Fiji's Sharks!

Love love love this image - click for detail!

And talking of Tom.

On top of his photography, he has started to film and if I'm not mistaken, this is one of his very first little edits. Great to see Papa in what may well be his very last interview before retirement.

Enjoy!

Vu sur Terre - all the Dates!

Bonjour à tous!

Dear all!

La saison V de la série documentaire "Vu Sur Terre " sera à l’antenne chaque mardi de cet été, à partir du 22 juillet 2014 sur France 5 à 21h30. Vous trouverez- ci dessous toutes les nouvelles destinations et leurs dates de diffusion.

Somewhere On Earth, Season 5, starts showing tonight on France 5.

More info here  and of course our website for trailers and more.

DIFFUSIONS ET REDIFFUSIONS

• Croatie/ Croatia- Réalisation/ Directed by Laurent Cadoret:
  le mardi 22 juillet 2014 à 21h25, le samedi 26 juillet 2014 à 16h10, dans la nuit du dimanche 10 au lundi 11 août 2014 à 00h05 et le jeudi 14 août 2014 à 16h45.


• Chili Austral/ Southern Chile- Directed By: Laurent Cadoret:
  le mardi 29 juillet 2014 à 21h30, le samedi 2 août 2014 à 16h10, dans la nuit du dimanche 17 au lundi 18 août 2014 à 00h05 et le jeudi 21 août 2014 à 16h45.


• Malawi- Réalisation/ Directed by Laurent Cadoret:
  le mardi 5 août 2014 à 21h30, le samedi 9 août 2014 à 16h10, dans la nuit du dimanche 24 au lundi 25 août 2014 à 00h05 et le jeudi 28 août 2014 à 16h45.


• Iles Fidji/ Fiji Island-Directed by Scott Schneider:
  le mardi 12 août 2014 à 21h30, le samedi 16 août 2014 à 16h10, dans la nuit du dimanche 31 août au lundi 1er septembre 2014 à 00h05 et le jeudi 4 septembre 2014 à 16h30.


• Norvège/ Norway: Réalisation/ Directed by Anne Viry-Babel:
  le mardi 19 août 2014 à 21h30, le samedi 23 août 2014 à 16h10, dans la nuit du dimanche 7 au lundi 8 septembre 2014 vers 00h30 et le jeudi 4 septembre 2014 à 16h30.


• Nouveau-Mexique/ New Mexico: réalisation/Directed by Scott Schneider:
  le mardi 26 août 2014 à 21h30, le samedi 30 août 2014 à 16h10, dans la nuit du dimanche 14 au lundi 15 septembre 2014 vers 00h30 et le jeudi 11 septembre 2014 à 16h30.

L'équipe de Patly Productions

Pour nos Amis Francophones!

I just got this message. 

Le film Vu sur Terre, Iles Fidji sera diffusé sur France 5 le mardi 12 aout 21h30, le samedi 16 aout 16h10, le 1er septembre 0h30, le 4 septembre 16h30. 

This is a production we're proud of. 

Vu sur Terre is one of the premium programs of Patly Productions, and the Fiji episode explores the daily lives of a surfer, a rugby player and a Shark feeder, our Manasa, or Papa.
This is by no means a film about us, and Shark diving plays only a secondary role - instead, it accompanies Manasa and his son, feeder-in-training Tumbee from Viti Levu to Rukua, Manasa's village on Beqa Island, and from the Shark feeding dives at Shark Reef to the church service where Manasa officiates as pastor and a fire walking ceremony for which the Beqa islanders are famous. 

I haven't yet seen it, but having met the producer Scott Schneider, I am sure that it will be respectful and insightful, with stunning images by cameraman Manu. 

You can watch a short sequence here, by clicking on SEASON 5. 

Enjoy!

Shark counting Challenges!

From today's dive: Papa and friends - click for detail!

Counting Reefies is bloody hard, too!
Just saying! :)

Third Party Endorsements!

Papa and Whitetip, stellar pic by Sasha

This why we love doing what we do!

We surfaced, cheering out loud from the adrenaline and then hop up into the boat fast since the tiger is still beneath us somewhere, and we know we are still in her realm.
On the way back the Divemaster tells us a story that went something like this: “One day the tiger shark, Scarface, showed up and she was agitated, angry, I could tell. She circled and circled above me and finally showed me the problem. There was a large metal hook in her mouth, right through the skin. She kept circling and so I knew what I needed to do. Scarface knows me, I’ve dove with her so many times, so I swam to her and put my hand on her mouth and stopped her, and I pulled out the hook.” The Divemaster goes to the front of the boat and pulls out a huge fishing hook, he keeps it in a box onboard as proof.

When deciding to go shark diving I had a lot of reservations, not only about the safety but about the fact that if I participated I was making a conscious decision to feed the sharks, to disrupt their natural patterns. In the end I’m glad I did the dive. I understand now more the power and beauty of these sharks. The divemasters say the sharks don’t come around every day, the tigers go missing for weeks at times, so they are still in their natural behavior, they still leave to mate and feed.

This opportunity has also provided the divemasters, all Fijians who believe they are protected from the sharks, the chance to intimately get to know these sharks and give us insight into their patterns. These divers can tell when a shark is pregnant; they know each shark by name. They have also started a tagging program for the bull sharks, to gain insight into their movement. While I didn’t feel the need to repeat the dive in Fiji, I think going once is a great experience. I don’t have a list of sharks to see and won’t be chasing them on a bunch of shark dives, but as our desire to see the world first hand and preserve the animals in it increases, we all need to decide where we stand on feeding or tracking or swimming with all animals. For me, seeing these animals once was enough to appreciate them more, I’ll never forget that dive – but from now on I will leave them to cruise the oceans on their own.

More by Mariah Boyle here - about darn Damsels!

I sometimes just go and search the web for comments by our clients.
They are completely beyond our influence and as honest as it gets, and thus constitute excellent feedback. Of many I discovered for 2010, here's a nice one about us and the fabulous Uprising Beach Resort, a glowing endorsement (yes, Nani rocks!) but what is obviously a very happy customer and a short trip report with video.
Among more "editorial" stuff, I found a really good writeup about the Shark dive, a more general piece featuring the fabulous clip by the BBC, a very (!) insightful description by a travel agent and finally, a fantastic series of pics by Sasha on CNTV!

And then, there's this video clip.
It's actually got nothing to do with us but depicts BLR over on Beqa Island and irritates me because somebody has just ripped one of our DVDs and stolen the footage, like on 3:12ff. The man with the yellow cap is of course Rusi .
But then again, it shows some nice vistas of reef diving in Beqa Lagoon and above all, it features historical footage and audio on 4:00ff. Yes this is Manasa aka lucky man Papa, probably about 10 years ago! He truly is the friendliest, most goodhearted, most positive, most wonderful person, ever!
And before you ask: yes, he's doing great!

Enjoy!

Lucky Men

Meet Marty Wolff!

According to one of his pals, Marty has a streak of sea luck a mile long. I'm surprised the tiger didn't show.
Well, none did - but whereas Timbo had to make do with a few, albeit large Bull Sharks, Marty came for only one measly day of Shark diving and got swamped! 25 Bull Sharks at the end of September is just simply unheard of!

He may have been incredibly lucky - but once presented with the opportunity, being the consummate photo pro he obviously is, he sure knew how to capitalize on it! Mind you, nobody gets close to the biggies on his very first day of Shark diving - and yet, Marty did manage to capture some truly memorable Bull Shark vistas which I'll be certainly using on this blog.

For now, I've chosen this remarkable capture of Manasa and his Grey Reefs - click on it, it's just simply fabulous!

Titled Passing Fancy, it is a whole story in itself.
Among many other things, it is also a tribute to Papa's incredible luck, willpower and discipline. Yes, it's now two years since he had a fatal heart failure and was very fortuitously resurrected by the prompt intervention of a passer-by. What followed were months of treatment, some of which radical, and a complete change of lifestyle and dietary regime.

Papa is now back where he belongs, among his beloved Sharks.
Being relegated to the shallows only, he has made the best of his predicament and re-modeled the small Shark feeds from what was essentially an afterthought into a stunning show where clients have the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of our most visually stunning little friends - to the point where the 4m feed may well be called the coolest safety stop in the world!

Two very lucky, and nice men linked by a picture.
How cool is that!