I adjust my position and camera. The silvery ball in my camera monitor suddenly melts to the left, just as if you tipped a ball of mercury, as a pod of 15-20 common dolphins tear in from the right and wheel around the fish, emitting streams of bubbles to form a gaseous net. As the dolphins race past they pick off fish at the sides of the ball and push them upward to press them against the surface of the ocean. Within split seconds I feel as if I am back on some desolate Southeast Asian coral reef being bombed by dynamite fishermen, as extremely loud underwater explosions resonate through the water and literally shake my body. It takes me a few seconds to realize that this volley of explosions is the result of the tens of birds I now see swimming before me, trailing a silvery exhaust of bubbles as they swim after and jab at the panicking fish.

Suddenly there is a loud metal clang as my dive cylinder clashes with that of my safety diver behind me. A quick glance over my shoulder tells me he is working hard as he coolly and calmly pushes away the next round of guests to this highly movable and ultimate of fast-food outlets. Excited and driven by the frantic evasive maneuvers of the fish between dolphins and gannets, three- to four-meter copper and dusky sharks circle beneath and to the sides in some kind of holding pattern before swinging in to blindly chomp their way through the fish.

However, their curiosity of the two bubble blowers next to their dinner party has to be satisfied first. The bigger sharks calmly swim up and try to bump us with their snouts. They just want to find out what we are made of. The smaller ones dash up before turning at the last moment in some childlike game of chicken. That's of little conciliation for myself or Keith, my safety diver. We are here to document the sardine run through the eyes of a British underwater photographer who was bitten by a copper shark last year on his first encounter with a bait ball, so we eye the approaching set of jaws with respect.

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