Don Silcock

Azores Diving – Big Animals

Azores Diving… This incredible group of nine islands rises up from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge some 2000m below. The islands act as beacons to the large migratory mammals in this part of the northern hemisphere. Plus they are home to a resident …

Diving in PNG – Intro and Overview

Diving in PNG… At the closest point of contact just 6km separates Australia from Papua New Guinea. And yet there is so much that is different between these two close neighbours!Australia is a first-world country with many things that are …

Resort Based Diving in Raja Ampat

Resort based diving in Raja Ampat – is it a real option or is a liveaboard the way to go? Raja Ampat is one of the top dive locations globally. Certainly it is the most popular diving region in Indonesia. Deservedly so because there is some …

The Manta Rays of Milne Bay

Milne Bay Manta Rays – At the southern end of the China Strait is a small island called Gonu Bara Bara. It is quite simply the best place in the whole province to see the manta rays. In fact it is probably the best place in all of Papua New …

The Tiger Sharks of the Bahamas

The Tiger Sharks of the Bahamas… Open water (no-cage) encounters with Tiger Sharks are incredible experiences. They are large and extremely powerful creatures that exude total confidence. And they have a commanding presence that allows them to …

The Humpback Whales of Tonga

The Humpbacks of Tonga… Swimming with and photographing the humpback whales of Tonga had been on my personal “to do” for quite some time. Last year I finally got to spend 3 weeks in the Pacific island nation doing just …

Kavieng’s WWII Wrecks

Kavieng’s WWII Wrecks… The small town of Kavieng was seized by the Japanese in January in 1942 when they invaded PNG. That invasion came just seven weeks after the surprise air attack on Pearl Harbour which brought America into …

The Florida Manatee

The Florida Manatee… Kings Bay in Crystal River is probably the best place in the world to see and photograph the quite unique creature that is the Florida manatee. Because every winter, as water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico drop to …

Kimbe Bay – The Coral Crucible

Kimbe Bay the Coral Crucible. There is a line of thought in the scientific community that this is where it all may have began. Where the first corals originated… a large sheltered bay, roughly one third along the north coast of the large island of …

Diving The Solomon Islands

Diving the Solomon Islands – like a series of random punctuation marks, the many islands of the Solomons archipelago lay scattered along the southern section of the infamous Pacific Ring of Fire, in between the countries of Papua New Guinea to …

The Sharks of the Marovo Lagoon

The sharks of the Marovo Lagoon hold a special place in the local culture of this part of New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands. In what is said to be the largest salt-water lagoon in the world, life revolves around its waters and swimming is as normal …

Diving PNG’s Holy Grail – Black Jack

Diving PNG’s Holy Grail... Like a scene from a Hollywood film set – the huge plane sits serenely in 50m of clear blue water just of the fringing reef near the village of Boga Boga. The area is quite remote at the tip of Cape Vogel on northeast …