Chris - Thank You!

Scarface and Rusi, by Terry Goss - still one of the most iconic images ever captured in the SRMR. Click twice for detail!

I must confess that I am quite touched.

A person named Chris has left a comment on David's post.

I totally ignore who that may be - but after all these years, this is without a doubt one of the nicest and most insightful statements about us I have ever read.

It says.

Then there are the dive operators that do it right. 

They've figured it out. 

One is obviously Beqa Adventure Divers in Fiji, and the other is run by a friend of mine in Roatan, Honduras. Both have, through their dive offerings, accomplished real research and advancement of conservation goals. The dive in Honduras even got the government to change laws pertaining to finning and fishing after proving to them the touristic worth of a live shark. 

The Fiji operation is something special though. 

It should be a model for every conservation group on earth. My theory is that this is due to not only Mike's passion and realistic approach towards his chosen subject, the shark, but also due to his background in international business which has allowed him to really put something workable together and then MAKE it work. 

In both cases the dive environment has benefited from the presence of sharks; the coral is healthier, there are MORE lower level prey species and grazers, and the dives are just spectacular. 

The BAD/ Fiji dive in particular is still one of if not THE best dive I have ever done. 

It's the perfect dive. And you don't feel guilty afterwards. You feel like you've contributed to an effort to save a reef, and protect and understand a species.

This is really, really nice - thank you so much for that!

But the praise really goes to our core team of Fijian staff, and friends - Nani, Manasa and Rusi. 

It is they who took a huge risk in taking a leap of faith and quitting their job for what many thought were the pipe dreams of a total lunatic, and they have remained steadfast and loyal throughout the hardest of times. I will pass on the compliments to them as it is things like this that keep fueling our passion.

A huge  Vinaka vaka levu from all of us!