Our 2nd 'DOUBLE TAP'

"NAKED GILLS' has now also been Officially Selected to take part in the

Tokyo Lift-Off Film Festival, along with our feature production ‘The Next Chapter’,

and we are so excited at the prospect of having even more of our hard work on display in Japan.

RAGGIES

This expedition targeted two areas on South Africa’s, KwaZulu Natal coastline and our primary objective was to try to find and film the Sand tiger shark.

These beautiful animals are know around the word by different names, like Blue-Nurse Sand Tiger, Spotted Ragged Tooth Shark or Grey Nurse Shark. Here in South Africa, we have affectionately named them,

Raggies!

…. and while they may look aggressive and extremely dangerous, like many of the other 500+ Shark species in our Oceans, we found them to be more like docile puppies, very interested in us, and our camera rigs.

These beauties can grow up to 3.2m (10.5 ft) in length and may weigh up to 159kg (351 lb)

There were two or three very large females in the group that appeared to be near the end of their 12 month gestation and were very pregnant indeed. They will soon give birth to one or two, fully independent 1 meter long live pups.

Our first stop was Protea banks, where we chose to dive with African dive Adventures and stayed at Afri Dive's diver village which was very comfortable and highly recommended. We wish to thank Roland and his team for an unforgettable experience.

Not only did we film the Raggies up close, in their mating caves, but we also got to film a school of Scalloped Hammerhead sharks and saw Bull sharks, Oceanic black Tip and Tiger sharks.

Thanks for a great dive trip. We will return.

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Big SHOUT OUT and enormous thanks again to NauticamSA, KeldanSA and Dive Action Cape Town for all the help

in getting our gear ready for this expedition, not to mention the generous loan of lights while ours were in for upgrading. Amazing service as usual.

Our second port of call was Aliwal Shoal. Here, we choose to dive with Aliwal Dive Centre and lodge. Thanks to Basie, Keith, Mariaane and the rest of their wonderful team, for being so accommodating and seeing to ALL our needs. Fantastic diving and great accommodation too.

Once again, loads of Raggies, in their mating caves and on the reef, Oceanic Blacktip Sharks and a Bull Bhark. Thanks to all for a very successful dive trip.

What a privilege to dive and film these absolute beauties.

AND

They are right on our doorstep!