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NEW Portfolio Posted - Whale Sharks of Djibouti

Whale Sharks of Djibouti

Whale Sharks in Djibouti

In November 2009 I was invited by Dr David Rowat of the The Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS) and Michel Vely/Danile Jouannet from Megaptera to join them on their Djibouti Whale Shark Research Programme. With increased sightings in the UAE I was very interested in learning more about Whale sharks and how to monitor them with the goal of maybe setting up some sort of programme here in the UAE. I jumped at the chance to go and in January 2010 I boarded the M/V Deli, a 26 metre Turkish built wooden schooner and headed up the Gulf of Tadjoura where the plankton rich waters from November to January attract young Whale sharks. During our journey from Djibouti the skipper of the Deli briefed us on where we would be finding our Whale sharks and with the use of a map he highlighted the two areas either side of our anchor point at Baie Coraillie. For the next week, twice a day, we would be visiting either Acacia Beach (West) or (East) Arta Bay where the French Foreign Legion Camp is based.

Finning continuously against the current keeping close to Arta bay’s shoreline where I surveyed the surface looking for the glimpse of a flicking tail fin or shadow of a Whale shark. Over the previous 4 days of surveying I had become quite adept at spotting the signs of these huge fish. The sea was quite rough and as I surveyed the surface I intermittently found myself dipping my head into the swell to check if there were any sharks swimming towards me. I quickly turned 360 degrees during my survey and found myself glancing down at my legs dangling in the murky water and couldn’t help but think about the large shark bite on one of the whale sharks that I saw earlier on in the week. As I lifted my head out of the water I heard the firing of machine guns from a group of French Foreign Legion soldiers that have been training on the firing range all morning. Moments later, two jet fighters flew overhead and as I bobbed up and down in the Gulf of Tadjoura I thought to myself, what a crazy place to come and see whale sharks.

With a sick sense I dipped my head down into the water and I found myself face to face with two 5 metre long Whale sharks which were ‘ram feeding’ directly towards me. Being caught out like this had become a regular occurrence over the surveying days and as the two sharks swam centimeters below me, I over-inhale to ensure that I don’t come in contact with their dorsal fins or their powerful tails.

It wasn’t long before the encounter was over, and again I found myself distracted by the artillery firing at their targets. In the distance I could see the rest of the team approach in their skiff searching for sharks from the surface and as they pass, the skipper signals to me to ask if I want to get on the boat and continue the search further up the shore. As I swim to the boat he points directly behind me and signals to the team, “SHARK”. Before I knew it, the rest of the team are in the water with their cameras, working hard to collect the data they need to confirm it as an official Whale shark encounter. Puffing for breath after a difficult climb onto the skiff, in what was becoming heavy swell, I watch the team as they follow the fast moving fish.

With the team all back on board, I found myself listening to each person as they report their findings. “Photographs left and right”, “male, about 4.5 metres”, “a large cut to dorsal fin”, “2 large remoras”, one of the teams reports to the data logger. Another member of the team mentioned that they noted other scaring and while pointing to the team the exact areas on the diagram, the skipper turns the boat into a wave and shouts out “SHARK”. Once again the team are back in the water doing what they do best – collecting data…

Two hours later and we arrive back at Baie Coraillie and the crew had prepared a most welcome cup of coffee served with cookies. Showered and warm, I watched the sun set and reflected back to earlier in the week remembering the amazing trip to the Devil's Islands in the Bay of Ghoubbet where we spent the day surveying this amazing volcanic region to find out if Whale sharks ventured up this far. On that day we saw plenty of Whale sharks as well as Manta rays and Hawksbill turtles. In addition to this I experienced my first sonic boom from one of the fighter jets that I did not get to see, only feel. On our journey back up to Baie Coraillie we found the skipper having to carefully negotiate the ‘Deli’ through a small channel in a force 5/6 sea conditions and with the high winds everyone watched and experienced the adventure. Another highlight was an afternoon where I witnessed vertical feeding for the first time. I will never forget how oblivious the Whale sharks were to us when feeding in this manner and how intense it all became when later in the afternoon we had 40 plus Whale sharks, all feeding in an area the size of a small football pitch. I came back to the boat very tired that evening...

My thoughts were disrupted when the crew called to say that Whale shark were off the starboard side, gulping at a cloud of plankton, which had been attracted by a strip light that they had set up. With that, we all sat down for supper and as we ate, discussed the numbers. Things were going very well and with 80+ Whale shark sightings being logged daily and with one morning left to go the team were very close to beating their 2009 record of 826 encounters (Using the I3S computer program the team yielded 186 uniquely identified whale sharks, of which 17 had been identified in 2008 – 2 week period). With cameras ready for the next day I made my bed up on deck and with a light warm breeze, stared up at the stars and as the mast swayed from side to side, I watched a fast moving UFO (Drone) circle the skyline.

The next morning and we had been blessed with clear sky and a calm sea. This mornings aircraft of choice was to be large military helicopter that came in especially close to check out the Whale sharks and us. My first Whale shark of the day and it is lead by a shoal of Golden Pilot fish and with clear water and early morning sun, I can’t help but feel humble to see this magnificent shark.

One of the team ducks deep down below the shark to check out what sex it is, while another directs two green laser points at its flank and takes a photograph for measurement identification. Suddenly another shark swims past and with everything they need the team swam rapidly after this shark.

Back on the skiff I watch the team and before I know it, another shark. This time the shark is stationary in vertical feeding mode and as I jump in along side this 5 metre shark I am surrounded by plankton. Suddenly another shark comes into view being trailed by 5 members of the team all-trying to keep up with this ‘ram feeding’ giant. Snapping away I sniggered to myself “I’m so glad I’m with this shark and not theirs”. With my camera right at the mouth of this giant I am privileged to watch the plankton being gulped down while all the time its gills pump for its next intake of food. After a while, the bloom of plankton moved off by the current and, so does my shark.

Some distance from shore, bobbing up and down in slightly rougher water I used the height of a wave to find our boat. It is some distance away and as I tread water waiting for the skiff I decided to call it a day after that special experience. Back on the skiff and everyone is ready to return to the Deli and after a quick count from each of the teams we confirm that we have beaten 2009’s record – the new record being 846 shark encounters. With the boat heading back to Djibouti, cameras and equipment packed away, I again reflected on my week’s experience and thought to myself – “same time, same place next year – now where’s that hot shower and beer?”.

Top Tips:

Djibouti Airport – be prepared for lengthy VISA process – travel light. If you can get your VISA in advance get it. If you can get a bottle of water on the plane before landing, do so as there is little ventilation in the air port.

Hotel – The Sheraton Djibouti Hotel is secure, basic but clean and good value for money.

Eating Out – Try the Melting Pot (fusion cuisine Japanese Greek French - good food in an excellent atmosphere) - http://www.meltingpotdj.com/

Liveaboard/Dive Operation – Dolphin Excursions (Djibouti) M/V Deli offers superb service on and an excellent well equipped vessel. Avoid day trips to Arta Bay in small local boats as generally the afternoon winds create large waves making your return to Djibouti very dangerous. - http://dolphinexcursions.free.fr/

Season – November to January.

Equipment – Personally I would leave the dive equipment at home and go light. Include free diver fins for those fast sharks, a 3mm full wet suit, 2 masks and snorkels, a wind jacket, lycra hood, wooly hat and a fleece.

Underwater Camera – travel light – for the whole time I used a Nikon D2Xs in a Subal D2 with a Nikkor 10.5mm and a Nikon D2X in a Subal D2 with a Nikkor 17-55mm shooting in ambient light.

Photography - what to expect – calm seas in the mornings with visibilities dropping off slightly by mid-day. Sightings start off slowly gradually increasing by mid morning. Afternoons generally choppy with reduced visibilities but sightings are plentiful.

Skiffs – The only way to spot whale sharks are from a skiff or a dingy. Be prepared for a lot of climbing in and out of boats.

A special thanks to:

The Marine Conservation Society Seychelles - www.mcss.sc/whale.htm

Megaptera - www.megaptera.org

Diving Aqaba – Gardens Of Light

In 2008, I was asked if I would be interested in going to Aqaba to photograph the marine life for a book about Jordan’s underwater world. I had previously heard many good things about Aqaba’s diving and its special marine life, but more important to me the promise of crystal clear waters and relatively easy diving. It didn’t take much to convince me that I could capture the material for the book within the two and a half week schedule, and so one month later my buddy JAK and I found ourselves standing on the edge of a dive boat platform looking down into the turquoise waters of Aqaba.

Descending down over the hard corals of ‘Japanese Gardens’ and I was filled with joy of finally having 30+ metres visibility. Equipped with two cameras, one wide and the other macro, I continue to descend in search of something interesting to photograph. It didn’t take long; a mass of various zooplankton taking refuge within a sand jellyfish, a blue spotted stingray and a group of peppered morays with cleaner shrimps all within 20 minutes. Realising that the dive should soon come to an end I look up the rich coral slope and while watching a silhouetted hawksbill turtle swimming in the shallows, I thought to myself “I’m going to like it here”.

Kitted up, ready to go and before I know it I’m descending down the buoy line onto the ‘Cedar Pride’ shipwreck, and it’s impressive. For the last couple of days we have been diving the reefs of Aqaba but now we find ourselves looking at the Cedar Pride, a ship that was sunk as an artificial reef in 1985. Lying on it’s starboard side at 28 metres I can see that there is a large swim through under the wreck and as I come out the other side and look to the surface, I see the ships coral covered crow’s nest teaming with marine life. As I approach the mast a shoal of Banded Bream swim away and looking closely amongst the soft corals I see several Common Lionfish taking cover from the mild current. As I photograph the array of marine life around the crow’s nest, hundreds of Anthias surround me, darting up into the water column feeding on tiny fragments of food that float past them. With three wreck dives under our belts and reducing visibilities we decided that for the last dive we would go shallower in search of critters that inhabit Aqaba’s sea grass slopes. After 60 minutes of diving ‘Black Rock’ we had managed to find a pair of delicate Dragon Sea Moths, a Seahorse and several Pipefish.

Kneeling on a sandy slope in front of a small coral covered pinnacle, 18 metres down I find myself on ‘Eel Garden’. Staring at a huge cloud of marine life hovering over the soft coral covered pinnacle, I cannot help but be amazed by how different the dive sites that I have seen over the last several days are. As I turn and look down the slope I see a large shoal of Red Sea Banner fish around another pinnacle, while groups of Garden Eels sway in the current. The next dive, ‘Gorgone One’ and the marine life to be found around one of the large pinnacles on this site is the most impressive I have seen so far. Around the top of the pinnacle, several large Stonefish blend into the dome coral while large shoals of Damsels unknowingly swim centimeters above them. All the time Trevally and Garfish swoop down onto the Damsels causing chaos. Down one side of the pinnacle a crevice leads down to a cave where inside a large Redmouth Grouper surrounded by thousands of Golden Sweepers are seeking shelter. Around the cave, Lion and Scorpion fish lie in wait and as my bubbles disturb the Sweepers, the predators move in on the distracted fish.

A couple of days later we had planned a day of wreck diving. The first would be the ‘Al Shorouk’, a shipwreck that was sunk by Aqaba Marine Park only weeks before our arrival. Lying deep off ‘Eel Canyon’, the Al Shorouk is 38 metres at its shallowest point and exceeds 60 metres at its deepest. With poor visibility we descended down onto the bow of the boat briefly so that we could photograph it. The next dive was the Second World War American ‘M42 Duster’ tank complete with anti-aircraft canon lying in 6 metres of water. This unique wreck was sunk in 1999 by the Jordanian Royal Ecological Diving Society and since its introduction has developed into a nice artificial reef, reachable by not only divers, but snorkelers too. Our final wreck dive of the day would be a night dive on the Cedar Pride to see what this wreck would be like during the night. We were not disappointed and the most impressive crow’s nest by day was even more amazing by night. As we illuminated the mast we found that all of the soft corals were fully extended and covered with an array of macro marine life including the most fully camouflaged Oate’s Soft Coral Spider crab.

A of couple days later an arrangement had been made for us to dive a private wreck. During our dive brief it was mentioned that a bottlenose dolphin had been seen playing with jet skiers near the dive site and on the odd occasion had been seen down on the wreck. My goal was to photograph a pair of Painted Frogfish that resided on this dive site and as our guide pointed out the camouflaged critters, I photographed them. Moments later our guide signaled to me to follow and looking down from the top of the wreck I saw JAK with the dolphin. Waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I gave JAK the space he needed to film the dolphin and as it returned to the surface for its breath of air, I dropped down onto the seabed. Looking up at the surface I waited patiently hoping that it would come back and as I watched, this graceful creature glided effortlessly down from the surface and joined me. Looking directly into my mask the dolphin inspected me and with what seemed like a nod of approval, then backed off and nudged the sandy bottom with his nose, signaling me to play with him. With his nose in the sand, I also buried my finger into it and with this, the dolphin instantaneously followed it allowing us both to interact with each other. By now I was ready to get the picture and as the dolphin nuzzled its nose into the palm of my hand, I pushed him away and upwards to my chest height. Quickly I raised the camera and as I did, the dolphin spotted its reflection in the dome port. Inquisitively the dolphin observed its reflection and while doing so remained perfectly still allowing me to take a photo. Momentarily, I looked to the back of the camera to check the photo and while doing so I reached to the dolphin with my other hand. Swimming forward, the dolphin placed his nose back into my hand and we continued to play our game of push and shove until he needed to return to the surface. After making several trips to the surface it was now my turn and with my twin cylinders nearly empty I sadly made my ascent leaving my new friend behind.

My last diving day at Aqaba had finally arrived. Still on a high from the previous days dolphin experience, I am feeling tired after an intense schedule of diving and so in a way I am a little relieved to be going home. JAK and I had already made up our minds where we were going to dive, ‘Coral Garden’ and the ‘Aquarium’ and so as we headed for the ‘Royal Diving Club’, I assembled my equipment for the very last time.

Although I had previously dived the coral gardens, I decided to venture a lot deeper and my decision to do so paid off. At 30 metres there was a slight current and as normal the dive site was busy with marine-life, however, one thing that I noticed was that a lot of the soft tree corals were fully extended. Although I was treated to this spectacle on the Cedar Pride night dive, I was especially happy to be spending my last day capturing more of these pretty corals and as Anthias left the shelter of the coral to catch food, I snapped away. Moving from one small garden of life to another, I now realised that on earlier dives I had missed out on a great opportunity as each of these small eco-systems offered something different. Like every other day, while handing up the cameras, surfacing just before lunch we were always greeted by the rich pleasant aroma of Arabian barbequed fish and chicken being cooked on the dive platform by the boats chef. With cameras in freshwater and a plate of freshly barbequed food with humus and Arabic bread, I sat with my feet in the water gazing down on our last dive site.

Although a fairly shallow dive, the Aquarium is staggering all the same with pristine hard and soft corals fighting for space. Hovering above the corals are various reef fish and with the good visibility I can see the furthest since I have been in Aqaba. There are predators everywhere, Stonefish and Filamented Devilwalkers lying perfectly still in the sand while Bearded Scorpionfish compete for space around small pinnacles. With my 5-metre safety stop complete I decide for the very last time that I would explore the maze of hard corals in the shallows and as I venture closer to the shore I encounter more predation. Groups of juvenile Common Lionfish in less than a metre of water are stalking small fry and as I take my last photographs I just can’t help but continue to be amazed at how unique Aqaba is.

As our boat glided through the calm sea, I watched the sun sink down behind the Egyptian mountains for the last time and with the warm sea breeze on my face reflected on the great diving I had experienced over the last two and a half weeks. Looking back, Aqaba is a truly fun place to dive with plenty of marine life for divers of all experience levels and given the chance, I will surely visit again.

Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project Release 150kg Green Turtle

A giant green turtle weighing a whopping 150kg has returned to freedom after being rescued from the brink of death and nursed back to health in Dubai.

Jade, who is estimated to be anywhere between 40 and 80 years old, was found floating in shallow water at Palm Jebel Ali in February. She was suffering from severe dehydration as well as a nasty case of constipation and bad breath caused by infections.

But yesterday she looked the picture of health as she waited on the beach ahead of her release.

Her sheer size meant it took a hoist and a lot of muscle to load her onto the boat, which would then take her 20km off-shore where she was freed along with 15 other turtles who have been rescued and rehabilitated in Dubai.

The manager of operations at Burj Al Arab’s aquarium, Warren Baverstock, has helped Jade back to health but says it was no easy task.

“We had to gently force-feed her and it took four men to hold her down each time,” he said. “She was pretty feisty.”

Jade was treated by the Wildlife Protection Office (WPO), as well as conservation and marine life experts from Jumeirah Group as part of a programme in Dubai to protect the endangered creatures.

Her underwater adventures will now be monitored by a sophisticated tracking device fitted to her shell and charted online so the public can log in and cheer her on.

To follow Jade, visit the web site www.seaturtle.org

Experiencing Muck Diving in North Sulawesi

About 12 years ago, just after I became a PADI Open Water Diver, I was introduced to the concept of Muck Diving in North Sulawesi with promises of spectacular marine life. I was at the annual Dive Show in Birmingham and as I watched an amazing slideshow all about the weird exotic marine life found in this region, I pledged to myself that one day I would go and see it for myself. In October 2008, the airplane landed on Manado airstrip and within 2 hours I had checked into a spacious hillside cottage at the Kungkungan Bay Dive Resort. After unpacking and assembling my cameras, I sat on the balcony looking out at the water reflecting a stunning bright blue sky. With a wave of exhilaration it finally dawned on me – I had finally made it to North Sulawesi!

Kungkungan is a small eco-dive resort positioned deep in the heart of what is considered the planet’s epicentre for marine bio diversity. It is perfectly located in the Lembeh Straits and gives access to dives sites where you would struggle to find a higher concentration of marine life anywhere else on the planet. The resort is romantically nestled on the site of an old coconut plantation and is made up of thirteen beachfront cottage/villa style accommodations all constructed from local materials. The resort comes complete with a underwater photographer friendly dive centre, a swimming pool, which can be used for training, a spa and of course, a restaurant with a bar.

The next day I was feeling a little anxious with that ‘first day at school feeling’, not knowing what to expect. No sooner had I met with the dive centre manager, I was made to feel right at home with a very friendly welcome to KBR dive centre. For 20 minutes we went through all of the aspects of diver safety, what to do with your equipment at the end of the day, where you can maintain your cameras and how to reserve a spot for the next dive. Prior to the briefing I had placed my dive kit in a mesh bag and my cameras into one of the camera rinse bays, with everything carefully name-tagged. I was told to leave them and not worry. Before I knew it, I was heading down the jetty towards the boats for my first dive. When I reached the boat I found my equipment was already assembled and that my cameras were carefully secured amongst the others ready for departure, now that’s what I call service! After a quick confirmation and check of everyone’s dive equipment, we set off for our first dive of the day.

Within 5 very short minutes we pulled up to our dive site. Very quickly I was in the water being handed my cameras. My dive buddy and I had already been paired up with ‘Liberty’ (our own KBR dive guide). As we descended we both followed him down a dark volcanic sandy slope. The first thing that hit me was how civilised the diving was, although there were ten divers of all experience levels on the boat, everyone was split up into small groups, each with their own dive guide to take care of them. The volcanic sandy slope was broken up by sporadic coral pinnacles teaming with life and as we descended the density of coral increased. It didn’t take long for Liberty to find something of interest to point out. The parade of marine life started with a pair of Pygmy Seahorses, an Ambon Scorpion Fish, a Mantis Shrimp, which are all macro icons I had longed to photograph for many years. All the time we were diving, shoals of darting Shrimpfish and tumbling Striped Catfish moved from one pinnacle to another, all this on just my first dive! Back on the boat, I was literally in shock, I had just spent 55 minutes looking at more species of marine life than I had ever dreamt of and probably seen in my last year of diving. Within 10 minutes we were back on shore and I had signed up for the second dive of the day. Whilst sitting in the swimming pool carrying out my surface interval and drinking a cold Sprite, I admired the amazing scenery and felt elated, excited and immensely pleased with myself!

15 metres down I come face to face with my first Mimic Octopus. It’s only the second dive of my first day of diving and I have encountered what is considered to be the most elusive and magical of the cephalopod family. By now my diving feels more comfortable and so my buddy, dive guide and I place a little more distance between each other and started to work the dive site like a team of crime scene detectives. One of the highlights of this dive was when Liberty pointed out a tiny 2cm nudibranch (Risbecia tryoni) with an even smaller Imperator Commensal Shrimp hitching a ride on its back. This is incredible I thought to myself, life is everywhere, an underwater photographers dream.

After lunch, I found the usual suspects from the morning dives all eagerly waiting for the dive guides to perform the site brief. We were told with great detail what to expect from the next dive and that we were specifically looking for the Paddle Flap Scorpion Fish. Descending 18 metres onto this site, it was immediately apparent this was a totally different environment to the previous two sites. As I looked down hovering 5 metres over the bottom I could see a vast meadow of pulse corals that seemed to go on forever. Liberty signalled, gesturing that we would all have to keep our eyes open and as I started to scan the bottom I began to have doubts that we would find anything at all. After searching for what seemed like eternity, we managed to find the Paddle Flap Scorpionfish. It was only with Liberty’s knowledge of the dive site environment were we able to witness this weird but wonderful fish. For the next 10 minutes we continued to scan the pulse corals for marine life and as they started to break up into patches we found the density of life returned with frogfish, octopus, cuttlefish and seahorses. Whilst completing my 3 minute safety stop at 5 metres I found myself dazing into a fernlike coral that was swaying in the current when something moved. Looking closer I was amazed to see a male and female Ornate Ghost Pipefish picking out the microscopic plankton that floated past them. A great end to another great dive.

Back at the dive centre I am asked if I want to do an evening dive. The promise of a guaranteed Mandarin fish mating ritual, plus many other critters that appear once the sun has gone down, was just too hard to resist. 4 hours later I found myself and two other divers settling down on a bed of dead coral rubble at 8 metres just around the corner of the resort. The instruction for this dive was to not switch on our lights until the last minute and acclimatise our eyes as dusk slowly began. Looking down onto the dead coral rubble I had no idea what to expect when suddenly my eyes suddenly spotted movement in several places within the rubble pile. Looking closer I could see 20 plus Mandarin fish scurrying around the rubble. Moments later they were pairing up getting ready to do their first of two vertical swims above the rubble pile. Just before the area in front of me became filled with darkness, the male and females swam up 1 metre above the rubble where they mated for 4 seconds before returning to the security of their home. It was amazing to witness these beautifully decorated fish performing their breeding ritual. Before I knew it, it was all over and with our dive lights now on, we ventured further into the darkness for the rest of our dive. As our dive lights swept across the slopes of the dive site, we spotted critters everywhere, Stargazers, Devilfish as well as a selection of different crustaceans. Back on the boat I am handed a warm cup of cocoa and as I look into the cloudless sky, the moon and the stars look incredibly surreal. Racing back to the resort, with the warm air on my face and the boat skimming through the darkness on pond-like water, I feel like a navy seal returning from a VIP mission. As I leave the boat I am told to just wash my wetsuit and everything else will be taken care of ready for the next morning.

That evening, like every evening that followed, I fell into a regime of checking the day’s photographs, followed by a beer or two over dinner and then a most comfortable bed. Six days later and with many dives under my belt, I am woken by the early morning sunrise shining through my window; it is time to get ready for my last dive at KBR. The last dive produced more mimic octopus, a female Wunderpus guarding her clutch of eggs and a special sighting with a pair of shrimps (Periclimenes colemani) hitching a ride on a fire urchin, simply amazing.

After saying a sad farewell to my buddy and the dive team I am told that my transfer is waiting. Stepping outside the main reception area, I was shocked to find all of the staff from KBR, waiting to send me off. Some with musical instruments, they all sang a lovely parting song, wishing me farewell but to come back soon. Sitting quietly in the car travelling to the other side of the island, I reflect on the whole experience. KBR is such a very special place, not just due to the amazing and diverse marine life but because KBR is run by people who not only go out of their way to understand the needs of their guests, but do so with an overwhelming generosity.
In my opinion KBR is an ideal destination for all divers of all levels of experience, but is especially good for photographers (still & motion). During my time at KBR I found that novices and advanced photographers were all made to feel welcome and the facilities and security for equipment was extremely good.

For further information about KBR checkout www.divekbr.com
Video Clip: www.divekbr.com/kbr_video.html

Turtle Releases - Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project

Today the team released 17 rehabilitated turtles - 3 of which were large green turtles and the rest, hawksbill turtles. Thanks to Hatteras, their boat got us out off the coast of Dubai and back before 12. A great release in a very fast boat with many more to come.