On Shark Week 2010 and South African Shark Amazones

I was about to write a blog about this year's "Shark Week" when I came across Lesley Rochat's thoughts on the subject that are, in my opinion, absolutely spot on.

So, rather than adding my views on the controversial Discovery Channel yearly program, I invite you to read what Lesley had to say.

Lesley Rochat is one of those individuals in the shark world I highly respect. Unlike others who pretend to be concerned about the welfare of sharks but actually consider them a mere business, this petite and strong-willed lady cares deeply for sharks, and will not bend her integrity for selfish purposes under any circumstances whatsoever.

There are others like Lesley in South Africa: Fiona Ayerst, Sophia van Coller, Olivia Jones-Symcox, Hanli Prinsloo - all admirable 'Shark Amazones' who prove that when it comes to tenacity, commitment, and mental toughness, they do not belong to the "weaker" sex at all....

Am I insatiable or what??

I got back recently from South Africa where the "tiger action" was sub-standard, unfortunately: Rough seas, winds, relatively low water temperatures, very poor visibility, few tigers, and those who showed up didn't stay, were not 'players' as the local shark operators say - it just was not what I expected.

About a week before I arrived in Cape Town, I was informed that six tiger sharks were killed when they got entangled in the infamous shark nets of Scottburgh - not a good foreboding at all...

My very last day at Aliwal Shoal, however, was fantastic: 25 m viz (the best I ever experienced in Aliwal Shoal), four tigers - plus the usual bonus of 30-40 black tips sharks. They are beautiful, 'sharky' sharks, between 1.5 and 2 meters, and their behavior always reminds me that sharks are being called 'pesce cane' (dog fish) in vernacular Italian. The black tips are like a bunch of lovely, completely non-aggressive dogs, especially when they 'infest' the waters!

Yet the underrated black tips pale, indeed become almost irrelevant when the first tiger shark arrives at the scene, attracted by the chum and bait. I am not being a shark racist but that's just the way it is - for me and most other folks. Tigers simply spoil you.

It is impossible to get used to the sensation you feel when the tigers swim by intensely looking at you. I simply refuse to believe that they do so to check you out as potential prey; such observation is sheer non-sense, uttered by people who don't know.

Tiger sharks look at you, and approach you, calmly, because they are just as curious as you are when you see other creatures. No other reason. Or do you perhaps think of a succulent dish when you get to see a pig in a barn or in the wild? No, you most likely don't, even if you weren't Jewish...

Tigers are the most majestic sharks: Gentle, sure of themselves, inquisitive, yet cautious, and if judged by their dark, large eyes they look highly intelligent. All tiger sharks look intelligent which is not what can be said about many (most?) humans... :-)

So, anyway, here I am back in Bolivia, already looking forward to my next tiger shark adventure later this year - not in South Africa but in the incredibly clear waters of the Bahamas, and as if my good friend Der Playbird, aka Paul Spielvogel, could have sensed my joyful anticipation, he sent me some very sharp photographs today, to "brighten my day" as he put it.

"Brighten my day"? Boy, yes, alter Playbird, you could say THAT!!!

When I look at these images that were taken back in 2008, I KNOW what happiness means to me - there is nothing that could make me happier than swimming with tigers, touching them gently, marvelling at them, just being in their realm for hours and hours in a row, not getting tired, let alone bored.


Ohmygosh, I wrote more than I wanted to... Sorry! I tend to babble...Now have a look at the Spielvogel photographs, and enjoy them:

Tigers are just so very responsive - they are simply the coolest sharks x far!

No!! I am not trying to ride her. Just comfortable being so close to her - she must have felt likewise, otherwise she would not have put on that smile on her face!! :-)

I know, I know - some people disapprove of touching wild animals - well, I don't. What can I do?... I love it, and I know I don't hurt them.

Hmmmm - this babe just didn't want me to get too close to her - happens, especially with guys my age.... Hehehehehehe!!

When I lived in the Bahamas (1974 - 1980) the Ministry of Tourism came out with a new catchy slogan: "It's better in the Bahamas" - definitely not an exaggeration as you can see...

Click on images to enlarge

Amazing shot, Felix!

Barracudas
Photo: Felix Leander

Click to enlarge

Clean, minimalistic, essential.

What else can I say? Not more than this: Keep practising - you're definitely getting there!!

Deep love - the husky way.

Photo: Jean-Francois Avenier

Click to enlarge

I love huskies, and I believe they love me - at least that is what I can say about the two huskies I know: Lupi, my dog, and Machin, Jifa's dog.

While Lupi is comparatively mature, well, sort of, Machin is still a kid, and has yet to learn that love bites are not supposed to go deep, as it were. Apart from that, cute and basically very gentle Machin could not know that I bleed easily as I am on blood thinners.

Machin expressed his affection for his distant relative twice, and gave me love bites on each forearm which needed appropriate first aid: Dressings - and some licking!!! :-)

Second choice -

Reflecting on Tiger Beach
Photo: Wolfgang Leander
November 2009
Click to enlarge

... or so I thought when I looked at this negative for the first time.

Today, I scrutinized it again, and now I don't think it is such a bad image.

Actually, I like it enough to share it with you, dear reader.

Just looking at it makes me want to be back with my striped friends. Gotta be a bit patient, though...

My next trips to Tiger Beach will be in November of this year.

I am planning to do at least two back-to back trips, probably three.

Would you like to join me? Here are the details: DiveAdvice.

My diving method at Tiger Beach is "FILO" (= first in, last out). I normally dive there 8 hours non-stop, and if you asked me what I'd do when I have to pee, well, then I would tell you that there are two types of divers: Those who pee in their wetsuits and those who lie about it... :-)

On female divers, sharks, and women power.

Hanli Prinsloo: Freediving instructor, motivational speaker, creative writer, film producer, great companion - and, above all, a real "Mensh" *)
Photo: Wolfgang Leander

Sophia van Coller: Photographer, boat skipper, adventurer, talented and extremely elegant freediver, full of warmth and a fine sense of humor.
Photo: Wolfgang Leander

Click on images to enlarge

I was lucky, and privileged, to meet again some remarkable ocean ladies in South Africa, all committed in one way or another to the preservation of sharks.

Hanli Prinsloo, Julie Andersen, Olivia Jones-Symcox, Sophia van Coller, Fiona Ayerst, and Lesley Rochat are a bunch of strong-willed and focused women with a clear perception of where, and how far, they want to go.

For them, as for many others, sharks are the paradigm of the oceans' vulnerability - but not only that. They love sharks just for what they are: Awesome, powerful, and essentially gentle animals in the Big Blue.

These women are fantastic divers, very professional, very experienced. I did not photograph all of them this time as the weather conditions, especially the visibility, were quite adverse during my entire stay stay in South Africa. I snapped only 500 pics in four weeks, and came back with perhaps 20 acceptable images, among them the two posted above.

While I could be biased, I believe that women are, in general, closer to nature than men. It must be a gender specific intuition that makes women more sensitive to, and respectful of, life. Men hunt, above and under water; women don't.

Sure, there are a few spearfisher'women' - but they are the exception to the rule. Olivia is such an exception; she is exceptional in many other ways as well. I have learned to know her as a very principled, genuine, and compassionate individual.

What I also find quite intriguing is that women are, proportionately, more passionate about sharks than men. Most of the "fan" mails I receive from the viewers of my shark photographs are female.

When I was younger, and that was a loooong time ago, I always thought that sharks were for boys, as kitty cats were for girls. How wrong was I. But what can I do - I was (still am) like most men are: Prejudiced and narrow-minded....

Thanks to my beloved wife Karin I have learned a few lessons in the subject 'Women's Liberation' even though she tends to believe that, deep down, men are incapable of learning anything when it comes to gender issues. To her, I am still a hopeless 'macho'. I will not say that she is right, but I can't say she is completely wrong, either.... :-)

Whatever, as far as I am concerned, we'd fare much better if women ruled the world. Now more than ever.

*) Yiddish for "a decent human being".

Jifa made it!! Yeaaahhhh!!

Da old Wolf playing with an Aliwal Shoal tiger lady.
Photo: Jean-Francois Avenier

Click on image to enlarge

Two years ago, Jifa, aka Jean-Francois Avenier, seemed to have serious eardrum problems. As he could not equalize the pressure, he had to stay at the surface all the time - which greatly limited his photography.

Now, with silicone earcaps attached to his mask, and some expert advice from top freediver William Winram, Jifa finally managed to go down to 7-8 meters - and take real underwater photographs, not underwater images shot slightly below the surface.

He sent me the above picture with a laconic comment: "Better than nothing".

C'mon, Jifa, I know that despite being a hard-core Parisian you are modest, but you don't have to be that modest...

I think this is a fantastic shot!

What pleases me even more about this pic is that you took it with your good ol' Nikonos V, soul bro!!

World Class Freediver and Tiger Sharks

Hanli and Wolf - Photo by: Allen Walker

Hanli Prinsloo is one of South Africa's top freedivers - and there are a lot of good divers there.  She is very connected with the Earth and especially the Ocean, and although I have never met her she strikes me as an extremely gentle human being .  

I follow her adventures on her blog ... and well, today she wrote about her dive with the Tigers and a Wolf.  I think she perfectly captured the old man and his passion:

"...And then there is Wolf. Wolfgang Leander is a man I have known for two years, I say known, but I only met him once two years ago in Struisbaai, where we were united in a dream to freedive with Great White Sharks. Neither of us did, on that trip. But we were equally excited to have met each other, and since then a heartfelt, if geographically challenged, friendship has developed.

Wolf lives in Bolivia, and spends his time and money on Tiger sharks... wherever you can dive with them, Wolf has been, will go to, or has been to, and is returning to. 

And when you see him diving with them, you understand why. This man GETS Tigers... like really GETS them. His love for them is palpable... in his eyes, in his words, and when you see him underwater interacting with them, you know. This is true love.

With his so-damn-old-it's-retro-cool 35mm stills camera slung around his neck, he hangs around at about ten meters, waiting for his striped ladies to come in, strokes their bellies, snaps pics of their gentle eyes and comes up out of breath and fulfilled. I love diving with him, he inspires me to keep loving the sea and her children as I do...

Thank you, Wolf"

Read Hanli's complete post here.

The CITES disaster as seen from a different angle.

Mike Da Shark, aka Mike Neumann, is a man who has an incisive and independent mind. He will open his mouth or sharpen his pen only when he has something solid to say; and when he does, it's like - WHAMMMMMMM.

Take your time and read this. It is, to me, by far the best comment on the recent CITES Convention I have come across.

The shark world as I have gotten to know it during the last three years or so just needs a few more people of the intellectual and ethical caliber of Mike Da Shark to make a tangible difference!

Jifa and "Machin": Not such an odd couple.

When my friend Jifa lost his two huskies, "Gold Rush" and "Ghost", to old age (16 and 17) within less than a year, he was absolutely devastated. Jifa was not just the pack leader for them; over their long lives they also became the center of his life.

Losing a dog, any animal you grew attached to, is no less painful than losing a close relative or a good friend.

Rationally, Jifa knew that he would have to get a 'new' dog in order to let the healing effect of the mourning process come to a natural end. But emotionally he must have had a hard time before deciding to fill the void in his house with the presence of a pup.

Not a pup anymore but far from being a dignified adult dog... :-)
Photo by: Wolfgang Leander

However, Jifa managed to convince himself that "Gold Rush" and "Ghost" would have approved of little "Machin", a husky, not just for taking their place but rather to honor their memory and at the same time as an act of affirmation of life and its continuity.

Pure Love...
Photo: Wolfgang Leander

"Machin"? What kind of a name is that for a living creature? 'Machin' means 'thing' in colloquial French. If you don't know, or forgot, the word of something, or even a person, you'd say: "Qu'est-ce que c'est ce machin la?" (= "What is this thing over there?").

Would you name your dog "Thing"? You probably wouldn't, would you?

Well, Jifa did.

Being a pragmatic man, and not precisely a youngster anymore, Jifa must have figured that entering advanced age will surely be accompanied by a gradual loss of memory - incidentally a stage I am already, and not unhappily, in. Thus, to avoid the embarrassing situation of wanting to address his dog but having momentarily, or even permanently, forgotten his name, "Machin" would always come to his mind.

Smart, huh?

Jifa talking French to "Machin" - as Frederick the Great of Prussia once said to Voltaire: "German is a language for horses, French for sophisticated people." :-)
Photo: Wolfgang Leander

Apropos addressing "Machin" - Jifa does it in French, sometimes in English, and that are the only languages "Machin" understands. I tried to speak German to "Machin" assuming that a language that sounds like barking commands, with words such as "Schtillgeschtanden!"; "Achtung!"; "Nawirdsbalduschweinehund!", would be immediately, and naturally, assimilated by any dog.

Little did I know - "Machin" looked at me quite bewildered, as if to say: "What kind of an oegly language iss ssat?".

To get this you have to know that Jifa, and by extension "Machin", speaks an exquisitely rich English with a strong French accent. Actually, he speaks French when he speaks English - or, to be more precise: He speaks French using English words - and his hands which give his speech a distinct Mediterranean flavor.

Amputated eloquence: Jifa making a point with just one hand.
Photo: Wolfgang Leander

Talking with his hands is certainly an expressive rhetorical tool - the problem is that Jifa "talks" that way even when he speeds with his Chevy 5,7 l 400 HP "Lumina". Thus, if you sit next to him driving at 210 km/h and want to feel safe, just tell him politely but firmly to please shut up, and he will automatically hold on tightly to the steering wheel with both hands.

With the passage of the next years I can vividly imagine Jifa and "Machin" looking even more like each other than they do now.

"Machin" and Jifa: Definitely not an odd couple!
Photo: Wolfgang Leander

However, what is difficult to foresee at this point is who will look more like the other: Jifa like "Machin" or "Machin" like Jifa....

Only time will tell.

CITES Disaster

Our friend Jupp Baron Kerckerinck zur Borg, President of the Princeton-based Shark Research Institute, just came back from Doha / Qatar.

This is his disturbing report:


A journey into Extinction.


At the 15th Conference of the Parties of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), in beautiful Doha/Qatar, the oceans were dealt a terrible blow by Japan.


It was Japan, together with China, Singapore and quite a few of the small countries, who received financial aid from Japan and participated in what I would call “The Oceans’ Pearl Harbor”. To watch them win this battle during which we all worked so hard to save and protect endangered marine species from extinction, was devastating.


The big losers of this despicable and ruthless behavior are the oceans, the sharks, the red corals and the Atlantic blue fin tuna.  Since the ocean is our life support system, that makes all humans who live on this planet, big losers as well. Without a healthy ocean we will not be able to survive.


That is why I keep asking myself: “Who gives those people the right to loot our oceans?” Sadly, the answer is: “The members of CITES”. They handed them the mandate to do so.


The fact that Japan was represented by 50 people, giving a lavish sushi party at their embassy the night before the vote on the tuna, twisting arms and applying pressure on the poor countries to get their vote, is clever but a disgusting display of “ownership” over our
oceans.


Am I wrong when I say “our oceans”? Until now I was under the impression that the world’s oceans belong to all of humanity and not to a “chosen few”, who claim it their birthright to rob them of whatever those people like. The sushi party clearly tells me how the votes against sharks, tuna and red corals came about. You don’t need to be a marine scientist to figure that out.


I don’t believe that anybody would doubt that this kind of behavior had one common denominator: Money. I found it quite embarrassing to watch the representative from Island, walking around after the final vote on the Porbeagle shark was lost; putting her arms around every Japanese she could get her hands on and hugging the representatives from Singapore to show her pleasure over the damage they did to our
oceans.


So what did we finally achieve as far as the oceans are concerned? It was a death sentence to the blue fin tuna and to certain shark species, which made those people, whose only concern is money, so very happy. There was little talk about the protection of marine life.
Nobody paid attention to the scientists, who warned about the consequences to the ocean if those species would be exterminated.


The fact that the population of the blue fin tuna has already been reduced by 80%, that the red coral is almost extinct in the Mediterranean, and that the hammerhead and some other sharks have been depleted by 90% in some areas, did not matter to those who want to continue the multibillion dollar business of killing them all.


Is that what CITES is all about? Has it become a convention in favor of trade with endangered species? There was a lot of talk about poor people who would suffer if we stop the killing; but I don’t know too many poor people who do damage to the oceans. The damage is done by huge long-line fishing vessels, owned by rich people.


I also don't think that too many poor people will indulge in blue fin tuna sushi or in shark fin soup. That is exactly what the Japanese are doing and that’s why the Sunday Times rightfully calls them: “A Country out of Step”.

Jupp Kerckerinck zur Borg
President
Shark Research Institute

Out of South Africa.

So far so good.

Diving has not been that great - so far.

On the other hand meeting old friends, and having made some memorable new acquaintances, has been so good for the soul:

First and foremost "Jifa", also known as Jean-Francois Avenier, who invited me to be his guest during my first week in South Africa; his 15-month old fabulous husky, "Machin", with whom I immediately fell in love; Andre Hartman, the legendary Great White Sharkman, a towering man with huge hands and a huge heart; the Addisons of Blue Wilderness; Fred Buyle and William Winram, world-class freedivers with impressive achievements; and others.

Two old shark-nut farts: Andre Hartman and Wolf.
Photo: Jean-Francois Avenier

Jifa, who is a good friend of Andre, arranged for a one day marine excursion in the larger Gaansbai area to observe great whites. Andre managed to attract four beauties close to the boat; their sizes ranged between 1,60 and 3 meters, the largest being a self-confident and dominant male. Too bad we could not swim with them.

"Better than nothing..."
Photo: Jean-Francois Avenier

There are severe restrictions on diving with great whites in South Africa; not only that - we were in an area where abalones are protected, and no one can dive there for any purpose whatsoever.

As anywhere else in the world, South African government officials only complicate the lives of others, not theirs. Thus, they simply established that merely carrying basic diving equipment in your boat proves you automatically guilty of suspected poaching with heavy fines and even jail terms.

We had two sub-standard days at Aliwal Shoal with 3 to 5 m visibility and just one tiger shark. However, this female tiger was "Sabine", an Aliwal Shoal resident shark during the past eight years except for the last two years she spent elsewhere. To see her back "home" filled us with joy.

While "Sabine" fared well, many others did not. Far too many tiger sharks have either been killed by local fishermen who fear and hate sharks, or met their untimely deaths in the infamous shark nets placed along the beaches of Kwa Zulu Natal.

Tomorrow, March 25, we are planning a trip to the Protea Banks, famous for its bull sharks. I have never dived with bull sharks, and am quite excited about the prospect of seeing them. As you can imagine, we all cross our fingers and hope for the best: Best visibility, best bull interaction, best everything!!

Last, but definitely not least................................ "Machin"!!!!

Photo: Jean-Francois Avenier

I will be back - will she?......

She is "Ella"
Photo: Wolfgang Leander
Click on image

Nobody really knows how many tiger sharks have been netted in Scottburgh*) during the last two years or so; all I have heard is that the numbers of the Aliwal Shoal tigers have gone down considerably.

There were some fantastic characters among the tiger girls of Aliwal Shoal: "Karin", aka "Dartborad", and "Mathilda", both camera lovers, "Sabine", "Snowflake", not quite grown-up, and much to my and others' chagrin killed in the Scottburgh nets, and, my favorite, "Ella", quite large (4 + meters), elegant as befits an elderly lady, and most gentle. In fact, I have never encountered a more gentle tiger shark - and mind you, I was also able to closely befriend serene "Emma", the legendary Tiger Beach resident, so I guess I can tell.

I will be travelling to South Africa in less than a week, and am, as you can imagine, very excited about meeting good friends: Jifa (= Jean-Francois Avenier) and "Machin", his new husky, the Addisons, Fiona Ayerst, Hanli Prinsloo, Fred Buyle, William Winram, Julie Anderson, Olivia Jones, Lesley Rochat - not to mention the striped ladies, including "Ella", as I very much hope.


*) The shark nets have to be removed, in South Africa and the rest of the world. Read why.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Meet Mike DaShark!

Mike (close to 2m long) and "Scarface" (close to 5 m long)
Photo: Tim Rock

Do you want to know what makes a banker turned into a shark conservationist tick? In case you think about me - you are WRONG.

I am talking about Mike DaShark. Mike is one of the brainiest individuals I know, at the same time he is as pleasantly unassuming as you would expect an intellectual heavy-weight to be.

If I were asked to describe Mike in one sentence, I'd say this about him: Not a trace of hot air, no underdeveloped ego in need to be puffed up, no show biz on his own behalf, incorruptible, and solid as a rock inmidst the busy pettiness of self-interest that is so characteristic of most shark conservationist groups.

Mike is not an English native speaker; he hasn't even had a formal language training in English - he just picked it up and practiced it. And yet - few educated people speak and write English the way he does.

Here are, then, the thoughts of an ex-banker who abandoned a very successful investment banking career, and all that goes with it, to become a dedicated, hard working, and persevering shark conservationist in Fiji.

Mike - you rock!!

A quote from my previous blog on Thomas Peschak.

I photograph sharks not just because I 'like' doing it; I photograph sharks because I love and admire them as one of the most ancient creatures of our planet.

With the help of the internet I try to make my images available as widely as possible hoping that they will reach those who are not aware of the existential threat sharks are facing in our fateful times.

The very purpose of this blogspot, created by Felix, is, indeed, to show that sharks are not dangerous but that they are endangered and, thus, need to be protected from humans.

"Not dangerous but endangered."
Photo: Wolfgang Leander

Click on image to enlarge

To see that there are so many others who for one reason or another feel that strong, almost visceral urge to preserve the animals we shark conservationists love gives me great satisfaction and much encouragement to go on. I guess that we are all cut from the same cloth.

Here is what Thomas sees as the quintessence of his mission as a professional conservationist photographer; it is, basically, what drives me in my quest to spread the message of shark conservation, or in Thomas' words, "....create images of sharks that will inspire people to go out of their way to help protect and save them from extinction."

Thomas Peschak: "The legendary conservationist George Schaller wrote: ‘Pen and Camera are weapons against oblivion, they can create awareness for that which may soon be lost forever’. (...........) I spend an average 8 months a year on assignment documenting shark conservation projects all over the world. Schaller’s words are my mantra and especially in times when all hope seems lost they inspire me never to give up.

Photographs are one of the most powerful weapons in the marine conservation arsenal and it has become my life’s work to create images of sharks that will inspire people to go out of their way to help protect and save them from extinction."

Thomas Peschak: Marine biologist, author, photographer, conservationist.

Thomas Peschak "at work" - it is not risky, but it ain't for the faint-hearted.
Photos: Wolfgang Leander (Aliwal Shoal, 2007)
Click on images to enlarge

In his field, wildlife and shark conservation photography, Thomas is, in my and many others' opinion, one of the best - world-wide.

I will not say more than that about him. Instead, I invite you to read one of Thomas' most recent blogs. That will tell you, in his own eloquent words, what kind of a guy this young South African is:


SHARK: Saving the most important fish in the sea

Welcome to the new IMPACT online exhibition, a project exploring the internet as a venue for insightful photographic work. In an effort to remind viewers of the important role photographers play around the world, we invited an array of imagemakers to share galleries on their blogs (like this one) that comprise 12 images representing an experience when they had an impact on or were impacted.

By clicking on the links below the IMPACT logo, you can move through the exhibition, viewing other galleries by different photographers. You can also click the IMPACT logo to be taken to a post on the liveBooks RESOLVE Blog where you can see an index of all participating photographers. We hope that by linking different photographic visions of our first topic, “Outside Looking In,” we can provide a multifaceted view of the topic as well as the IMPACT individuals can have on the world around us.

An estimated 73 million sharks are killed every year around the world and as a result 50 species are listed as vulnerable or in danger of extinction. Vast fishing fleets comb our oceans catching sharks primarily for their fins, a sought after commodity used in shark fin soup. One of the greatest challenges in marine conservation today is to instill in people a sense of wonder in the ocean that will not only awaken a feeling of ownership but also foster responsibility towards its inhabitants, especially sharks.

The legendary conservationist George Schaller wrote: ‘Pen and Camera are weapons against oblivion, they can create awareness for that which may soon be lost forever’. As Chief Photographer of the Save our Seas Foundation I spend an average 8 months a year on assignment documenting shark conservation projects all over the world. Schaller’s words are my mantra and especially in times when all hope seems lost they inspire me never to give up. Photographs are one of the most powerful weapons in the marine conservation arsenal and it has become my life’s work to create images of sharks that will inspire people to go out of their way to help protect and save them from extinction.

For me the biggest reward comes when my photographs achieve real world marine conservation successes. Over the years I have had the immense privilege to have my images play a role in the proclamation of marine reserves and achieve changes in fisheries legislation. However the greatest joy and satisfaction comes in the form of the e-mails I receive from people whose lives were touched by my photographs and in turn created their own conservation projects in form of grass roots activities, petition sites or facebook cause groups.

The Senegalese philosopher Baba Dioum said ‘In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught.’ Every person who gains an understanding of and love for sharks will bring us one step closer to putting a permanent end to the destructive activities of the shark nets, long-liners and trawlers that are collectively killing millions of sharks and ultimately destroying two thirds of our planet in the process. The ocean is our planet’s switch of life and in more ways then we care to acknowledge, we too, just like sharks depend on a healthy marine realm for our own survival.

Thomas P. Peschak
Chief Photographer
Save our Seas Foundation

Visit Thomas' website.

Another Spielvogel Photograph.

Paul sent me this image today. It is so good that I can't resist posting it.

As the photograph is minimalistic, so is my comment on it: This great shot eloquently tells the viewers what my relationship with sharks is all about.

Shark whispering - pretty much like horse whispering; all you need to know is the language sharks and horses understand.
Copyright: Paul Spielvogel
Click on image to enlarge

Thank you, Paul!

Best beach in the world? Tiger Beach!!

My friend Paul Spielvogel, aka Paul Playbird, another multi-talent, not unlike Fiona Ayerst, sent me these photographs today:

Tiger and lemon girls feeling comfortable next to a submarine wolf.

"I need you girls to get a bit closer."

Click on images to enlarge

Paul is a passionate underwater photographer and a successful lawyer with a doctorate degree - I told him that in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland he would be addressed to as "Herr Doktor Schpielfogel", in court as well as in his super market or laundry shop, and also underwater.... :-)

Herr Doktor Schpielfogel knows that happiness to me means playing at the best beach in the world. So, with these images he made my day, actually my night as it is 2:00 a.m. right now!

Blogs, friends, and the internet.

I would like to show you that Mark Harding is not only an excellent videographer, a dedicated shark friend and manta conservationist, a professional still photographer, but also, as you will see, a talented blogger.

Mark Harding loves these gentle giants - and is committed to their protection.
Photo: Wolfgang Leander (Galapagos, 1999)
Click on image to enlarge

How did I meet my good pal Mark? Simple - over the internet.

That leads me to think that some of my very best new friends were internet acquanintances that evolved into solidly established cyber-friendships before I met them in person. Just to name a few: Jean-Francois Avenier ("Jifa"), Marcelo Mammana, Mike Neumann.

Beyond that, what and where would I, and countless others all over the globe, be without the blessings of the internet?

That story which has yet to be written, has changed, and is still changing, our civilization in such a profound way that it could only be compared, perhaps inadequately, to man's 'discovery', and use, of fire.

I am still unable to grasp the internet's astounding dimension and importance....

Anyway, as a retiree I am glad that it exists otherwise I would have to collect stamps or, worse, get even more on my wife's nerves. :-)