My daughter-in-law Carmen surprised me again!

First big surprise: In July 2011 she gave birth to the most beautiful, charming, smart, and sensitive grand-child on earth: Wolfie. *)

OK - agreed, it was not just her accomplishment; Felix also played an instrumental role in it, as it were...  :-)

Carmen and Wolfie (April 2013)

Photo: Karin Leander

Second big surprise: During my recent stay in Miami, Carmen asked me one day, passing, whether I would like to see her first book, a children's book. I thought she would give me the manuscript to peruse it. 

No, what she handed me over was a freshly printed copy of the the book, "Written and illustrated by Carmen Leander" as it says on the cover. 

I could not believe what I held in my hands!!! I was absolutely flabbergasted!!! To be sure, I knew that Carmen likes to draw but so far I had not the slightest idea just how talented and creative she is, both as a story-teller and as an illustrator.  

"The Pleek-Plook Puzzle"  is written for young children aged 3 - 6 or 7 (even slightly older children, like the ones in my age bracket - I am 72 - would enjoy it, too...). 

Wolfie loves the book - no wonder, his mom dedicated it to him. While he cannot read it by himself yet - Wolfie is not even two years old - he already knows the entire alphabet, and going over the words to identify every single letter gives him what undeniably seems to be an immense literary pleasure...  :-)

The book's message is twofold, simple and straight-forward, designed to be easily and playfully assimilated by fresh and curious young minds: 

1) Help preserve the health of our oceans, 

                                 and 

2) Do not fear what seems to be strange, perhaps even threatening - rather get to know it to discover its beauty and purposefulness. 

Here is the link to amazon.com  

If you have small kids or grand-kids, get the book - they will love it, so will you!!! 

*) I know, I know - ALL grand-children are like that...   :-)

Ila France Porcher at the Forefront of Shark Conservation

Sharks need to be protected from Canadian politicians!

Photo: Wolfgang Leander (2008)

Click to enlarge

Here is a blog posted by Ila  - it's an open letter addressed to the Canadian government to reconsider their recent decision not to ban the sale of shark fins in their country.

With her letter Ila has proven, once again, her deep passion and love for sharks, her talent as a writer, and her unassuming tenacity in pursuing her sincere conviction that she must do everything within her reach to protect animals from human cruelty, greed, and depravity. Wherever Ila sees a creature suffer, her heart bleeds.

Ila France Porcher
Self-Portrait (2012)
Click to enlarge

Ila is one of the very few individuals I have come across who, unlike so many others, puts her ego behind the cause that has become the driving force of her life: Fighting for sharks, actively, totally committed, without pompously broadcasting her achievements which is what most in the shark "business" do - be they organizations or individuals.

Wanna go Tiger Shark diving in 2013?

 "Emma" parading herself in front of some of her fans.

Photograph: Wolfgang Leander (2009)

Click to enlarge

If you haven't secured a tiger shark diving trip for yourself yet, you'd have to wait until 2014. All the operators, at least the most experienced among them, in my and others' opinion actually just two: Scott Wayne Smith ("Dolphin Dream") and Jim Abernethy ("Shearwater"), are fully booked throughout this year.

Here is the one and only chance to join a group of shark enthusiasts in October to "do" the legendary sharks of Tiger Beach in the Bahamas islands.  The trip arranger is Dominick ("Dom") Macan of DiveAdvice.

Dom's back-to-back trips in November 2013 are already closed, and I understand these trips sold very quickly. 

No wonder: Tiger Beach has become a hugely popular shark dive destination over the last few years, and rightly so.

Last November we dived between Tiger Beach and and a near-by place christened Fish Tales by Captain Scott Wayne Smith which made the trip absolutely fantastic. Fish Tales is not an escape alternative anymore if the weather conditions are not perfect at Tiger Beach proper but an excellent shark dive spot on its own merits.

A friend of Felix who went diving at Tiger Beach early this month on the "Dolphin Dream" talked about an incredible tiger shark action: At one point he and his fellow divers counted between 8 and 10 tigers that were on the spot at the same time - now that we haven't seen in a long time, and is perhaps an indication of the effects of the recently enacted ban on shark fishing in the Bahamas. 

I consider the dives at Tiger Beach to be the best, world-wide, if you are looking for interactive shark diving. Nothing, absolutely nothing on earth, or should I say in the vast oceans?, not even South Africa, will match the incredible experience you, as an individual, can make diving with large sharks (all used to human presence and as such neither shy nor aggressive) in this prime sharky spot.

OK, so Dom has now been offered to charter the Dolphin Dream for a third trip in the second half of October. Understandably, he would accept the offer only if he could fill the boat. He has asked me to explore the possibilities of finding enough people for him to feel comfortable to take over the charter.

Thus far, we have lined up some six divers, including myself, who are keen on making this trip happening  -  Dom needs to have a total of twelve divers to commit to  chartering the "Dolphin Dream".

Again: This could be your one and only chance to dive with tiger shark legends such as "Emma" and "Smiley" this year.

"Emma" -  most popular shark in the world.

Photograph: Wolfgang Leander (2011)

Click to enlarge

"Smiley" - rapidly becoming the second most popular shark in the world...  :-)

Photograph: Wolfgang Leander (2012)

Click to enlarge

If interested in joining me and other confirmed shark lovers on this trip,  please send me an e-mail:  wolf@oceanicdreams.com

Have a nice day, 'OceanicDreaming'....   :-)

Too good not to be shared: Carmen's most brilliant photograph.

Click on image to enlarge

Everything in this image is perfect: The composition, the colors, the subject's (Wolfie's) body language, his mischievous smile. Obviously, Wolfie, aged 1 1/2 years, was not told to say "cheese" - this most stupid invitation to make people to look 'photogenic' or 'happy'.

The photo was taken with a smart phone, and it makes me realize, painfully, as I have to admit, that we photographers of the old school -  whatever that means besides the heavy, at times quite cumbersome analog equipment we had to shlep around  -  seem to be out.

So, even though Carmen and Felix have undeniably some talent as untrained photographers, I doubt they will ever get a 'real' digital camera-camera. Actually, who needs one, except for serious amateur photographers and professionals,  when the results folks like Carmen and Felix get with their smart phones are good enough to participate in any type of a creative photojournalistic contest?

A Blog on a Blog.

Understanding each other's body language...

Photo: Isabel Muscat
Click to enlarge

http://fijisharkdiving.blogspot.com/2013/01/2012-good-bad-and-ugly-part-one_5.html

Mike has done it again, displaying his usual talent as a blog writer, his analytical skills, and his balanced (yes: balanced!!) conclusions on what he has been able to observe during the past year. As this is part one, there is more to come - the more explosive stuff.... :-)   We are looking forward to receiving the continuation of his year-end message.

Just the amount of time Mike has invested to put together his thoughts and assemble relevant links to make this one of the most comprehensive assessments of the developments in the shark world is quite impressive.

Mike does not claim to have the key to "truth" as a concept of absolute and indisputable knowledge - who has it anyway, anywhere? -, and he tells his readers that, 

"This is a blog reflecting personal opinions - not Journalism!"

which I don't agree with AT ALL!!!

Journalism is ALWAYS based on personal opinions and choices of reporting even if the author tries to be as objective as possible.  Mike's blogs are highly subjective, which makes them a delight to read, and they can be defined as journalistic pieces of the genre coined "Feuilleton" in Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feuilleton

Read the part: "Feuilleton Style", and you will agree with me that this does indeed apply to Mike's blogs.

The shark world should be happy to have Mike as one of its few independent, critical, outspoken, and original thinkers, unlike so many others, in fact most,  who bore their readers to death with their parroting of common places or unproven 'theories' (e.g. "no more sharks, no more oxygen to sustain life on the planet") - which, I have to admit, I myself have also fallen for it out of plain negligence.

Is Felix a photographer or does he take pictures?

Critical as I tend to be, I'd say he takes pix as almost everybody else does these days: Mediocre stuff, nothing special. Fair enough - Felix has other interests, and photography has never really gotten into his system.

Once in a while, however, Felix leaves me absolutely flabbergasted when I see the type of images he could take if he only had the burning passion to become a real photographer. One that always has the images and their composition already in his head before actually seeing them in the viewfinder.

The photograph Felix sent me today from his BlackBerry phone is, to me, the irrefutable proof that he is indeed talented. Felix recorded what has been called the hallmark of Henri Cartier-Bresson's work: Squeezing the shutter at the decisive moment.

Here is another fabulous shot taken by Felix, free-diving somewhere in the Bahamas:

And this one is, in his father's most humble opinion, the very best he has ever done. It could have made me utterly jealous for not having taken it myself - but it didn't as the credit for it stays in the family...  :-)

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Chilean seafood - it could be the best, by far, if......

...... Chileans knew how to cook.

Unfortunately, average Chileans don't know how to cook well, not seafood, not meat, not vegetables. Very strange when you consider that in one of the neighboring countries, Peru, you find the most exquisite and diverse Latin American cuisine.

Years ago I ordered an appetizer of clams in Pucon, a charming town in the picturesque South of Chile. Guess what they served me - canned clams!! Canned clams in the country that rightfully boasts to have the best seafood in the world!!

I raised hell - poor 15 year-old Felix felt so embarrased about his complaining dad that he would have contemptuously denied to be my son at that moment - but it didn't help as the owner of the restaurant probably thought: "What's the matter with this scandalously behaving foreigner? Fresh clams, canned clams - what's the difference, anyway?"

Most restaurants in Chile, even in the capital city, Santiago, serve sub-standard food, cooked without any grace and love, let alone imagination. So, eating out in Chile can be a complete turn-off.

What a frustration knowing that the culinary 'raw material' the Chileans have, the fish and the "fruits of the sea" are absolutely superb: King crabs, all kinds of mussels and clams, sea urchins (a delicacy in Chile, and to my knowledge not in danger of depletion), abalones, stone crabs, sea snails, and fish, of course, many sorts, of which the "congrio" (= conger eel) is the most popular.

During our recent stay in Iquique, Karin and I preferred to go to super markets to buy yoghurts, fruit, cheese, crackers, nuts, and cookies. Couldn't go wrong with that. It's a good thing that we can both have frugal meals, and still enjoy life.

On our last day, Karin felt like having something special: a delicious MacDonald chicken burger which I passed, out of principle - dry bread yes, anytime; junk food, even tasty one, no way.

Instead, I went to have my last dinner in a seafood restaurant right in the fishery harbor.

Look what I ordered:



Yummy, right? Wrong!

You see me smiling because Karin took the photograph right before I was having my first bite. After 'savoring' it, I felt I was done - the soup at the bottom of the bowl looked and tasted like salty dishwater, the mussels were huge and tough, the fish had an extremely fishy, almost oily taste, so much so that Karin told me that only a pervert like me could  order such a smelly "Geschlonze" *) - she almost had to vomit.

Nice to have such delicate table companions, huh?   :-)

Felix, on the other hand, would have been quite proud of his old man had he been around.

I promised some people I care for to be more civilized and courageously control my anger when I feel my 'rocky mountain oysters' moving up all the way to my throat, as we Latins poetically describe that almost incontrollable urge to spit it all out in a fit of rage. :-)

Thus, I courteously asked the waiter for the bill, and even forced myself to say the soup was "buenisima" but that much to my chagrin the numerous rolls of bread I ate with it had filled up my tummy before I could finish the "Geschlonze" *).


*) Karin made up the word "Geschlonze". It means - well, just as it sounds, quite yukky, as "Geschlonze" simply HAS to be...  :-)


PS: I just realized that I never published this blog, written five years ago. For some reason I kept as a draft - I am posting it now, unedited, as my opinions expressed therein have not changed. I am currently traveling in Northern Chile, and eating out in a regular restaurant (Chilean restaurants seem to be all 'regular') is still the same old mierda (pardon my Spanish) as it was back in December 2007...   :-)

I almost forgot to wish all the readers of our blog a VERY good 2013 with most of their wishes fulfilled!!!!

Wolfgang and Felix