Tributes to Rusi!

We are all very grateful for this.

Thank you Jayne and Michael for having collected these touching tributes to the great late man.

Please click for detail.

Rusi - a Tribute.

Thank you David.

This has actually brought tears to my eyes.

Unquestionably the world's most accomplished Shark feeder, Rusi did it because it gave him intense joy and not because of some desire for recognition and fame, to the point that he was most certainly entirely unaware of his global celebrity status, and of the admiration and respect he commanded.

A humble, highly reserved and ultimately shy man, he would only ever engage with a few select people he respected like Valerie or Cristina, and nearly never sit for interviews.

This interview may well be his very last, recorded in 2011 when David was here to shoot OSAM.

Rusi, back then.

Happier days - picture by his friend Cristina, with kind permission.

This was in 2009.

Alex and Ila had proclaimed the International Year of the Shark, and we decided to roll it out across Fiji in a series of various initiatives under the Fiji Shark Conservation and Awareness Project.

This is a PSA we ran on local television.

Although this is not his voice, it was entirely Rusi's brain child - and I will never forget how seeing the finished product drove tears to his eyes.

Enjoy.

Rusiate Balenagasau 1960-2015

I've just received the tragic news of the passing of my friend and dive buddy Rusi, the man in the yellow hood. A gentle and humble man, he loved and understood his sharks like no other.

May you dive in endless seas filled with friendly sharks.

David here.
Alex.
Cristina.
Martin.
Lill.
Michele.