Not Bad!

I really can’t complain. Well, I guess with enough fantasy I could. But the reason I really should not complain is that I got to dive three continents, plus the Hawaiian Islands this year. What a privilege! First and foremost many thanks to all my dive buddies in these places!

These were the highlights:

Australia: I really have seen a lot of sharks this year! Most sharks on one spot, eva, I have seen on my trip to the famous Southwest Rocks with my buddy Nick Terry. The grey nurse sharks were everywhere, and not the least shy. Cruising back and forth through the rock channels, they are as curious about us divers as we are about them.

Hawaii: Just a brief swim off the electric beach close to Honolulu, my dive buddy Russell and I ran into one of the rare mammals of Planet Earth: The Hawaiian monk seal. Less than 1100 of these are alive, and a related species in the Caribbean went extinct in the 50s. The seal stayed around us, and swam circles around us and a few snorkelers.

North America: Only one dive, in my old hometown of Sandy Ego. But a good one. I hovered in-between the giant kelp plants, and enjoyed the fish life living in this enchanted forest.Here I also encountered some marine mammals – Kahli-foarnia harbor seals. But the nicest encounter was with a small group of kelp bass – seen below.

Asia: The best diving in the whole world is found in the ‘coral triangle’: the area between Eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. That’s where the highest marine biodiversity exists. Such a pleasure to dive there. My trip this year led me, not for the first time, to the Philippine island of Malapascua, just north of Cebu. Of all the amazing things I saw there, the most exciting to me was this small dragonet. Look at these colors! And the anterior part of the dorsal fin, hanging in front of the animal like an oversized banner. A masterpiece of evolution!