Lemon Sharks

18Aug2012

Well, the plane is done and we have managed to do one survey flight. No sharks so far. The water has been very clean with underwater visibility in the region of 15-18meters in most places. For those that don’t know, clear water is not conducive for whale sharking. Whale sharks love murky water – water that is full of plankton. By the looks of things it seems that there are some strong winds on the way. Perhaps that will push in the much needed colder nutrient rich water we need to kick start the plankton cycle. That’s when the sharks will come.

As with all things, one adjusts. I had Glen visit the other day (actually he has been visiting almost every day but that’s a story for another time) so Glenn tells me of how he ended up on a small little island in the South Pacific doing statistical work for the government. Accommodation was part of the contract but it was so terrible he was only prepared to sleep on the floor – on his personal towel with a little pillow under his back-side.

“It was appalling to be honest but by the fourth night I was looking forward to sleeping like that and by the end of the month I had learnt to sleep flat on my back for the whole night without moving and it was great!”

There is a lesson in that.

This morning I spent almost 2 hours at the hangar waiting for the weather. It was too strong and periodically small little rain squalls would come racing through. The mean wind was 22knots. The runway traffic light – steel poled and concreted into the ground – was rocking in its foundations. That was when it struck me to call it quits and head home.

This afternoon we had a rare treat. Two lemon sharks decided to hang out in a small little bay of the Hilton Hotel. Darren was called by one of the staff about these two sharks that he is ‘feeding’ and now they  keep on coming back – for days apparently. (He had a bit of a chat with the chap about the feeding bit – imagine a 3 meter lemon shark coming into the bay, bumping a tourist asking for some food!?:) But Darren and some friends had a good swim with these two ladies (He identified them as two girls). Here are some pics of the event. Of course, seeing it live we enjoyed it even more…

Wish you were here!

:)