Monday, 22 February 2010

Foul weather plays havoc with expedition

It's now day four of our National Geographic expedition to the Breede River, and here we sit bundled against the cold, blustery weather more reminiscent of the Cape winter than a mid-summer day. We are counting down the days until the end of our trip here... three more to go and still no sharks. But this is how field work plays out - we are completely dependent on Mother Nature and can't launch our boat in gale force winds, which the weather service tells us will continue for the next two days. This leaves us one day to capture and tag the Zambi we're looking for.

Attitudes are positive, however, and the fishing crew have moved upriver in the hopes of catching live bait from the side. Once we have some good fish and clear weather there will be an excellent chance of catching a Zambi - we just hope the weather service is correct in their predictions and that we will have at least one clear day to hit the water and fish hard.

In the meantime, the weather gives the scientific crew a good window to continue entering and analyzing our data from the last trip. Perhaps not as exciting as fishing, but definitely a crucial part of our study here.

If we are unable to fish for sharks in the coming days, Nat Geo hopes we can return in the near future to continue filming for their series.

We'll keep you updated...

Cheers,
the SASC crew

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