Blog about "The World's best Shark Dive" by Beqa Adventure Divers.
Featuring up to eight regular species of Sharks and over 400 different species of fish, Shark diving doesn't get any better!
Showing posts with label Howard and Michele Hall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Howard and Michele Hall. Show all posts
Didn't I tell you that images would be forthcoming!
Obviously, there's only one Howard Hall (watch this gallery!) - but do keep at it, and if you're brave, incredibly dedicated and persevere for a few decades, you may one day be that good, too! :)
The little Fish are likely juvenile Jacks of the Genus Trachurus, possibly novaezelandiae and if so, an unexpected range extension.
This is one of the outcomes of last month's Royalty meeting.
Valerie, Michele and Howard have graciously agreed to join Douglas as GSD Ambassadors. You can read their bios right here - and yes Valerie's is rather long but without in any way wanting to detract from the achievements and obviously, huge respect for the others, Valerie is truly in a class of her own and also looks back to a very, very long and extremely rich career as both daredevil, pioneer, photo journalist, artist but above all, marine conservationist.
We all are of course stoked - and humbled.
Welcome aboard!
And because we love them so much.
Here they are again together with Emily Seifert, the indefatigable Jayne, Ozzie Sam and a whole gaggle of BAD boyz 'n gals - click for detail!
This video is my "best of" collection for the past year. Image capture was with the RED One camera using Nikon lenses. Locations include the Maldives, Alaska, California, Cocos Island Costa Rica, and Mexico. Music was composed by Shie Rozow.
Well, here is the footage. This being from Howard and very much as anticipated, it is simply brilliant. And it once again confirms that my pal Richard Pyle is utterly and certifiably nuts - no not for riding the outside of a submarine, but for having done so in utterly frigid water dressed in nothing more than a shirt and shorts! But we knew that already didn't we - WARNING: profane! :)
Anyway, enjoy!
And here is Richard once again. This is why I like and admire him do much!
Biodiversity is earth’s greatest library, and we have not matured enough as a species, as a civilization, to realize it yet. Someday soon we will understand how to read the secrets contained within the Biodiversity Library. Unfortunately, we are on the brink of this planet’s sixth great extinction event, and each time a species goes extinct, it is like burning the last copy of a book. Once it is gone, the information it contained is lost forever. Earth’s greatest library is burning.
And not only that: the librarians are going extinct! Richard is one of them and of course none other than he of the squeaky voice - and if there was ever any doubt that he is utterly nuts, read his account of how he and Howard have ridden a submarine (notabene on the outside!) to quickly get to one of Cocos' submerged sea mounts! And in case you cannot discern it - he is STILL only wearing swim trunks! Was it really me that was recently bemoaning the demise of the intrepid, and crazy explorers and adventurers? :)
Richards series of posts in the NYT is part of One World One Ocean. As I said here, I'm very impressed by the project and I simply cannot wait to see Howard's cinematography that will undoubtedly eclipse everything else - as it always does!
SRMR last week - still busy but many Bulls are pregnant and are going to leave soon.
I just stumbled across the following. Most of it is footage from 2002 when Howard and Michele re-visited Shark Reef after filming Coral Reef Adventure. This is thus pre-BAD and pre-SRMR which both happened in 2004. Howard was on rebreather, hence many scenes are featuring the drop-off past the Arena. From what I can discern, the nosy Tiger Shark is notorious wrecking ball Adi. The rather spooked lady is Michele - here is her recollection of the event. Other than that, you can spot Whitetail on 00:25, Joker on 00:35, Crookon 00:53 and a much younger Granma on 00:43. Very interesting to find out that they were already there before I started naming and monitoring them in 2003!
I actually wanted to say that this is totally crazy. No this is not about the GW interaction! Howard is one of the original pioneers and certainly knows what he's doing, as are his team!
But the camera! Schlepping around that monster is absolute insanity - in his words To say that the underwater IMAX 3D system is cumbersome is a laughable understatement. But I love working in this format precisely because it is so challenging. Typical Howard!
But then, upon closer inspection, I noticed something. What, exactly, is that startled second Great White doing at 2:54...??? Amazing!
I'm sure you need a break after so many gloomy posts!
So there: fantastic cinematography and a testament to Howard's unparalleled skills. In his words, I created this video several years ago as a subtle indictment of over-fishing and gill nets. It was captured exclusively on HDCAM with a Sony 900 camera. Original music is by Alan Williams.
They being who they are, it is of course stellar as always. The Whitetip with the small, possibly endemicGobio PÃcaro and the feeding Spotted Eagle Ray are of course the kind of behavioral images for which Howard is famous. And then the Tiger Shark, maybe even the same male I posted about here! Great stuff!
What however shocked me were the Hammerheads. Granted, March may have still been under the influence of the El Niño when the all-important thermocline drops down to below 60m (yes I know that for a fact!) and sightings are thus rare. Still, if I think back to when a Hammerhead school numbered thousands, if not tens of thousands of individuals, this is just such a terribly sad sight!
But over to some absolutely amazing stuff. Edwar Herreño is a Colombian marine biologist, former guide on theHunters and now a freelance photographer and videographer operating in Costa Rica. Like his predecessor, the forever unequaled Mario Arroyo, he very obviously brings to the table a profound knowledge of the animals and of the environment where he works. Please go and check out his amazing website: his imagery is quite simply exquisite and elevates the game to once again a totally new level of excellence. Unbelievably impressive stuff!
Check this out! It's of course by Howard and Michele Hall. We've been friends for a very very long time, and I could go on for pages and pages extolling their virtues - but everything has already been said by others, and undoubtedly much better than I could ever hope for.
Just this. Despite of their fame and very much like their heroes Ron and Valerie, they are among the kindest, most accessible and most humble people, ever. That, to me, is the sign of true greatness.
