just walk down one of the pristine beaches at ningaloo in summer and this is what you get to see - if you're lucky. it's one of the most beautiful events i've ever witnessed. all of them made it!
Sunday 26 February 2012
Sunday 5 October 2008
the photographer
taking pictures underwater is not an easy skill. i've been doing it for 12 years now but still i don't think i'm good at it, even if my underwater digital slr camera is a very nice piece of equipment. but there are guys who just know much better than me how to use it. one of them came for a visit to take pictures of the new hotel & dive shop. his name is gerald nowak and he's a professional photo journalist. his portfolio includes all the big german dive magazines including 'tauchen', 'unterwasser', 'aquanaut' and 'atlantis'. he did just two dives on our house reef in less than optimal conditions, but the results are quite impressive.
the diver in the photo is rudi robisch, the bavarian manager of the other orca dive club in hamata. together, they found some nice objects like this small school of batfish.
gerald and rudi even found some big fish like this malabar cod which is great news to us and the new dive shop.
finally gerald found these two - at 6 o'clock in the morning. that's why we look a bit tired. thanks, gerald, for the pictures. we really enjoyed your company.
the diver in the photo is rudi robisch, the bavarian manager of the other orca dive club in hamata. together, they found some nice objects like this small school of batfish.
gerald and rudi even found some big fish like this malabar cod which is great news to us and the new dive shop.
finally gerald found these two - at 6 o'clock in the morning. that's why we look a bit tired. thanks, gerald, for the pictures. we really enjoyed your company.
Wednesday 1 October 2008
diving the red sea
while we wait for the completion of the new dive shop, fränzi and i go out on the boat almost every day to get to know 'our' dive sites. the dive boats are huge compared to the day boats we use at ningaloo.
sometimes we get to see a 'big cod', as they say here, but the fish they mean would be considered a rather small cod at ningaloo. we appreciate the marine life at ningaloo even more since we dive here. it reminds us of how it once looked here in the red sea before they threw dynamite overboard. i hope the ningaloo reef will not face the same fate with all those recreational fishing boats going there in increasing numbers these days. it becomes a rather sad experience to find one single big fish in the sea after weeks of diving, like the big napoleon wrasse we encountered two days ago on a dive site called 'shaab claudio'. when it approached us, we saw that its lips were badly deformed and infected, from being fed by hand or from a fishing hook - we don't know. to us, this magnificent fish looked rather lost and lonely.
the boats look nice but they also are very slow. it takes up to two hours to get to the dive sites but we don't mind too much because the boats are spacious and comfortable. so, we just hang out and relax with our customers on the sun deck.
working on dive boats in egypt is an easy job compared to the work divemasters have to do in australia. all the hard work - filling tanks, transporting cylinders and gear to and from the boats - is done by the egyptian crew members. all we have to do is to make sure everything runs smoothly and to look after the divers. sometimes we feel like guests on the clean and tidy boats ourselves.
working on dive boats in egypt is an easy job compared to the work divemasters have to do in australia. all the hard work - filling tanks, transporting cylinders and gear to and from the boats - is done by the egyptian crew members. all we have to do is to make sure everything runs smoothly and to look after the divers. sometimes we feel like guests on the clean and tidy boats ourselves.
the dive sites are mainly colorful coral gardens. probably the most beautiful hard and soft corals in the world. but there is not much big fish left in these waters. obviously, it has all been fished out by the egyptians who even used dynamite for many years. i learned scuba diving in the red sea 15 years ago but it was a completely different story back then. there were big fish and sharks everywhere. but now? in four weeks we haven't seen one shark. so, we started taking pictures of ourselves instead.
sometimes we get to see a 'big cod', as they say here, but the fish they mean would be considered a rather small cod at ningaloo. we appreciate the marine life at ningaloo even more since we dive here. it reminds us of how it once looked here in the red sea before they threw dynamite overboard. i hope the ningaloo reef will not face the same fate with all those recreational fishing boats going there in increasing numbers these days. it becomes a rather sad experience to find one single big fish in the sea after weeks of diving, like the big napoleon wrasse we encountered two days ago on a dive site called 'shaab claudio'. when it approached us, we saw that its lips were badly deformed and infected, from being fed by hand or from a fishing hook - we don't know. to us, this magnificent fish looked rather lost and lonely.
Saturday 20 September 2008
salam aleikum from egypt
no more ningaloo for the next few months.
fränzi and i decided to go somewhere else for a while. we accepted a job offer from a company in egypt. fränzi always wanted to dive the red sea. so, why going there as a paying tourist for a week or two if we can go there for a year or so - and get paid?! the job is to open a new 'orca dive club' in the south of egypt, near the sudanese border where it's less crowded than up north. they just build a new four-star hotel near a tiny village called hamata - our new home for a while. when we got here a few weeks ago the hotel had just opened but the work on the building for the dive shop was put on hold because of the 'ramadan' in september. it's the building on the right hand side. in the background the red sea including our 'house reef'.
we thought living in a hotel is gonna be tough but it's not. we enjoy the service, the egyptian staff are very nice people and we love our large room with a dome-shaped roof and a large balcony.
fränzi and i decided to go somewhere else for a while. we accepted a job offer from a company in egypt. fränzi always wanted to dive the red sea. so, why going there as a paying tourist for a week or two if we can go there for a year or so - and get paid?! the job is to open a new 'orca dive club' in the south of egypt, near the sudanese border where it's less crowded than up north. they just build a new four-star hotel near a tiny village called hamata - our new home for a while. when we got here a few weeks ago the hotel had just opened but the work on the building for the dive shop was put on hold because of the 'ramadan' in september. it's the building on the right hand side. in the background the red sea including our 'house reef'.
we thought living in a hotel is gonna be tough but it's not. we enjoy the service, the egyptian staff are very nice people and we love our large room with a dome-shaped roof and a large balcony.
i reckon we'll become really lazy here as we never have to clean, cook, do the dishes or anything like that. they even do the laundry for us, including ironing. life really is not too bad here...
Monday 16 June 2008
kimberley video
finally i finished the promotional video for the great escape charter company. in march, fran and me spent two weeks cruising the kimberley coast on mv great escape. the task was to compress 6 hours of video down to a 7 minutes emotional ad. we are pretty happy with it - it reflects the beauty of the australian kimberley coast. we think.
Tuesday 13 May 2008
famous 'stumpy' and first manta rays
we swam with a well known whale shark called 'stumpy' today - i did, not the customers - as 'stumpy' was too close to the reef and it was too dangerous to put the groups in the water. 'stumpy is by far the most famous whale shark at ningaloo reef. click here for an article on 'stumpy'. for more information about this shark click here: A-001
the other good news is that the first oceanic manta rays have arrived at ningaloo reef. every year the stay here in large numbers between may and august. it's always more than just a bonus on the whale shark tours to snorkel with manta rays while the spotter planes look for whale sharks. they are gorgeous creatures.
Tuesday 6 May 2008
a fin lovin' whale shark
today we swam with two whale sharks of which one was very curious.
it was a 2.5m male shark constantly chasing the snorkellers - they didn't know where to go a were afraid of getting their fins bitten off. this shark was good fun.
Thursday 1 May 2008
nice big shark
the first big shark this year - almost 8 meters long. this whale shark has been encountered every year at ningaloo since 2002 which is great news. for more information about this shark click here: A-130
Thursday 24 April 2008
first whale shark this year
first time out this year and we had a great shark in clear blue water. it's a 4m male whale shark that has not been identified before. for more information about this shark click here: A-450
Sunday 20 April 2008
another whale shark season
in 2008 i'm back on the gold boat 'darling isabelle'. the crew is completely new this year but fran helps out on the boat so will spend a lot of time on the water together which is great!
Friday 18 April 2008
a nice day out on the boat
the weather was gorgeous so fran and me decided to take our boat out for a scenic and a snorkel.
my good old friend big al and his girls loved it as much as we did.
my good old friend big al and his girls loved it as much as we did.
Thursday 3 April 2008
kimberley cruise
fran and myself were lucky enough to be invited on a luxuriuous cruise along the stunning kimberley coast. we spent 14 nights on board the beautiful 'great escape', travelling from broome to wyndham in the north of western australia. the vessel takes 14 customers max, each of them paying about 15000.00 australian dollars for the two-weeks-cruise. fran and me paid ... nothing! she was the domestic, i was the videographer on the boat. we even had our own cabin. we swam in freshwater ponds, caught some barramundi, did some great bushwalks, had a lot of 4-star-meals and escaped the saltwater crocodiles. the kimberley coastline has the most spectacular scenery we ever came across and we highly recommend this trip to everyone - if you have the cash ;-)
Saturday 2 February 2008
fränzi comes to ningaloo
she finally makes the big step and leaves switzerland behind for a while. we gonna live in exmouth together for at least a few months - very exciting! on the way from perth to exmouth we camped at the famous pinnacles, of course.
Saturday 16 June 2007
whale shark attack!!
today was one of the most exciting whale shark days i ever had. within 25 minutes we found and swam with four different whale sharks in one small area just off ningaloo reef.
but not just that. i filmed something probably no one else in the world has ever encountered before: a whale shark attacking another whale shark! we snorkelled on top of a four meter shark cruising along in about 5-6m of water when all of a sudden a huge (8-10m) whale shark came out of the blue from underneath the smaller shark and clearly attacked and chased it. unbelievable! the water was quite murky but you can still see the attack in my footage:
Friday 25 May 2007
gentle giants in decline
it's big news on australian tv and radio today: new research shows that the numbers of whale sharks are dwindling:
the iconic whale sharks that congregate at ningaloo reef off western australia are declining in number, according to a recent study published in the journal of animal ecology. researchers from the australian institute of marine science and charles darwin university have used 12 years of whale shark photographs from ningaloo reef to monitor and predict trends in population size. the scientists’ models show a steady decline in numbers of the giant fish. the study follows increased efforts over the last decade to learn more about the ningaloo whale shark aggregation due to fears that over-harvesting outside of australian jurisdiction could pose a threat to the gentle giants. ‘australia’s whale shark population is shared with many other countries in southeast asia and around the indian ocean,’ says fish biologist dr mark meekan. ‘although many countries including india and taiwan have recently halted or reduced their commercial take of whale sharks, continued harvesting throughout southeast asia is probably still occurring.’
(click here for the full story)
whale shark products are sold in many southeast asian countries. it is reputed to be the world's most expensive shark meat. there are various products used from whale sharks including:
- cartilage, blood, gall bladder, corneas and liver are used in a variety of medical treatments
- the meat is eaten and sold as flake or shark meat in fish shops
- the fins are considered a delicacy in asian cooking (shark fin soup)
- the skin can be turned into leather
- the liver oil is used in cosmetics
the iconic whale sharks that congregate at ningaloo reef off western australia are declining in number, according to a recent study published in the journal of animal ecology. researchers from the australian institute of marine science and charles darwin university have used 12 years of whale shark photographs from ningaloo reef to monitor and predict trends in population size. the scientists’ models show a steady decline in numbers of the giant fish. the study follows increased efforts over the last decade to learn more about the ningaloo whale shark aggregation due to fears that over-harvesting outside of australian jurisdiction could pose a threat to the gentle giants. ‘australia’s whale shark population is shared with many other countries in southeast asia and around the indian ocean,’ says fish biologist dr mark meekan. ‘although many countries including india and taiwan have recently halted or reduced their commercial take of whale sharks, continued harvesting throughout southeast asia is probably still occurring.’
(click here for the full story)
whale shark products are sold in many southeast asian countries. it is reputed to be the world's most expensive shark meat. there are various products used from whale sharks including:
- cartilage, blood, gall bladder, corneas and liver are used in a variety of medical treatments
- the meat is eaten and sold as flake or shark meat in fish shops
- the fins are considered a delicacy in asian cooking (shark fin soup)
- the skin can be turned into leather
- the liver oil is used in cosmetics
a large whale shark slaughtered in china
Thursday 24 May 2007
whale shark A-320
a cute little female with parts of her fins bitten off. for more information about this shark click here: A-320
Thursday 17 May 2007
four sharks in one day
what a great day! we swam with four different whale sharks! one of them was roger, the 10m leviathan we saw three and five days ago. for more information about this shark click here: A-047
Tuesday 15 May 2007
whale shark A-399
a whale shark that has never been encountered before. for more information about this shark click here: A-399
Monday 14 May 2007
whale shark roger
today we swam with the same 10m male shark we found two days ago. as he'd been encountered more than 20 times now we decided he deserves a name. we nicknamed him roger, after our crew member roger who was badly injured two days ago in a car accident on the way to the tantabiddi boat ramp. for more information about this shark click here: A-047
Saturday 12 May 2007
more sharks for us aquarium
today i found more sad news about the way we treat whale sharks:
two more whale sharks appear to be on their way to the georgia aquarium. fisheries officials in taiwan are ready to approve the export of the male whale sharks to the atlanta aquarium, said a whale shark expert on the east asia island who has reviewed the aquarium's applications. one of taiwan's largest newspapers reported this week that officials have signed off on the transfer."they will probably be exported to the united states in june," said z. shouzheng, an associate professor at national taiwan ocean university. the whale sharks' arrival would raise to five the number of the creatures, known as the world's largest fish, circling in the aquarium's ocean voyager exhibit. the decision to ship the sharks represents an apparent change in opinions about the aquarium's care of them. a male whale shark died at the aquarium in january, prompting questions about a chemical used in their tank to treat parasites, which could have curbed their appetite and led to force-feeding of the fish. the 22-foot whale shark, named ralph, died from peritonitis, an inflammation of the stomach lining. he also had perforations in his stomach, possibly caused by the pvc pipe used to force-feed the leviathan. the aquarium has declined to release the necropsy report detailing the cause of ralph's death. ralph came to georgia in june 2005, along with norton, another male. both were in ocean voyager when the aquarium treated the sprawling tank with a chemical to prevent leeches. the two fish soon stopped eating, prompting the force-feedings. norton is still undergoing the feedings, the aquarium said.
two more whale sharks appear to be on their way to the georgia aquarium. fisheries officials in taiwan are ready to approve the export of the male whale sharks to the atlanta aquarium, said a whale shark expert on the east asia island who has reviewed the aquarium's applications. one of taiwan's largest newspapers reported this week that officials have signed off on the transfer."they will probably be exported to the united states in june," said z. shouzheng, an associate professor at national taiwan ocean university. the whale sharks' arrival would raise to five the number of the creatures, known as the world's largest fish, circling in the aquarium's ocean voyager exhibit. the decision to ship the sharks represents an apparent change in opinions about the aquarium's care of them. a male whale shark died at the aquarium in january, prompting questions about a chemical used in their tank to treat parasites, which could have curbed their appetite and led to force-feeding of the fish. the 22-foot whale shark, named ralph, died from peritonitis, an inflammation of the stomach lining. he also had perforations in his stomach, possibly caused by the pvc pipe used to force-feed the leviathan. the aquarium has declined to release the necropsy report detailing the cause of ralph's death. ralph came to georgia in june 2005, along with norton, another male. both were in ocean voyager when the aquarium treated the sprawling tank with a chemical to prevent leeches. the two fish soon stopped eating, prompting the force-feedings. norton is still undergoing the feedings, the aquarium said.
(source: atlanta journal www.ajc.com)
whale shark ralph before he died
Wednesday 2 May 2007
stuffed whale shark
i accidently came across this sad and rather weird story:
the largest flordia keys fish story took place in 1912 just off of knight's key. captain charles chompson of miami harpooned a 38-foot-long whale shark that reportedly took about 39 hours, five harpoons and more than 100 bullets to subdue. the 26,594-pound whale shark was towed to miami, preserved, stuffed and exhibited on a railroad flat car. the sign on the flat car read "weight 30,000 lbs. length 45 ft." all went well until it was accidentally destroyed by fire in 1922.
the largest flordia keys fish story took place in 1912 just off of knight's key. captain charles chompson of miami harpooned a 38-foot-long whale shark that reportedly took about 39 hours, five harpoons and more than 100 bullets to subdue. the 26,594-pound whale shark was towed to miami, preserved, stuffed and exhibited on a railroad flat car. the sign on the flat car read "weight 30,000 lbs. length 45 ft." all went well until it was accidentally destroyed by fire in 1922.
Friday 27 April 2007
whale shark under boat II
this young boy of 3-4 meters was very friendly. we didn't have to find it, it found us and swam under and around the boat for 20 minutes. this gave our skipper justin his first chance to swim with a whale shark. he didn't even need to put his fins on.
to find out the sex of the whale shark i had to duck dive right next to it. usually whale sharks bank or turn their back towards you for defence if you come to close. this shark didn't bother at all, it even turned its belly towards me.
for more information about this shark click here: A-393
to find out the sex of the whale shark i had to duck dive right next to it. usually whale sharks bank or turn their back towards you for defence if you come to close. this shark didn't bother at all, it even turned its belly towards me.
for more information about this shark click here: A-393
Tuesday 17 April 2007
whale shark A-391
one of my first whale sharks this year - a 4m female. for more information about this shark click here: A-391
Wednesday 4 April 2007
whale shark under boat
today i swam with my first whale shark this year! a very special one, too. probably my best whale shark encounter in 9 years of sharking at ningaloo reef. i was out on my own boat late in the afternoon when i found an 9m shark feeding in a bait ball surrounded by reef sharks and a manta ray just off south passage. my girlfriend fränzi and me swam with it for about half an hour.
...and finally gave it a kiss on the side with its head out of the water. it even pushed the boat around a few meters while fränzi sat on the boat.
at some stage the shark found our 5m runabout more interesting than the bait ball. it swam off towards the drifting boat, circled a few times under the hull...
...and finally gave it a kiss on the side with its head out of the water. it even pushed the boat around a few meters while fränzi sat on the boat. it was fränzi's first ever whale shark - can you be more lucky?!
Tuesday 3 April 2007
boccia with kangaroos
camping in the beautiful cape range national park is always good fun and very relaxing. my girlfriend fränzi and me really enjoyed a game of boule on the beach just before sunset.
at some stage fränzi and me had to stop playing - it was just getting too dangerous for our friendly referee...
Sunday 1 April 2007
whale sharks of ningaloo
for the next few months i'll be filming whale sharks every day (hopefully...).
whale sharks will grow to over 12 metres in length, which is about the size of a large bus. whale sharks are not aggressive, they cruise the oceans feeding on concentrations of zooplankton, small fish and squid. whale sharks occur world-wide in tropical and temperate seas and are thought to be highly migratory. however, there is little information currently available on this aspect of their behaviour. also, the population is unknown and the species is considered vulnerable. for better understanding (and better protection) of the whale shark it is important to collect as much data as possible. a few years ago a non-profit organisation called ecocean introduced a worldwide photo identification library. in the next few weeks, i'll report all my whale shark encounters to ecocean and you'll also find some of them here in my blog.
ningaloo reef is privileged to be one of the few places in the world known to be visited by the mysterious whale shark (rhincodon typus) on a regular basis. each year, just days after the mass spawning of corals on the ningaloo reef in march and april, whale sharks appear in the waters along the front of the reef, remaining for up to a month. it is thought that they come to feed on an explosion of marine life that feeds on the coral spawn. most of these visiting whale sharks are immature males. it remains an intriguing puzzle why this particular section of the population visits our coast.
whale sharks will grow to over 12 metres in length, which is about the size of a large bus. whale sharks are not aggressive, they cruise the oceans feeding on concentrations of zooplankton, small fish and squid. whale sharks occur world-wide in tropical and temperate seas and are thought to be highly migratory. however, there is little information currently available on this aspect of their behaviour. also, the population is unknown and the species is considered vulnerable. for better understanding (and better protection) of the whale shark it is important to collect as much data as possible. a few years ago a non-profit organisation called ecocean introduced a worldwide photo identification library. in the next few weeks, i'll report all my whale shark encounters to ecocean and you'll also find some of them here in my blog.
Saturday 10 March 2007
new boat
today my new boat arrived in exmouth! my dad and i picked it up in sydney a few days ago and towed it all the way back to exmouth - that's just around 5500km.
thanks daddy!
thanks daddy!
Thursday 1 March 2007
welcome to ningaloo
g’day from western australia!
it’s my fourth year living in exmouth and still i just cannot complain - i love it here! most of my friends back home in germany don't really have a clue what i do here - so i decided to start my own weblog. me and my camera want to give you an impression about my life in a very special place on this planet.
the australian north west cape is a very remote peninsula with just one little town of 3000 people, 1200km away from a proper city, 800km away from any traffic lights. paradise is just around the corner: pristine beaches, an almost untouched coral reef, a clean warm ocean plus the fascinating australian outback. all this is very crowded - with animals, not people: welcome to ningaloo reef and cape range! i spend a lot of time diving with all sorts of pretty fish – from the smallest to the biggest ones, which are in fact the whale sharks. these gentle giants visit ningaloo reef every year from march to july. you will learn more about them very shortly – i hope you will come back regularly to check out what i'm up to. so long – take care!
marcus
it’s my fourth year living in exmouth and still i just cannot complain - i love it here! most of my friends back home in germany don't really have a clue what i do here - so i decided to start my own weblog. me and my camera want to give you an impression about my life in a very special place on this planet.
the australian north west cape is a very remote peninsula with just one little town of 3000 people, 1200km away from a proper city, 800km away from any traffic lights. paradise is just around the corner: pristine beaches, an almost untouched coral reef, a clean warm ocean plus the fascinating australian outback. all this is very crowded - with animals, not people: welcome to ningaloo reef and cape range! i spend a lot of time diving with all sorts of pretty fish – from the smallest to the biggest ones, which are in fact the whale sharks. these gentle giants visit ningaloo reef every year from march to july. you will learn more about them very shortly – i hope you will come back regularly to check out what i'm up to. so long – take care!
marcus
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