Sunday, June 15, 2014

Moce Allen!

Stellar viz, stellar pic! Source.

We just bid farewell to Allen Walker (and here!).

Thing is, his visit was certainly a big surprise.
Remember the Aliwal Shoal baiting controversy? Allen is the man who developed the Shark-friendly bait ball, an this on his own time and very much also dime for which he was then heaped with praise - but still, having publicly insulted all of his then friends, he is really the very last person I would have expected to ever grace our shores!

Anyway, tempi passati.
I must say that I've learned a lot, including all of the grisly details about that event where the blame cannot be only apportioned unilaterally, and I can certainly leave it at that. But above all, I got to know the man for being an accomplished Shark diver and a real Mensch, generous, witty as hell and with a big golden heart.

And the photography?
As probably South Africa's mot accomplished underwater photographer, Allen is nothing but uncompromising, both in terms of diligence but also quality, and getting the specific shots he was aiming for was certainly not trivial. Considering the fact that he only managed to attend a measly 5 Shark dives, the output has been rather spectacular, see above and on his FB page - but much remains to be done, meaning that we are all looking forward to his next visit, and this for a longer time frame!

Safe travels buddy and hopefully, see you soon!

1 comment:

Allen D. Walker said...

;) Thanks Mike, great to finally sit over a good meal and talk about things of the past, things of today and dreams of tomorrow! Keep up the great work and thank you for the compliment! I now depart graciously back to South Africa with new ideas and lessons learnt. Moce!