A special day.

This is a pic over bay Lazare with a Haylo on the clouds below (We call it a pilots glory) I would often sneek up above the clouds for this pretty sight...

Today was a rather special day (well, with this kind of work what day is not!). Truth is I see amazing things from the air and more often than not I don’t even mention it anymore. All my babbling just seems to become too much even for my liking with the result that nowadays I tend to keep my thoughts to myself. However, sometimes something happens that makes me compelled to tell (or write) about it and today was such an occasion.

It was a long and hard day and while routing back to the airport I spotted two dolphins out on the hunt. A school of nearby fish went flying in all directions before one of the dolphins happily sped off with a fish in its mouth. (Yes, I have eagle eyes and can see the fish clearly protruding from the sides of the mouth of the dolphin even from 1500ft up!) This was not unusual but these two led me to their small pod, one of which was a youngster about half the length of the mature dolphins. A yacht passed nearby and stopped to look at the small pod (9 individuals). At this point the little chap seemed intent on getting a closer look at the yacht to the clear discouragement from its mother. The mother kept on trying to cut off the little guy from approaching the yacht but like a determined mischievous teenager he (or she!) wanted none of that. Persistently dodging his mother’s blocks, I watched as the little guy suddenly got within visual distance of the yacht and just like a puppy getting a big fright, sped off at bewildering speed. It was comical. All the other dolphins dived with the youngster only to resurface a moment later a short distance away while all seemed to dart past the youngster as if to say “we told you so…”.

As the pod started moving away from the yacht, the little one’s curiosity got the better of it and like an inquisitive cat stalked its way back; slowly, cautiously and then on eye contact with the yacht raced off back to the pod (with one of the adults in close pursuit – they seemed to be keeping a guarding eye on him all the time). On rejoining the pod the youngster would dive and race around the others, playing with gay abandon - not unlike a young Giselle, fresh and full of youthful energy, jumping and bounding around a large paddock, almost annoying the older animals with unbridled joy, born from discovering the happiness of life itself (or a yacht in this case!).
Like all other animals play when young, the little dolphin did the same; stalking the yacht only to race back to the pod with boisterous darting and spinning among the others and then repeated it all over again. AS I flew on to the airport, I smiled with my heart at witnessing something new – part of the meaning of life even in a little dolphin’s antics at discovering a yacht.

It was rather special.

Wish you were here!
:-)

10 meter shark!

We find a 10 meter whale shark. Around here those kind of sizes are pretty scarce. As a bonus the shark turns out to be a female and she is friendly. She stays with the boats for almost 30 minutes with everybody taking turns to dive with her. I manage to get this pic of the action from the air...

The weather has changed. It has been blowing SW to NW for 4 days in a row. I am really tired (Even though I had a rest day just yesterday!) Today was a 5 hour flying day for me and conditions were difficult. The change in wind directions bring new areas of turbulence and I find my flying experience being stretched so I stay in areas of calm air - avoiding the turbulence areas as much as possible. I will write a bit more later this week with some more juicy bits.

Wish you were here!

Johan

Umberto...

This is a pic I took of Abi while she was sitting in the back of the picup truck after a good day of whale sharking.

We have been having some great days of whale sharking. So far every time the boats have gone out we have found at least four whale sharks. The customers have been very happy with one day, two boats enjoying two whale sharks for an hour! When we left the whole boat gave me a cheer over the radio and it was one of those that you could hear people where completely over the moon. It was a pretty good day. But out of all the sharking and action I am drawn to a beautiful moment…

“You found shggggquelch…berto!”
“Say again?”
“You found shggggquelch…berto!”
I was having a hard time to follow the excited chat of Abi, who was on the boat down below.
“OK, Abi, I get that you are happy.” I replied over the radio. Down below there was a shark that kept coming back to the boat which of course makes divers very happy. They don’t have to chase after a shark; instead by just hanging in the water they could get a great view of the biggest fish in the world as it kept coming back for more. Like Abi and everybody else, I too was happy. From the air to me it meant a bit of a reprieve, a time to rest my eyes so to speak. This one stayed for more than 30 minutes.

That evening while down loading track logs onto the computer, Abi joined me.
“Thank you Johan. You found Umberto for us again” she was smiling like I had found her something that had been long lost.
“I found you what?” I said.
“Umberto. A whale shark we spotted a week ago”
“Umberto is the name of a shark?”
“Yes.” She said nonplussed about the way I had asked the question.
“Who named the shark Umberto?” I continued.
“I did.” she said and when I sensed she was not going to add anything further to that I had to ask why? (I was determined to get to the bottom of this unusual name.)
“Well, it has a marking on its one side that looks like the letter U.” she said. “That’s why I called him Umberto…”

Let me just clarify, it is pronounced Umberto as in umbrella and not as one might have expected like the letter U as in ‘Hue’.

“Abi, with such a profound marking on its side, don’t you think you could have come up with a better name?” I asked.
“What’s wrong with Umberto?” She asked.
“Well, it’s not very original is it? It’s a ‘U’ and it’s a big fish and what about calling it U-boat?” I asked rather enthusiastically. (U-boat!? I know, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Now I think Hugo Boss would have been more appropriate! ;)
“Why don’t we just call it J-boat” she said slightly irritated.
“Well, there is no such a thing as a J-boat but a U-boat was a Second World War German submarine.” It was then that I remembered it was usually only boys that played with toys like submarines and that Abi had probably never heard of the U-boat thingy.
“But this is a whale shark, not a submarine” she said.
“Exactly Abi and they both dive and stay under water. So U-boat would be a perfect name for a whale shark with a distinct U marking on its side…”
“Oh! I think I will just call you Borris...!” she replied in a slightly in-dignified manner. I was smiling and I could sense that Abi knew I was making fun of her. Her remark made me even more inquisitive as to the nature of the beautiful blue eyed blond lady, who really had an affinity with these gentle giants. I was intrigued about the connection she thought I made to ‘Borris’, realizing that it is perhaps the same connection that the name Berto had with a ‘U’. (None). Invariably I had to admire what it was to be a woman. It reminded me of a great joke and for those that have not heard it before I am republishing it here. (With respect!) Of course I know too that I do this at my own peril. Who knows what wrath I am about to evoke from my girlfriends!)
;-) It’s true!
Wish you were here!

The joke...

A man was riding his Harley beside a Sydney beach when suddenly thesky clouded above his head and in a booming voice, The Lord said. 'Because you have TRIED to be faithful to me in all ways, I willgrant you one wish.' The biker pulled over and said, 'Build a bridge to New Zealand so I can ride over anytime I want.' The Lord said; 'Your request is materialistic, think of the enormouschallenges for that kind of undertaking, the supports requiredreaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel itwould take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldlythings. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help mankind.'

The biker thought hard about it for a long time. Finally, he said,'Lord, I wish that I and all men could understand our wives. I wantto know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, and how I can make a woman truly happy'.

The Lord replied;'You want two lanes or four on that bridge?

Feeding day!

Remember the day when all the rays were out feeding in those plankton clumps? Well, this is a shot from Lanni (Luke's awesome girlfriend!). It just gives us a glimpse of what it looked like under the water. Like a squadron of alien fighter planes, cruising the blue universe...

Pretty cool isn't it?

Wish you were here!

Did you know...?

Thanks to Luke Riley for this great shot. He has been taking some awesome pics and kindly allowed me to use this one for my blog. You are way too cool Luke! :)

Did you know whale sharks take over 25 years to become sexually mature? (Many scientists believe it is probably more like 30!) That is a very long time in a shark’s life to stay alive before being able to proliferate your species! (Don’t get eaten or caught!) This is a major reason why whale sharks are so vulnerable to any form of exploitation…

Goodbye Katie...

Goodbye Katie…
Time sure does fly when you are… flying I guess! Today the ocean from my balcony window is more like a lake. Many clouds are hanging heavily, dragging there feet on the water. We are near a low pressure system – which is benign when so close to the equator, but there is rain. Lots of it, well that is if you are in the wrong place (or right place pending on your desire for rain or not!) The major change is that the wind is calm. For a pilot of a little airplane such as me, it is heaven. This is when flying becomes a real pleasure and it can hardly be called work. Of course, it is you won’t hear a beep of a complaint.
The last few days have been busy. We have had bucket full’s of sharks on the south and the boats have been going out daily. The only down side has been the strong wind making the sea a little bit more than rough; many people have been seasick. Strangely enough, they would feed the fish (if you know what I mean) then hop back in for a swim with the whale sharks and call it, “the best day of my life!” ;)
We had to say goodbye to Katie. Katie has been pivotal in the way the MCSS operates today. She has been the star volunteer turned professional whale shark guide, looking after not just tourists on the boats but also the new interns. Together with Luke they basically run the show, which has given Dr David Rowat time off to pursue his research in more detail. Of course everybody loves Katie and we had a hard time to say goodbye. Katie has started her master’s studies at UNI in the UK. Who knows, maybe she will be back in a year…
In my own way, after four years of working with Katie (We were roomies for a week before she left) it has become difficult not to think of her every time a white vested chaser would swim after a shark. It has become second nature to listen to her excited chats on the radio and I have no doubt that customers on boats would instantly fall in love with this good looking blue eyed girl, sporting a white rash top with a bikini bottom, dripping wet while giving instructions about how to make the best of your whale shark encounter. I can imagine it was like listening to a real life bond girl! Even at our after dive socials Katie took centre stage making everybody laugh. Heck, I would not be surprised if some customers returned year after year just to experience Katie! She is probably missed way more that what anybody is letting on. Katie, we love you and miss you!!! :)

Pic of Tank girl...