whale shark” comes from the fish’s physiology; that is, a shark as large as a whale that shares a similar filter feeder eating mode. The whale shark inhabits the world’s tropical and warm-temperate oceans. While thought to be primarily pelagic, seasonal feeding aggregations of the sharks occur at several coastal sites such...