The Surfing Dolphins of Woody Cape
By Lloyd Edwards

Thursday, 16th July 2026

Woody Cape, at the extreme eastern end of Algoa Bay, must be one of my favourite places on the planet. It is only accessible by boat or walking along the Alexandria hiking trail. Gone are the days of off-road vehicles churning up the sand.

I have been to over a hundred marine tour operators around the world and done their cruises. Nothing is like this area. Firstly the contrast between the sea and the dunes is remarkable. Secondly, nowhere else on the planet do we find 28 500 Bottlenose Dolphins. Thirdly, we are the only operators who are allowed to run close encounter cruises to this area. Anywhere else on earth, this area would be humming with tourists.

We always make a turn past here after visiting the White Sharks, Cape Gannets, Cape Fur Seals and African Penguins at Bird Island on our full day cruise. This time we were also treated to a pod of extremely energetic male Humpback Whales in the area.

When photographing the dolphins one has to be extremely cautious of the unpredictable conditions. Waves appear out of nowhere and unless you keep a sharp lookout, you can run into serious problems . . . ask us!

I find that a 70 to 200mm lens is the best for the job. I have tried with a 600mm lens, but it takes too long to locate the breaching dolphins. Sometimes I crop my 200mm to make it a 300mm if we are a bit far off. Having Jake at the controls allows for the perfect shot and timing, thanks bru!

It is not often that you get them so far out of the water! Taken with a Nikon Z9 mirrorless, ISO 1800, f/10 and 1/1600th second. Thanks Claudia for the final RAW edit.

The late afternoon light is coming from the left, not ideal.

The aeolianite cliffs are a sedimentary rock formed by the lithification of wind blown sand dunes. Sand and shell grains are cemented together by calcium carbonate which originates in the ground water.