THOMAS P. PESCHAK

Early November marks the beginning of the Cape Fur Seal breeding season and testoterone charged bulls compete for territory and the right to mate with females. Myself and Cheryl-Samantha Owen travelled to Shark Alley, a channel between Dyer Island and Geyser rock, to photograph cape fur seal bulls fighting underwater. Mature male fur seals can exceed 3m in length and are very agressive during the breeding season. For me this presented a constant internal struggle between getting close enough to the battles to get good images, but not so close that they would consider me a competitor. For one thing is certain I would not last long battling a 350 kg fur seal bull.