Don Silcock

Ten Best In-Water “Big Animal” Experiences

The Ten Best In-Water “Big Animal” Experiences… There really is something quite unique about an eyeball-to-eyeball underwater encounter with a big animal. You are after all but a temporary visitor to their domain. One they may not be the …

The Australian Grey Nurse Shark

The Australian Grey Nurse… Large enough to get your complete and undivided attention. Probably the best way to describe an encounter with a Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus). Big and fierce looking, with a set of prominent sharp teeth. Grey …

The Great White Shark Down Under

The Great White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias is one of the ocean’s most magnificent creatures. Superbly evolved, they are truly an apex predator. But, unlike their terrestrial equivalents, there is very little reverence for them. Instead, and they …

Tiger Sharks of Grand Bahama

Tiger Sharks of Grand Bahama… Tiger Beach is firmly established as one of those global diving destinations that almost everybody has heard of. With that fame largely derived from the many published images of its most celebrated visitor – …

Diving New Ireland Province in PNG

Diving New Ireland Province… Located along the edge of the Bismarck Archipelago, the province of New Ireland forms the eastern flank of Papua New Guinea. It is quite remote from the main island of New Guinea. And the province has its own …

Great Hammerheads of South Bimini

The Great Hammerheads of South Bimini… Like a fashion model up on the catwalk, great hammerheads sashay into your field of vision. And, if they were human, you would probably say they have just “made an entrance”. Their strange mallet-like …

Diving New Britain Island in PNG

Diving New Britain Island… Papua New Guinea’s “second island” sits right on the interface of some incredibly powerful forces of nature! Physically located along the infamous Pacific Ring of Fire. New Britain is a large crescent shaped island …

Oceanic Whitetip Sharks

Oceanic Whitetip Sharks… It seems almost unbelievable that as recently as the mid-1960’s the Oceanic Whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, was widely considered to be one of the most abundant large animals in the world. Oceanic Whitetip …

Diving New Guinea Island in PNG

Diving New Guinea Island… When the 16th century Portuguese and Spanish explorers first arrived in the far-eastern part of what was then called the Malay Archipelago. They had no way of knowing they had stumbled upon the second largest island in …

Amazing Socorro Diving

Amazing Socorro Diving– a true “bucket list” adventure if ever there was one! This group of four islands is located in the Pacific Ocean, some 600 kms from the west coast of Mexico. And it offers some quite unique underwater experiences and is …

Rodney Fox – An Aussie Icon

Rodney Fox and his scars! Rodney Fox… I love reading and spend many “quiet time” hours studying my seemingly ever-expanding book collection. I am especially fond of autobiographies. Particularly those written by people who have found a way to …

Big Animals in the Azores

Big Animals in the Azores… Like the tips of icebergs, the islands of the Azores are the peaks of a remarkable chain of underwater mountains. Which are so large, they rank among some of the highest in the world. They rise up from the Azores …