divewithclive

Back to diving...2012-2013 in Eden

2013-02-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

Cool warm water or warm water with a slight chill awaits us at Harrison's Rock. Temperature is only 27 degrees! This is our first dive of the 2012 Summer season. Sue and I have two guests Lauren and Linda, both advanced divers so we descend effortlessly down even after the long lay-off. My last dive was in February...I have not yet dived with Linda, my niece and her friend Lauren and look forward to the experience.

Harrison's is not best dive site in Seychelles, but a good check out dive for a team of divers that have not dived for a while. The viz is not great but we see a very large school of silver bat fish. Looks like the school has now moved from Isle Seche where they held court last year. Sadly it appears we have missed the glass fish season so no "karang" (golden trevally or king fish) hunting posses this year. Only a short sighting of the resident white tip reef shark gets the adrenaline going.

The next day we do the twin dives at Isle Seche, staring with Pinnacle. We can consider both as average, no great viz, but we see a turtle and just being underwater is adequate compensation anyway. Afterwards we visit neighboring island of Moyenne, owned by the late Brandon Grimshaw. I discuss this island separately.

On Wednesday we do the Shore Dive at Anse Bernitier. A great logistical experience and success discussed separately. The viz is not great, but fish life and quality of coral superb! A first on Eden, a hidden secret surely.

On Thursday we head to Johnnies. This remains one of the best dives in Seychelles. The coral is superb and fish life very good. Our viz is fabulous and we spend a wonderful hour underwater.

On Friday its the last diving day with our guests and we decide to do another double tank dive . It is a fabulous day and we head to Brizaire the legendary Seychelles signature dive. The Bizaire rock is next to the twin dive, Dragon's teeth. The viz she was endless and we see the resident school of barrucuda, some eagle ray and two white tips. The coral garden and large schools of snapper and big eyes remain a sight to behold.
Our second dive is Lilotte and sadly the viz lets us down. We return to base ready for diving in Seychelles this season!

Indian Glassfish or Parambassis ranga

2012-02-05T03:41:00.000-08:00

The more I dive, the more stuff we see and learn, says Clive. I am sure you must agree with me. One of the things that have lately struck me is how limited our knowledge is and that also goes even for revered fish ID books like those of Helmut Debelius (Indian Ocean Reef Guide, and Red Sea Reef Guide), not to mention the bible of Southern African fish by Dennis King (Reef Fishes & Corals).

Let me give some examples of what I bitching about. Take the common Indian glass fish, Parambassis ranga or chanda ranga. It fails to get a mention in any of the three books of Debelius and also not on the Dennis King I have. Yet the fish is very prevalent in Indian ocean waters (at least in Seychelles) and not only in aquariums. In a previous blog I discussed the annual Ranga Tanga.The glaring exclusion of glassies from the above learned books remains a mystery to me. Neither do they get a reference in Neville Coleman's Marine Life of the Maldives. Some examples of the fish we talking about are set out in pictures below.

(Close up courtesy- Sue Ferreira)

Even the resident turtle is coming for a peak.

Another example of undefined or incomplete information is the different names for the karang (creole name) or golden trevally/jackfish or king fish. (This fish depicted below) There certainly also appears to be some confusion regarding the name in different parts of the world! Also have a look at sting rays and see if you agree with me. Total confusion as we seem to have different names or an incomplete collection! There are some other examples like this which you can spot in your own good time.

Karang on the prowl!

Finally Dennis calls the fish below a starry puffer fish and Debelius a giant puffer fish! They certainly got the Latin name (arothron stallatus ) right, but clearly they did not collaborate on local names used.

The only conclusion I have come to is that we really are only beginning to unravel the ocean. Both Dennis and Debelius have spent a life time in producing extremely useful books. Without them we would have been lost underwater! We sorely need more of these and more information.

Knowing the time and cost of only one dive and the short dive times we have as well as the fact that the "underwater actors" have their own businesses to mind and are not "waiting" on us to come and snap them, I think it is a very simple fact that we still lack so much knowledge. Please help on your next dive and bring some knowledge back.

The hunt for (Red October) Silver Bat fish...

2012-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

So we (Sue and I ) thought we just would jump in for quick dive at Isle Seche after a spate of bad weather. We had guests on board Suzy Q and while we dived they went snorkeling. We did not expect much, after all it was only Isle Seche and not a highly rated dive site. I paid scant regard again and did not take my camera, choosing to hold onto a buoy nogal!

What spectacle awaited us. The boulders were covered in glassies with big posses of Karang (Golden Trevally in Sesel Creole) stalking. Hovering above the glassies was a very large school of bigger silver bat fish enhancing the scenery in beautiful symphony. (I had to consult my fish book as they are not too common in Seychelles). They are also called diamond fish and appear to be endemic to the Indian Ocean. It was a site to behold and I just knew we had to come back with a camera.

So there we went for two further times and each time, nada, no site of the damsels. I even consulted special agent Tamara of Angel Fish Diving (underwater). She investigated and reported that I should move my attention to Isle Seche Pinnacle and not Isle Seche Grande. So off we went to Pinnacle! I wonder how many Pinnacles and Aquariums there are in the world....

We moved our drop-off the required 100m and dove. We found them, voila. Now what is this, why is my flash not firing? The cable seemed to be badly connected and no flash fired, au naturel, today, buddy during amateur hour. I was able to take some photos, but remained bitterly disappointed.

So off we went again and again we struck a problem, bad wind, large waves, very strong current and Sue had free flowing regulator. When we hit the bottom she was already on 120 bar. We decided to continue as Pinnacle average was below 10m and she was light on air. After 9 minutes finning against the strong current, we are back on the boat. We go back a few days later in splendid conditions and this time I am more satisfied but I still need to go back. See some of what I talking about below.

Agent Tamara

My Buddy did it!

2012-02-01T04:37:00.000-08:00

My buddy did it!

Underwater photography as we know is a frustrating work in progress. One cannot progress however without being in the water with a camera in hand. Then one day the sun aligns with the moon and the actors perform at perfect exposure in aquatic bliss.The following achievement speak to this point.

My wife (and wayward buddy) Sue has just achieved a wonderful accolade. She has cracked a bronze medal (gold, silver, bronze) for the category “Macro: Not Swimming” in the prestigious 2011 Underwater Photography image competition. (Sneak results just out on the web site www.underwaterphotography.com).

The image depicts an unusual unique (family?) collection of seven geometric eels as attached below. This stunning image was taken at our favorite house reef “Johnnies Rock” off Mahe in the Seychelles. I have written a few times on my blog, (divewithclive.com) about this wonderful reef. She took the shot he shot while the family resided for quite a while at a particular point that was a landmark during dives and while there were always a number of eels, the most Sue got previously was five in one shot!

So the question is asked many times,why shoot photo's and accumulate expensive Gigabytes on your computer? Clearly once you have dived a few times talking images makes the dives more pleasurable while also (with some frustration) improving your skill. From time to time you may also enter competitions which may equally be a burden/pot shot given the high degree of competitive biase that sometimes emerge in addition to all the luck required. You also enter many times without even a nod that it is sometimes questioned: is it all worth it, given the significant investment?

Now Sue has cracked a big one! The shot was one of more than 11 000 entries from 130 countries. Some 1200 shots were selected for final evaluation and over the last month we have seen her shot creep through the various eliminations to ultimately achieve the only medal for South Africa and (Seychelles).

Needless to say I am extremely proud of my intrepid buddy who takes no prisoners as we all know and now has once (again) also taken the winning shot. Please join me, her proud buddy and hubby, family, friends and fellow divers in congratulating her on this stupendous achievement! Go Sue!

Views from Eden

2012-01-06T05:18:00.000-08:00

Eden island is already more than 5 years old

The development is now taking great shape and the new Eden Plaza shopping centre is nearing completion. The apartments, maisons and villas are about 70% complete with circa 350 units sold.

The marina remains busy (despite) the Somali pirate activity preventing many super yachts from visiting during the winter in the Med. Last summer the beautiful new 85m Sunray (complete with helicopter) was the main attraction This summer it is the equally lovely 110m Radiant that has graced our shores.

To provide some better understanding of Eden island (my base in Seychelles) see attached visual material telling hopefully better than words of the beauty of my hangout.

Revisit the tracks

2012-01-06T02:01:00.000-08:00

Like Game Drives, Dives are never the same even if you go to the same site on consecutive days or even on the same day. Just ask around I am sure everyone will agree even Andrew.

So there I went back to Ille Seche, remember my blog, -The First Rule of Diving-I was particularly interested to shoot the large schools of silver fin bat fish hovering above the larger schools of glassies with the posse of golden trevally patrolling and having the feast of a lifetime as part of the annual ranga tanga
(see previous blog).

The day was a scorcher, as only the Seychelles can serve up. Blue skies, no wind, flat seas.....I decided to go early and take those wonderful photos I did not take the day before. We jumped in and the viz, she was great. Well here is the report card!

[Some] of the glassies were still there, but much less of them. There were a few stray (overfed) golden trevally around, but they were not too busy. None of the large schools of silver fin bat fish made a showing. In fact I could not even see one. So just as I was starting to hitting despair, I saw a large boulder (Seychelles diving consist of diving around boulders with coral) covered in glassies. Suddenly I also spotted my favourite animal as I saw a small hawksbill turtle glide towards the boulder as well. I followed him and took some nice once. I also spotted him later towards the end of our hour long dive.

Suddenly the reef was alive once more as this time a never ending school of fusiliers swam past and then followed by smaller posse of golden trevally. I post pictures of the two schools and then also a collage of the dive. Enjoy....

The first Rule of diving.....

2012-01-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

So I rediscovered Ille Seche or Beacon Island today. (Just of Mahe in Seychelles for non-Sechellois) We have not dived there for some time and not really at the right spot as we discovered. We had spectacular 20m plus viz, a mild current, but what a show the animals put on.

We saw thick schools of glassies ( part of ranga tanga) with large schools of silver batfish hovering above them followed by an endless, (probably the largest ever school witnessed by man) Golden Trevally....(jackfish, kingfish) wow...I just hanged there as the schools patrolled passed in their frenzy food fest.

( The site is almost of map below in NE corner)

Sadly I was hanging onto a buoy while wife Sue was shooting some interesting macro .....she also managed .some great shots of PINK jellyfish.

I had once again broken the first rule of diving if you call yourself a photographer....TAKE YOUR CAMERA ALONG DUDE!

Going back tomorrow, but with my luck that school of trevally will have decimated the glassies and the viz will be sh....The other lesson is. NEVER DISCARD a dive site, especially the one on your doorstep.

Lets hold thumbs! Wish me some luck please.

Glassy (sardine) run -Parambassis ranga (tanga)

2012-01-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

Glassy (sardine?) run -Parambassis ranga (tanga)

Migrations or mass animal behaviour fascinate man and facilitate wonderful photo opportunities.

We all know about the wildebeest (and zebra) migration in East Africa, the sardine run in South Africa, the whale shark of Seychelles and many others. As some know I am a (keen) diver and photo man. I am also a great Seychelles supporter (together with Springboks, Proteas and Man United). I am happy to report that I may have discovered something, I think so in any event. I have been diving the Seychelles now for five years and have observed something interesting, for me at least. I call it the Glassy run! or Ranga tanga!

Every year around December (if it was a good year) it appears that millions of glass fish or parambassis ranga hatch and congregate in giant schools around the large granitic coral rock underwater in Seychelles. I have now regularly witnessed these around my favourite dive sites off Mahe (Harrisons, Johnnies, Turtle rock). The glass fish attract large schools of giant and golden king fish or trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus) (or is it jackfish?-Fish names vary across the globe) that feast on the glassies. Other fish like rock cods join in the fund and voila we have a mini sardine run or a parambassis ranga tanga! As a diver it makes for an awesome experience when these large schools of trevally patrol past you, a few minutes after you arrive on the scene of their feast. Needless to say some good photos may be shot if you remember to push the button and get your framing etc. done.

Sadly it appears that the local fishermen have also caught in the act and they now send out a small flotilla to harvest trevally when the tanga happens. It reminds me of the chokka boats of Jeffreys Bay (East Cape) which I also saw getting of the ground in similar fashion in the early eighties. I thought it necessary to record and submit my amateur observation of the ranga tanga for comment. (My buddy partner Sue is my witness as is my old collaboteur, Andrew Kemp and his partner Fernanda when they were with us in 2010)

This year was special for me as I had not dived since early January for medical reasons.-I had a total hip replacement earlier this year and it was advised not to dive for at least four months. I made the successful return on the 14^th of December at Johnnies and to my great surprise and happiness the glassies were there. I could not see the swim thru at all, one black hole only. It was not long when we were surrounded by the posse or rather the cavalcade or large school of golden and giant trevally. Awesome sight! They just roll by, nosy and inquisitive and then disappear as suddenly as they appeared, only to return at least once more during the dive. The next day at Harrisons the flotilla was there before us and we had a dive and a similar experience, although we missed the reef initially when three giant buffalo parrot fish diverted our attention. We sadly carried no cameras as I was still building up to diving with camera again.

Two weeks later I thought the tanga was gone when we finally went for a dive (with cameras). As we dropped into perfect viz at Johnnies I was overwhelmed and almost wet my pants (forgive the pun) when I saw the glassies were still there. It did not take long for the posse to arrive. I have some evidence this time…..see below.

Oh by the way it is great to be back as a diving photographer. Wow, did I miss it! Also is the coral not looking great! I have noted a succinct improvement over the last twelve months.

Owning paradise

2012-01-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

So what about owning paradise, your own paradise…

Sounds like a good idea…to me at least… while we are around ….for the moment. One man has done this and lived on it for virtually the last forty years. Meet the owner of Moyenne (the middle one), Brendon Grimshaw. He bought the island with his father in the late sixties and has lived here since then, outlasting his friends. Now in his mid-eighties he remains in good health and is the main source of information to daily tourist visiting his island.

It is an ideal stop over for day tourists. All you do is hire a boat or even take your own boat or kayak and saunter across from any of the neighboring islands and voila you are in Brendon’s own private reserve. The smallest marine park in the world-the Moyenne Marine park! There you can snorkel, lie on the beach or take a walk around the island, all at leisurely pace. One may even do some treasure hunting as a pirate’s treasure is supposed to be hidden on the island( nothing found yet), or one can have some refreshments and a light meal at the Jolly Roger after/during your island visit!

The island takes about an hour to circumvent at your leisure. There is much to see and do. The island has been reclaimed painstakingly by Brandon and his local friend Rene Lafortune. The latter has since sadly departed. You find most [all] of the indigenous plants and trees of Seychelles. There is also a small museum with some interesting facts on the island, some known and unknown graves and even a small chapel.

Moyenne was first inhabited about 160 years ago when it was given as wedding gift to its first two citizens. People stayed on the island until after World War One after which it became desolate until Brendon ( a journalist) came here in the late sixties and bought it in and started living there with his father and friends. Together they restored the ideal to its past glory and present state.

Brendon lives on the island together with about 160 giant tortoises. Seychelles and the Galapagos islands are the only place on earth where these giant slow coaches are found. He has an annual out of country health check, otherwise his routine is to get weekly provisions in Mahe together with the local Rotary Club lunch!

Brendon is a key person to understand the solitude, bliss and lack of stress of his chosen life style. Is it a style for everyone, not sure about that but he certainly looks young for his age so then we should think again. The question remains how do you kill time, ask Brendon on your next visit. Ideal to cure writer’s block and nowadays with the cloud one can be anywhere even on Moyenne, assuming you have 3G.

All very civilized and distressed! Enjoy Moyenne!; Only a short twenty minute boat ride from either Victoria harbor or Eden island marina; Right next door to St Anne and Cerf island. If you cannot get there soon have a look below.

Motswari clive selection

2011-12-04T11:58:00.001-08:00

2011-12-04T09:32:00.001-08:00

Some Motswari video trials

Kapama

2011-11-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

Our company Fieldstone held a very successful offsite recently at Kapama near Hoedspruit.

We were blessed with some awesome lion sightings in addition to the big 5 and some other wonderful encounters. Pictures tell more than words! Enjoy.

2011-11-16T10:58:00.001-08:00

Some more detail photos from Sue taken at Motswari. Enjoy some spectacular shots!

More Motswari

2011-11-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

More shots from Motswari, looking fowrad to Kapama

2011-11-16T10:20:00.000-08:00

Some pics taken by good wife Sue all in Motswari

2011-11-13T10:34:00.001-08:00

I attach a short video giving a taste of Eden Island and Seychelles above and below water.

Turtle delight

2011-11-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

Sweet memories of Doodles

Turtle mania!

2011-11-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

I guess each of us has a soft spot, something that gets him going, pumps the adrenaline, makes one feel good. That experience for me (as most my friends know well) is seeing and spending time with a turtle, underwater . Turtles are graceful, lovable, beautiful creatures that make great photo subjects. Over the years I can truly say they have been my number one target, difficult to find, unpredictable but always fun, if they will let you come close. Sadly turtle meat is still on the menu in some countries and many, many of them get stranded in shark and fish nets worldwide. They get killed of indiscriminately and for mo good reason. Man has become their mortal enemy.
There are about 5 main types of turtle (hawksbill, loggerhead, green, leatherback, Ridley) and they can (hopefully) still be found on coral reefs near you. Turtles have a very long live span (sixty plus) if they manage to survive the modern mantraps. They continue to make a positive contribution to the ecosystem and we need them to feel good about ourselves. Most turtles start life from a deserted beach where their mother nested and was also born. A typical nesting will hatch around two hundred eggs. The mother arrived there x weeks before and laid the eggs on the beach about 500mm below the surface in a hole above the high water mark which the mother made and after laying the eggs covered up the nest to protect against scavengers. A few weeks later the eggs hatch and the small turtles make their way to the surface to start their lives. Many will not make it but hopefully most will. They have to face many predators along the way. On land they face crabs and birds and in the water sharks and others are only to eager to grab this tasty morsel. The mother probably made several nests, laid lots of eggs to ensure survival of the species. Worldwide such secluded beaches are getting fewer. A few weeks ago I was privileged to spend the weekend on Bird Island, Seychelles, home of the brown Noddy and many other terns and tropical birds.
It was nesting season for the hawksbill and green turtles. When we were there a total of 250 hawksbill and 30 green turtles and had nested already. Clearly it was a concern that there was such a low number of green turtles, equally was 250 enough for the small hawksbill? We were fortunate to witness the nesting of one hawksbill during day time. The local conservationists collected the eggs after a few weeks and allow the turtles to hatch in a protected environment to avoid some hungry lucky land crab along the way. It was therefore a regular nightly occurrence to release a batch of hatchlings under “controlled conditions” to ensure the maximum number reach the relative safety of the ocean. We wished them a very good voyage.
The nesting we witnessed was quite dramatic. Although Bird Island is very remote with limited humans there always is some activity during on the beach. This activity may deter a nesting from happening despite nature’s call. A female turtle ready to nest will check out the beach for a clear patch and start his crawl up the beach. If disturbed before digging the hole, she will dart back for safety. We were called and found the tracks of such an attempt but ware told to hang around as she would return in the vicinity. Within 30 minutes we were called and within 300 metres she was digging a hole! We kept a safe distance but as soon as she started laying we were allowed closer and even the nest was opened up where we witnessed the actual laying. The whole procedure took about 45 minutes where after she safely returned to the nest and we made sure the nest was as well protected as possible.
This wonderful event made me realize how fortunate I am when I encounter one of the fully grown specimen of any of the species. Please help all to take turtle off the menu!
Turtles to me remain a wonderful experience as seen below.

2011-11-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

Amazing! Despite a flood this CD spit out some info (under pressure!). The photo’s below was all taken on Day One of my last fateful shootout. Sadly none would have won but that is not the point. Having nothing to enter is worse than not winning. It would have been great to have an entry. Now I cannot wait till the next shootout. Mayday. I am sinking....

Motswari

2011-11-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

We recently visited the famed Timbavati region next to the Kruger National Park.

Today fences have been been dropped and game migrate seamlessly over an enlarged park.This brings many obvious benefits. We enjoyed our stay in Motswari, in a self catering unit. For me personally Game always came a close second to Ocean but with my enforced timeout due to my recent (successful) hip replacement, plumbing for a bout in the bush in stead of some underwater diving was a "no brainer".

Game viewing varied at Motswari mainly due to very good water resource and there is really something for everyone and we saw everything except cheetah! as is evident from the collage. We say the Big Five, all of the endemic antelope, hippo, croc, hyena, giraffe, warthog and wildebeest. Antelope included kudu, impala, zebra, waterbuck, steenbok, nyala and grysbok. We saw some rare other sitings: porcupine, honey badger, wild dog, the famed white lions of the Timbavati and many interesting birds. We saw many water birds including interesting water birds and raptors. Some of the raptors we saw include, Wahlberg eagle, fish eagle, brown snake eagle, tawny eagle, gynogene, dark chnating goshawk and many more.

The accommodation at Motswari was excellent inclusive of swimming pool. We were five couples and each couple had a catering day,breakfast and dinner. Game drives were long and trackers took us right up close to the animals that made for quality photography. We also enjoyed some great sunsets during our mandatory breaks. The six days breezed bye and as always the peaceful tranquility of the bush was a wonderful stress reliever.

In the meantime I am counting the days till December when I will venture underwater again, hopefully at my beloved Johnnies! Until next time

Eden views

2011-11-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Enjoy this video of the Seychelles!

It captures some of the innate beauty and charm. A picture tells a thousand words.Eat your hearts out.

Aquatic Wildlife

2010-08-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.nikonapa.co.za/APA_finalist_gallery/aquatic_wildlife_gallery/gallery.html

The Wheel Turns.....

2010-08-18T12:25:00.001-07:00

How funny life is. So everyone by now knows that I had a blow-out at the Shootout. Fortunately life finds other ways to pat us on the back and keep us going. Guess what. Check this out! And the Winner is.....

http://www.africaphotographicawards.com/picsites/PHP/odac_hs.mp?sth=8

A couple of years ago I had an awesome experience at Doodles. We were at Ponta on a company breakout weekend and I was mostly busy helping new divers. The last day I decided to do some shooting as the conditions were good and everyone was by now cool underwater. We went down to the little Ponta house reef. We had seen a turtle there on previous dives. Now everyone that knows me will tell you, "Clive loves turtles!'. So there I was shooting the large snapper school when this fellow approached and approached, right through the school of blue banded snapper and right onto my lens. I could not miss :"Sit and shoot" "Do not forget press the button Clive!"

I only looked at the shots when I downloaded back home and suddenly I felt quite good, some nice shots were taken, I showed the shots around [ my peers were lukewarm...]and had a mixed results. Dave at College of Digital Photography liked the one shot and it landed on their web site [for a while], so it gave me some confidence with that shot. I liked it and it has in fact featured on my Face Book page. Earlier this year I was desperately looking around for shots that made the Africa Photographic award cut-off. I took "that" shot and a few others and forgot about it. All the other entries made Round One, then failed Round Two, except for "Doodles". "Doodles" kept going through .......and then it went silent. On 10 August I got three emails,,, people at the competition were definitely and desperately looking for me. Then someone phones and told me I am one of the FINALISTS and will I not attend the award function. Of course I will, what a question!.

Quite chuffed I called my friend Chris. (Wife Sue away at the moment..)..Arrange that we meet up and go and see what was up at Monte Casino on the 12^th, at the Ball Room nogal. They said it was to be formal, but sadly my tux is a few sizes too old so I settle for a black suit and hope for the best.

Got there and my name is not on the list. "Confidently" I tell Chris that I spoke to them and it must and can only be a mistake. Was that turn in my stomach some butterflies,,,, Some well known and published photographers check in, Their names are on the list, I am now very certain that they only wanted people to pay and come to the ceremony. Chris and I have a second drink and pass on the canapés. I think I am nervous. I gatecrash the briefing ceremony. Fortunately they do not check names again. I go and sit and there is one more finalist sitting next to me in our category. We speak a few hollow words. Our section is before the interval.

The ceremony starts. They have some pretty girls singing, a comedian is master of awards and Kingsley Holgate delivers a great "United against Malaria" speech. Does everyone know he has had malaria more than 50 times! I am definitely going to switch from Jack to Captain. It must the Captain that keeps him alive on his fabulous journeys through Africa. Obviously best to drink safely under a net!

They start handing out prizes. The pictures are fabulous. What the heck am I doing here? Friend Chris must think I am balmy! The last category before the interval: Aquatic Wildlife. They call my name as well as others. I shake hands with one of the other finalists who did not sit with us (I actually know someone!) as I walk sheepishly to the stage. We smile as the funny man (He surely is making another joke) announce: And the Winner is.....I cannot believe it, "They call my name", applause and more photo's. I am by now walking on air as I get showered with good and best wishes.

I have learnt some lessons from this escapade: (On reflection and looking back makes for wiser words)

Always give yourself a chance;
Never give up;
Always come back from disaster (as quickly as possible);
You do not have to shoot a whale shark to win;
Trust your gut;

Enjoy, one for the memory bank! I am now planning a trip to Kenya. Eat your heart out! Thank You Doodles!

Picking Up The Pieces

2010-07-25T11:57:00.001-07:00

What do you call a guy that flooded his new camera? Shattered!! L

It is now about two months after my fateful dive at Anton's. That is the dive that that flooded my new 7D....caused my computer to crash....lost me the opportunity to compete at the shootout.

I guess everyone wants to know how I am coping and what the fallout is, has been, and what next?

I can record I am plotting a revenge comeback. That will take some time. To start I tried repairing the camera. After all it looked fine, only a bit of water entered. Sadly after spending another R250 i got the bad news, the 7D is destined to be a museum piece or paper weight. The good news was that the compact disc was fine and I even managed to retrieve the morning dive data. No winners there sadly.

Let's talk computers, any luck there. First I need to tell of the "disruption" that hit us even as we prepared for the Shootout. Yes dear Sue dropped the Mac PC that we normally use for our shoots and we had to take it in for repairs, hence the reason we took the new 4 Core 27" Imac. Now I had the ultimate weapon anyway! So in fact we had four disasters, at least. I also dived without turning on my air, so what can i say, stayed at home, Never!

I took the Imac back and waited. Did we lose the hard disc as well? Was it still under warranty? Fortunately our luck changed. Only the graphics card had gone and everything else was OK! Wow at least there is a change of luck her. I could at least recover all photos that I was unable to enter as well as all our shots from the Monday. I thought I had some reasonable efforts, but no winners. In any please be the judge yourself. I think my conservation shot might again have been a contender.

Underwater photography remains an elusive art. You need to know the reefs, dive well, know your equipment, have some luck and have a reliable computer. So what are the lessons? I guess first, do not change your dive procedures. Keep to your regime. Secondly make backups. Thirdly id the bad luck runs then it runs. Lastly I guess it all asks hard questions about yourself and the future. Well the good news is I have a new camera and we all wait with bated breath. Next year is far away. I cannot wait.

Triple Blowout at the Shootout!

2010-06-06T12:10:00.001-07:00

We go down for our last dive of the competition at my beloved Anton's. I specifically asked for this dive at this time as the sun is at its best for wide angle (my chosen category). This time I decide to do a backward roll with my camera. On all the previous dives I had the camera handed to me. The camera was fine on the previous dive although I had to replace my one strobe during the off gas period since my left strobe seemed to have packed up. I feel a bit of a surge as I fall back, but assume everything is OK and start with my normal ritual of turning on strobes and checking camera arm position. I check for confirmation that there is no water in the housing chamber and that the pilot light is on indicating communication between camera and strobe. With a chill I realise that something is wrong as I see no light!. I am already 12 metres down and dropping. I do not see any water, but as I turn the camera anxiously I see the water in the dome, not a lot, but enough, my dive is over, I abort and bolt for surface, no time for a safety stop today! The dive boat picks me up and I assess the damage. It looks bad...I know my new D7 is history.

The annual Sodwana Shootout has become the premier underwater photographic competition in South Africa. The cream of underwater photographers congregate for four days in South Africa's diving capital. It has indeed become a wonderful occasion where old friends meet, new acquaintances are made, many new tricks are learnt and taught, but most importantly serious competition takes place. The competition is now in its eleventh year having started in 2000 and during that time have launched the career of most of South Africa's best known underwater photographers.

My wife Sue and I have a long association with the shootout. In 2002 I bought her a starter Sea and Sea underwater camera. Everyone said you have to have a camera in the Red Sea and we were due a trip. We always liked taking family photo's before that but that was it. Now we were introduced to an entirely new adventure.

Sue decided to enter the 2003 Shootout. She and my prospective son in law, Steve, went down early in the week. He acted a s spotter. I only drove down on the Thursday night to support her. In the meantime I had bought myself a housing for my Sony P5 at Male airport in the Maldives. (The best place in the world to buy any diving equipment). I naturally had a few dives and took some photos, but it was too late to enter. In fact there was no digital section and common consensus amongst the experts was that digital had a long way to go before it could beat film. (Strangely, I was not convinced about it.) On the Saturday night Sue wins the Novice section and I guess that got us hooked or was it because Steve and I ended up late into the night celebrating. We met some new friends too.

A year passes sweetly and again we make the trip down. Work only permits me two days, but again it is most enjoyable. Sue now has a better camera and the whole emphasis is in finding a "subject". In the meantime we have been advised to try Reef Teach as dive operator. This is when we met Neville Ayliff, the Sodwana diving legend. We have been diving with Reef teach ever since.

I am now a competitor too and one of the first digital entrants. No winners, but we have a great time. We decided to go fully digital in 2005 as making color slides or prints were getting expensive and it was not fun to wait to see if you "got" the shot. Digital changed all that. With DLSR and compacts you can SRA (Shoot, Review, Adjust). Yes it was dangerous taking expensive cameras down under, but that was what was done anyway with film.

Talk in 2005 was still that there should be two categories and that film will always have its place. (have you seen the blues are better on film we are told with knowing nods) Sadly or belatedly in 2006 there was no special class for film. All the film cameras had bit the dust in less than two years! (Wise words guys!). By 2006 we have started to come down for the full week. Find a subject and try and hope for the best. Sadly again we were also rans. We did have a good time though with the many friends. It has now also become clear that one need to know some photoshop. No shop no prize! . We also end up spending both Decembers of 2005 and 2006 for three weeks at Sodwana. Not only do we make more friends, we also now get to know the reefs really well.

We were there again for 2007 and I even had some models working with me. I took some good pictures, but sadly had lots of back scatter on the best ones and I did not have the foggiest idea how to fix that. My friends were having a beer, so I ended up with no time to fix it anyway. I got a highly commended though as I got a fantastic shot of a large school of resident slingers at Anton's. Now that was a golden hour, if ever there was one. So much activity and shots to take. I think in retrospect I was in a hurryIn 2008 we again participate complete with model. This has now really become an enjoyable annual pilgrimage. I have decided that I am permanently learning. Somehow the weather is not great and I probably did not adjust my white balance properly. I think I entered the wrong photo's proving again how important selection is. Meanwhile Sue is struggling, good photos but no wow! We leave empty handed. By now it has become clear that starting photography underwater is a difficult business. During the competition you need at least three good skills;

Excellent diving;
Good photography skills; and
Good Photoshop skills.

Sue and I have both qualified as DM's, take reasonable photos and I try and do PS. I have now also installed PS Lightroom on our computer which actually works better than Photoshop if you take half decent photos.

In 2009 we have our best Shootout! I take wonderful photos, select the wrong ones or the judges do not like mine. However Sue makes quite a comeback and wins second in Macro. I win a third in the Conservation category using my PS skills. You have come a long way baby! In 2010 we will win the World Cup!

So we duly arrive and start diving the Monday before the Shootout. I have a new 7D and Sue is using a 50D now. I also have mu new iMac with the latest software. Not too many competitors we are told so our hopes are up. The weather is gorgeous and Anton's is as good as ever. We try some new spots and hope all the mantas, whale sharks people have spotted recently. On Wednesday we register and meet old and new friends. We get into bed really early. As we expect to do three dives. On Thursday the weather is fine although the wind starts blowing strongly in the afternoon as we do our three dives. We download our photo's and are reasonably happy, but need better. On the last dive my left strobe appears to pack up. I improvise and take some half decent photos with my slave. Sue's camera hits "Error 99". Sue dives Bikini, Mellow Yellow and Caves to Anton's. I do Anton's, Mellow Yellow and Caves as well. We get to bed early, we are tired but happy we have some "bankers".

On Friday Sue dives Bikini twice and I dive Simon's. Unfortunately we have different subjects as she shoots macro and I like wide angle. (That way we keep the competition a bit outside the family) My strobe has now finally packed up and I go and get my spare strobe. I am ready to do the final dive. Sue in the meantime has found a great shot and she wants to go back and try and improve the shot. I feel good in attacking my favourite Anton's again. "Be careful not flood Sue" is my prophetic final words.

We get back ashore and learn that two mantas have been sighted by Sue's group. In the meantime I have a flood but I suggest that I can use my old 20D and try to at least shoot something else. So we decide to go back to Bikini despite my flood. What is the traditional advice after falling from a horse, "get back on" is it not? So off we go around three o'clock in failing light. Its only me, Sue, Charlie , Brian and Corlia. Come manta come. Unfortunately we find no manta but Charlie gets some great shots. Sue has another "Error 99". So much for our Shootout. Fortunately I have three hundred shots from yesterday and I am confident that my morning dive would yield something as the card appears to be fine.

We arrive at our room. I rush to download Sue's shots. I thought I had left the computer on, but it's down. I switch on but the nothing happens. Things really cannot get worse. I call for help from friends. The good thing about the shootout is that much help is always around despite the competitive atmosphere. By this time a cold shiver passes through my back. My shootout is hanging on a thread. At least i have this morning's shots. The afternoon shots were nothing. Fortunately I have my small laptop with me and download Sue's photos. I have Lightroom and CS3 on the computer so I feel bulletproof despite the obvious setback. We try four computers, but no one sees any photos. I guess Murphy the famous Irish prophet's bad omens have really hit me. We are now down to Sue's two Friday dives. She has some good shots and she feels confident. At least we have an entry. I console myself, lick my wounds, for the first time since 2003, no entry from me.

The weather deteriorates badly the Friday night and the winter cold hits Sodwana on the Saturday. I enter our photos sorry, Sue's photos and have breakfast, a midday sleep waiting for the Super 14 final. At least a South African team wins is an empty consolation. We hit the prize giving and Sue remains confident. Halfway through she comes to tell me one of the judges says her photos are too much saturated and were thrown out. No prizes for our team, we have had a triple blow out at the Shootout. I run into Charlie the overall winner. He shot his winning shot on the last dive. At least my flood contributed to something positive! Well done Charlie!

At last the Bulls won and now we continue to drown our sorrows talking to old friends. I talk to Megan who I have dived with many times and she now works in Barra. It is late and we have another Jack. I am sure I have had enough, but everyone else is still going strong. Megan and I reminisce about how much we love Sodwana diving. We are both convinced it is the best in the world.

" I dreammm.... of two mile" says Megan. I agree and ask which route she likes best. She likes the route Pinnacle to Four Buoy. I can only love Anton's. It's getting late, eventually we get to bed. The next day we get going on the long road back home in Fourways after 7. I have a slight headache as we drive back. The breakfast at Hluhluwe sorts that out however. I think about the week's events as we drive. Despite the significant reverse I have only positive thoughts; "I'll be back" Next time must be my time.