Articles

Diving Bali: The Insiders Guide to the Liberty Wreck…

The wreck of the USAT Liberty, just off the beach at Tulamben in the north-east of the island, is Bali's most famous dive and people travel from all over the world to experience it, so much so that on a really busy day there can be up to 150 divers on the wreck.... So is its popularity killing it and is it still worth diving - or should we just move on and leave it to the backpackers? In January this year I decided to immerse myself on the Liberty and rather than 1 or 2 dives a day like I normally do on the wreck when I stay in Tulamben, I did 4 to 5 a day for 6 days... Getting up at 5 so that we could be in the water by 6 everyday …

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Papua New Guinea: The Facial Tattoos of Oro Province

One of the most visually intriging things about the local villagers around Tufi in Oro Province are the facial tattoos worn by many of the women – something you would not really be aware of without making the effort to visit them… Tattoos, and body art in general, have enjoyed a significant renaissance in western society over the last 20 years or so and have become both a badge of honor for those seeking to firmly establish their non-conformity and a trendy fashion accessory to others. So it was quite fascinating to see them as an integral part of village customs rather than a recent phenomenon. From an anthropological perspective …

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Mozambique Megafauna Article

Mozambique Megafauna Article... Along a 200km stretch of the Mozambican coastline, on the southeastern seaboard of Africa. Mother Nature has conspired to create what can only really be described as the perfect underwater biological storm. For it is in this remote area that several major African and Indian Ocean currents converge. Together they produce unique and powerful counter-cyclic eddies that suck up rich nutrients from the deep trenches to the south. Creating huge quantities of zooplankton in the process - the life source of oceanic mega fauna. This remarkable mechanism has been occurring largely unnoticed for …

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Indonesia – Diving Halmahera

Diving Halmahera... The remote province of Halmahera is about as far north in Indonesia as you can go. And it's isolation means that it offers some pretty unique diving opportunities. Big currents are however very much a feature of Halmahera... As the area sits right in the path of the Indonesia Throughflow as it makes it's way through the vast archipelago. Diving Halmahera - Where Is It? The starfish-shaped island of Halmahera is located in the north of the Indonesian archipelago. Right in between North Sulawesi and Raja Ampat and straight north from Ambon. It is the largest island in the province of North Maluku and also one of the …

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Papua New Guinea – Orotoaba Village Homestay

To get a better appreciation of what life is like for the majority of Papua New Guineans - the ones who don't live in the main towns but spend their their lives in their tightly knit village communities - you really need to do a village homestay. Possibly not for everyone... but I thoroughly enjoyed the ones I have done and would definitely do it again! Things we take for granted, like running water and electricity, are suddenly extreme luxuries that will not be available again till you get back to your resort - in my case Tufi Dive Resort on Oro Province. This article documents the first homestay I did in the village of Orotoaba, …

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Papua New Guinea: Puri Puri – PNG’s version of voodoo…

They say that travel broadens the mind and I certainly never expected a personal introduction into the inner workings of Puri Puri when I left Sydney for three weeks diving at Tufi in Papua New Guinea... Puri Puri is variously referred to as traditional medicine, PNG's version of voodoo or just plain BS - depending on who you talk to. But there is no doubt that the local villagers believe in it, as any discussion with them will quickly reveal, and perception as they say is reality! However very few villagers are willing to talk in any detail about Puri Puri and the more I tried to find out about this quite unique aspect of PNG …

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Australian Grey Nurse Shark Article

Grey Nurse Shark Article... Really pleased to see my article published recently in the global diving magazine X-Ray. The story of what has been done to the Australian Grey Nurse shark is a pretty sad one... But it is one that needs to be told. It really is unbelievable how we humans do so much damage to the underwater world. In the case of the Australian Grey Nurse shark we have taken to the edge of potential future extinction. All because it is a big animal and looks pretty fierce, when the truth is they are basically harmless to humans! The article explains the history of the Grey Nurse shark and how it was relentlessly persecuted …

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Lauadi – Deacon’s Reef Article

Deacon's Reef was what started me on my personal journey (obsession...) to dive Papua New Guinea! And I can still remember the catalytic moment in late April 1988. I was living with my young family on the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf and working in the oil and gas industry. Every month my issue of National Geographic magazine would appear in our post office box. And I would devour it from cover to cover – filling my head with exotic locations for the future. But the April issue was really something special. As the front cover had a stunning image of an underwater WWII aircraft wreck. Which was part of an article by …

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Photographing Great White Sharks

Great White Shark cage diving is one of those "must do" experiences for most underwater photographers. My first trip however was not exactly a qualified success, as we spent 7 days out at the Neptune Islands in South Australia and did not see a single shark. But I really enjoyed the overall experience and was determined to go back. That was back in 1996 and it turned out to be another 7 years before I actually did so, but over the next few years I did several trips and experienced numerous up close & personal encounters with the "apex predator". It really is a unique …

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