Random Photos from '09

These are a collection of some of the pictures I have taken during the last year that convey art, travel, and the experience of life.

South Pacific Tripp'in

Its been a Long Long time since my last Blog entry. There are a lot of reasons for that. Some of the excuses revolve around the fact that I have been dealing with a brain tumor, but don't worry because it is now 70 percent gone and dead. It should be dead within 4 months. The other excuses are varied; Ive lived in about 4 different countries across the South Pacific during the last 8 months, experienced a tsunami of horrific proportions, been working too much, and taking pictures so that I have something good to post here when I finally do post........ Here are a few pictures to start again and show what Ive been up to.

Stuisbaai

Here are some recent pictures from around the Southern most point in Africa. We are staying in Struisbaai and going to sea anywhere from half a mile to 25 miles to find fish and visability. These include spearfishing, chumming for sharks, the local shipwreck (one of hundreds) and a shameless self portrat.Enjoy!

Hiding Great Whites

So we are sitting around waiting for the Visibility still. It needs to get to be at least 20ft/6m before we can properly film great whites. Almost dove yesterday, but I called it off since I free dove down first and the bottom was about 4 ft visibility. The top was good, but the bottom bad...... Perfect for a White to hide in. Been talking with this guy Andre Hartman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Hartman who is the original expert in White Sharks. He asked me right away if I like snakes and then pulled one out of his pocket and put it on me......... yea it was venomous. Just a little tree snake though, he would have to naw on my earlobe for a while to get me. Andre is a character for sure. I may be here another week, not sure. Today the wind has shifted in our favor to bring in the cleaner water closer to shore, so we wait, and wait.... In the mean time we have also been able to do a few dives with Tiger's, thus this screen shot.

Vaka

Vaka is the name given to the traditional craft used by the ancient Polynesians to cross the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean. It is the type of craft I will be aboard when I join an expedition in June to sail from Southern Polynesia all the way to Hawaii. Primitive yes, but quite capable. What makes the journey more interesting is that there will be no compass or GPS on board. Just like the boat, the navigation will be traditional. Granted we do not know all the secrets the ancient Polynesians used to sail the ocean, but we have a few people who know a lot still, and have helped pass on their knowledge. One of these will be a team member.
I have a lot to learn. That is what is exciting about this project though. It is about preparation, dedication, and a mission. The mission is not just to arrive safe. It is to bring awareness to the plight that whales are facing in our seas and oceans. So, along the way we are searching for them, trying to make contact in an ancient way. Below is a picture of a single hulled Vaka. We will building a double hulled Vaka, roughly 60 ft long. A truly ocean going vessel.

West Coast tripping

Here are a few pictures from a camping trip up the West Coast of South Africa. It is an amazingly beautiful place. Barren, yet very alive. Warm, yet the water is freezing. It is Africa after all, the place of extremes.

Costa Rican bliss

Last week I was sitting in a hammock looking out to sea at a pod of whales basking in the sun. As perfectly blissful as it may sound, it was not an unordinary experience there. It was one that was appreciated greatly though, as the past six months have been chock full of American highways, noise, and surrealism. Not that the setting in Costa Rica wasn’t surreal, it was just nice to back in a place where nature has a chance to be seen on a daily basis, firsthand.
The main goal this trip was to try and film some tuna. The success of the story Rogue Studios has been trying to tell rests upon a few precious images which are all but impossible to describe effectively with words. Hundreds of dolphin, and hundreds of tuna. Thats the idea. To get these shots a lot of time has to be spent at sea searching for the tell tale signs of spinner dolphin. Many days have to be spent in seeming futility in order to get lucky. By spending more time, your chances would appear to get better, although it doesn’t always feel like it.
We found dolphin this trip, but no tuna. We even found millions of jellyfish, or they found us to be more precise. Along the way there were turtles, sailfish, mobular rays, and manta rays. One even slowed down enough to let me get a short ride. My camera didn’t get to see any tuna this trip, but there was a lot of other things to see for sure that made up for it.
I just got an email from one of the guys on the boat Kingfisher who I was with. The day after I left, the tuna showed up. Oh well. At least I know they are there. Maybe in May I will be back. I just landed in South Africa. I will be here the next couple weeks and “work” will involve a lot of diving. There should be a lot of sharks too. The big kind that South Africa is famous for. Hopefully they will be kind enough to allow filming from outside a cage. Full open water diving with great whites. This will be good.