Coelacanth Discovery by Triton Dive Charters

On 28 October 2000, Pieter Venter, Peter Timm and Etienne le Roux were near the end of an eight-minute Trimix training dive to 104 metres in the Jesser Canyon at Sodwana Bay, in the St Lucia Marine Reserve on the northeast coast of South Africa. As they were about to ascend, Venter saw a large, pinkish eye reflecting the beam of his underwater light. He approached and, underneath an overhang, he saw a fish some two metres long. Within a few seconds he realized, to his astonishment, that the pale blue fish with its unusual lobed fins was a coelacanth. He summoned Timm, and there appeared to be two more coelacanths.

Memberships

	DAN Safety Partner Tel. 0860 242 242 Mail. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Web. http://www.dansa.org
	CMAS-ISA Tel. 012 567 6229 Mail. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Web. http://www.cmas.co.za
	Elephant Coast Tourism Tel. 035 562 0353 Mail. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Web. http://www.elephantcoasttourism.com
	South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative Tel. Not available Mail. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Web. http://www.panda.org.za/sassi/
	Sodwana Bay Dive Industry Association Tel. +27 (083) 583 0733 Mail. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Web. http://www.icon.co.za/~sblsc
	Sharklife Tel. 27 (0) 11 888 1334 Mail. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Web. http://www.sharklife.co.za
	Tourism Kwazulu natal Tel. +27 87 803 4636 Mail. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Web. http://www.kzn.org.za/kzn/

Restaurants:Micro-Light Flights:

Scenic introductory flights offered over the spectacular Sodwana Bay Coastline or overfly Lake Sibaya and see hippos and crocodiles.

The incidence of malaria in our area has been significantly reduced as result of multiple ongoing anti malaria campaigns.

Precautions against malaria particularly between October and May are optional. Advice on the most suitable preventative medication can be obtained from pharmacies and travel clinics. We find that peaceful sleep spray is the most effective deterrent and recommend its use during the evenings.

Parks and Game Reserves

Tembe Elephant Park

Tembe Elephant park is a big five park and is home to 150 elephants in seven breeding herds.  The gate times in the summer 1 Oct - 31 Mar opens at 0500 and closes at 1900.  During the winter, 1 Apr - 30 Sept, 0600 to 1800.  The Tembe Elephant Park is 62 kms from Triton.

Contact no:  031 267 0144

Ndumo Game Reserve

Ndumo Game Reserve is known for its birding with 420 recorded bird species. Hundreds of majestic fever trees grow along the edges of the pans where hundreds of crocodiles bask in the sun. Gate times during summer 1 Oct – 31 Mar are 0500 to 1900. During winter 1 Apr – 30 Sept, 0600 – 1800. The Ndumo Game Reserve is 118 kms from Triton.

Contact no: 035 591 1042

Sodwana Bay

The Agulhas current brings warm clear water to the east coast of South Africa where corals have colonised submerged fossil dunes and rocky platforms in a series of reefs from Cape Vidal in northern KwaZulu-Natal into southern Mozambique. Sodwana Bay in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, a world heritage site, has several accessible reef complexes. This is a summer rainfall area (average annual rainfall 1100 mm) with a subtropical climate, summers are hot and winters mild. The average water temperature in summer is 26.4°C and in winter the mean water temperature is 22.4°C .