Fiona Ayerst: "Not a professional"

Photo by Fiona Ayerst - Wolf freediving at night

Let me first give a little background about the title and the inside joke Fiona and I had on the trip...

I first met Fiona when we picked her up at the West Palm airport on our way to Tiger Beach. I was intrigued by her National Geographic backpack which had a broken zipper exposing a lot of papers and other stuff - not sure if any of them were important - somewhat "unprofessional" I thought. On the second day of the trip I asked her what exactly RAW files were - she explained it to me and also pointed out that I would not need these as I was not "professional" - ouch...that was the jab - then she came back with an uppercut when she said that she does not use "stupid" point and shoot cameras - which I have as well and I showed it to her...we both agreed that I am not a professional and throughout the trip we kept reminding ourselves of that...

Joking aside - Fiona is a professional photographer in every sense. I will let her photography speak for me... http://www.fionaayerst.com/

A little about Fiona: "Fiona Ayerst ( Girls Collegiate matric 1983) practiced as an Attorney and ran her own law firm in Johannesburg for ten years. Fiona retired early and is now a freelance adventure sport and underwater stills photographer and photo-journalist who loves sharks. Fiona turned professional in April 2006 has not looked back since leaving the legal profession. She travels the world extensively and writes about adventure travel and conservation for various local and international publications. She is the editor of an online magazine about the oceans www.beyondbluemag.com

Fiona has a particular interest in sharks. This is not only because she was an Attorney for five years, but more importantly because of the rapidly dwindling shark numbers and her interest in their protection and conservation.

Fiona is a founder committee member of an N.G.O called SHARKLIFE. This organization is involved educating people about the value and beauty of these creatures.

Fiona also has one of the most contagious laughs - I watched Super Bad with her - movie was so much more fun watching with her than the first time around. One more thing - Fiona loves and cares for animals, especially sharks - and when I mean love - I mean love...I was with her when the sad news from Aliwal Shoal was passed on to us and saw her reaction...was as if she lost someone very close to her.