September 2005 :
news@diversion
Australia
Papua New Guinea
Micronesia
South East Asia
Solomon Islands
Diversion Marine Conservation Fund
DIVERSION DIVE TRAVEL Newsletter September 2005
Online HTML version (English) | Online HTML Version (deutsch)
With
more destinations now in our programme it is good to see more of our good
clients returning year after year. With our monthly draw, this should
be even more affordable for the lucky winner.
June/July
is a beautiful time to visit Cairns and Tropical North Queensland as the
mild temperatures allow for a lot of outdoor exploration. Whale enthusiasts,
however, choose those months to have unique in water encounter with Minkewhale
along the Ribbon Reefs. Claudia will be on board next June and has reserved
a few berths for those who want to join her.
Ange had a further trip to PNG to visit Walindi Plantation Resort and Lissenung Island near Kavieng and brought us what's new there.
Claudia and I went to Palau on Ocean Hunter II. Our good friends Tova and Navot didn't promise too much when they said we'd be blown away: Not only by the boat and it's fantastic crew - the diving in Palau did excite us.
Phil checked out Bali and found some interesting diving and a good news story about the turtles in Pemuteran.
Although it has been a while since one of our team has been to the Solomons, we get consistently good reports from clients that went cruising on either Bilikiki or Spirit of Solomons.
The Diversion Marine Conservation Fund has been in touch with a very interesting project to learn more about humpback whales on the east coast of Australia. With the recent plans by Japan to resume killing of Whales it is good to see that there are a lot of people out there working for the whales.
Keep blowin' bubbles
Your Diversion Team
Book
your next dive vacation with us and you will get a chance to win
a travel voucher for AU$ 500 in the monthly draw. The voucher
is transferable; you can pass it on to a friend if you wish and make this
the ultimate Christmas gift.
The chances of winning are pretty good, as each monthly draw has only
those names, who booked in that month.
Plus
you get a second bite of the cherry.
All
eligible bookings from 1 Sept to 31 Dec 2005 will enter the big End
of Year Draw:
The lucky winner will receive a free 4-day/4-night dive cruise to the
remote Coral Sea and Ribbon Reefs in Australia in a twin cabin on the
luxurious Spirit of Freedom! AND take along a dive buddy for 50% of the
cost. (Value AU$ 2325.00)
Spirit of
Freedom offers fantastic 
Coral
Sea and Ribbon Reef dive excursions twice a week from Cairns. It is a
unique combination of luxury
cruising and some of the best diving in Australia and the region.
For more
information and conditions of this promotion, please check out http://diversionoz.com/en/win500voucher.htm
Australia
Minke Whale Encounters on the Barrier Reef, join Claudia next June
This
will be the experience of your lifetime - eye to eye with a gentle whale!
Join the cruise with Claudia on board.
It's
certainly a thrill to see a whale from a boat, but having an encounter
in the water with them, literally eye to eye, is very powerful. Most people
get tears in their eyes during the very first whale encounter. These mammals
trigger our emotions.
There are not many people in the world lucky enough to experience this
but when you join me next year you can be one of them!
You don't have to be a diver as whale encounters occur on the surface
while snorkelling. The whales do not like scuba divers' bubbles and usually
disappear when they see divers, but they just love hanging around with
snorkellers !
Which
whales are we watching?
Dwarf Minke Whales are of the baleen family of whales. Japanese whalers
are still hunting them but fortunately the limitations on the hunt have
allowed the Minkes to survive until today. The species that we will be
observing is the Dwarf Minke Whale, the second smallest baleen whale,
which grows to a maximum length of about 8 metres - large enough to feel
very small next to them! They are very curious during the encounters and
actually approach the snorkellers in the water. At the same time they
are very cautious creatures and keep 1 or 2 metre distance way from you.
What
is involved?
June and July each year offers the best chances to encounter the Minke
Whales. Undersea Explorer, a dive and research vessel, operates 7 day
cruises along the Ribbon Reef section of the Great Barrier Reef. The boat
has comfortable double and twin cabins for a maximum of 20 passengers
and 6 crew/scientists.
Undersea Explorer has been arranging Minke whale encounters since 1994
with two purposes in mind - to allow a handful of people to experience
these unique
encounters, and to research the whale's behaviour when they are interacting
with us humans.
With
your participation you help to gather more information about the whales.
On this excursion you will be part of the Undersea Explorer research team.
Numerous researcher and tourists have together facilitated hundreds of
hours of in-water and surface observations of Dwarf Minke Whales. The
knowledge gained about the whales is huge and helps to learn about their
life cycles and ultimately to protect them. National Geographic has done
an documentary about the project, this is available as DVD, ask us for
details.
I'm hooked, tell me more!
As
soon as the whales get close to the boat, the skipper will disengage the
engine and the boat will silently along with the current. Two ropes will
be hanging from the back deck and you will be gliding in the water, wearing
your mask fins and snorkel and a wetsuit. You just hang on to that rope,
wait and see. The scene is set: Showtime!
From the far distance you will suddenly make out shapes of large animal
who constantly come a bit closer. The whales swim their rounds and each
round they pass closer to the group of snorkellers. They are very curious
by nature and will continue to come closer to have a look at you. For
unknown reasons, they are also interested at eye-to-eye contact with people!
They like to show of acrobatics like the belly loop for example, right
in front of snorkellers! We never swim towards the whales, nor do we touch
them, we leave it to them how much interaction they want.
Encounters with the whales can last from a couple of minutes to over 6
hours. Mostly there are small groups of whales involved in an encounter.
If you need a break, no problem, you can be in and out of the water to
your liking.
This excursion is for snorkellers and divers alike. The whales are the
main focus of the excursion. We will be spending most time with the whales,
if the opportunity arises, we may stay with a group of whales for many
hours.
For
certified scuba divers there is always the option to do at least 2, sometimes
more dives per day. The Ribbon Reef section of the GBR has some of the
best diving in the world.
If previous people's whale encounter experience is any indication, there
are no words for it. You're going to be profoundly glad for the experience.
Be quick, we have only 5 more berths to sell!
In
2006 we have booked space 24-30 June 2006. There are still a couple of
berths available on this excursion. This is THE ultimate thrill for everyone
who admires whales. You don't have to be an expert. Average fitness and
average swimming skills are all you need. The success rate of whale encounters
is very high. I had my first Minke whale encounters in 2004 and I knew
I needed to repeat this.
Want to know more? Contact
us
For more details about the Undersea Explorer: http://www.diversionoz.com/en/underseaexplorer.htm
For more information about the Minke Whales: http://www.minkewhale.org
Papua New Guinea
What's
new at Walindi and Lissenung
Walindi
Resort
Nitrox divers will be excited to hear that Walindi Resort in Kimbe Bay
now offers Nitrox diving. Following in the shoes of their Star Dancer
liveaboard, Max Benjamin has added a brand-new Nitrox-facility to the
resort earlier this year. Nitrox courses are also available and John McCarthy,
the Instructor is very knowledgeable, helpful and will make the course
fun.
The resort has also had a bit of a work done to it (not that it needed
it) with a new roof and new bathrooms in the dining/bar area. It looks
fantastic and the staff go about their jobs with that famous New Guinea
smile and a friendly word for everyone!
Lissenung
Island Resort
For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting Sue and Paul as
the managers of Lissenung Island, you will be pleased to hear that they
are back again. Sue and Paul, an Australian couple from Lennox Heads in
NSW, have returned to the island for their 5th stay, giving Dietmar the
chance for a well-deserved break. They are friendly with a great sense
of humour and very importantly, Sue is a great cook. As you would expect,
they also know all the local dive sites very well. If you would like to
catch up with them, they will be on Lissenung till the end of January.
Micronesia
Ocean Hunter II – Palau's best option
The
first time we saw Ocean Hunter II was a couple of years ago, when Navot
had a stopover in Cairns en route to Palau with his newly acquired research
vessel of the university of Sydney. It took all our imagination and still
we could fathom at that time how practical and nice the boat would look
like after the extensive refit.
The
standard cabins on the main deck have all individual aircons and bathrooms,
a little worktable and large enough beds that even Dirk (202cm) could
stretch out (diagonally though).
However if one looks after a honeymoon suite, the top double cabin is
the biggest cabin on any live aboard we have ever seen. Large King Size
bed, private lounge area and even a private balcony!
The
Dive deck has a wind sheltered add-on room which is ideal to store your
dry gear and cameras and to change into your wetsuit. Nitrox and air are
available. With only 12 guest maximum, you’ll never feel crowded.
The saloon and galley are the place where good food is celebrated. Solomon the Filipino chef has been part of the Ocean Hunter family for over 10 years. His cooking was varied and catered for all tastes and special requirements.
Well, and
the diving really excited us. Most dives where along walls in clear water
with huge growth of coral and gorgonians. It has been a long while since
we’ve been on a dive trip where we saw sharks on every single dive.
The policy in Palau to protect their sharks from industrial fishing fleets
seems to bear fruits.
Most dives are drift dives where we floated along with the current. The
guides were very well organized and always led the dive with a surface
float. So as long as you are not averse to currents as a matter of principle,
Palau is a place to start to like it.
The
Palauan “reef hook” is the universal break on those dives. You
click into a piece of rock on the reef and attach the line to your BCD
and you are hovering effortlessly, both hands free.
More about the dive sites in Palau: http://www.diversionoz.com/en/micronesia-palau.htm
We also had a look at day trips in Palau, just to compare the experience. You can reach all the good dive sites in 60-90 minute rides on the really fast speedboats. However, the dive experience is more crowded as most dive boats arrive at the dive sites at the same time. The Live-aboards usually can work around those peak times by visiting the “signature” dive sites early in the morning or later in the afternoon (if currents are right).
If you only plan to stay a couple of days 3 or 4 trips with the speedboat along the scenic rock islands will be enjoyable. If you plan to stay longer, this trip becomes repetitive. On a live-aboard you spend this time diving…
The higher
upfront cost of the live aboard is paying off with more and better quality
diving and apart from your bar bill no major additional costs.
Ocean Hunter offers 7, 10 and 12 night excursions.
http://www.diversionoz.com/en/oceanhunter2.htm
South East Asia
Turtle
Release Project at Pemuteran Bay, North Bali
Pemuteran
In August 2005 I was fortunate enough to visit Pemuteran on the day of
their annual turtle release. Pemuteran is a fishing village located on
the North-West coast of Bali, it's about a 2.5 to 3 hour ride from Denpasar
Airport and the main tourist areas of Kuta, Sanur & Nusa Dua and about
1 hours from the nearest tourist center of Lovina.
However, such is the peace and tranquility of this place that it may as
well be a world away !
In 1998 &
1999 El Nino brought dry conditions and abnormally high water temperatures
to many areas within the Innonesian Archaepelago and resuled in a considerable
reduction in the marine life. Javanese fishermen, desparate to maintain
their livelihood, wnht further afield and used harsh methods like cyanide
poisoning and reef bombing, which destroyed the marine life even more.
Needless to say, the devastation caused by these practices left the reefs
off Pemuteran in a very sorry state - gone were the colourful reefs, the
pelagics, turtles and many of the marine creatures that the Pemuteran
locals relied on as both a source of food for themselves and income.
However,
this setback proved to be the catalyst for the reinvention of Pemuteran
as local dive operator, Chris Brown from Reef Seen Aquatics, set about
ensuring the regeneration of these reefs and the accompanying marine life.
Chris has been responsible for helping the locals to understand just how
and why they need to protect the marine environment, starting with the
Turtle Project, Reef Seen Dancers and many more community projects around
Pemuteran.
Turtle
Release Project
Being a young turtle is quite a risky business - even after hatching and
making their run to the ocean only an estimated one or two out of one
thousand turtles will survive to adulthood.
With this in mind, Chris Brown, through the aid of concerned local and
international sponsors, purchases turtle eggs found by the locals and
immediately transfers them to the hatchery.
This means that the locals now see the turtle egg as an item of income
far more valuable than as a food source.
After hatching, the turtles are kept in the hatchery and released about
one month later when they are larger and stronger and this increases their
chances of reaching adulthood tenfold to one in one or two hundred. Of
course, the increase in young turtles also increases the predators and
so the reef's ecology gets to work.
Witnessing this annual event was quite a privilege for myself and was
also a big event on the local's calendar. Hundreds of school children
from the surrounding areas were present as were local government and marine
park dignitaries for the official opening presented by Chris Brown- each
of them were very keen to get the message across about the importance
of this scheme.
With the
"red tape" over, the excitement mounted as the children got
to enjoy what they had come for - to view the turtles, now about 5cm long,
in their holding boxes and then to release them.
The release was very nicely done as Chris drew a line in the sand about
5 metres from the waterfront and with the children lined up 10 abreast
each child was given their own turtle to release. Each turtle was then
faced with the prospect of a 5 metre dash to the water's edge only to
be pushed back by the incoming waves before trying again until finally
making it past the break into the water. About every 4 or 5 seconds we
would see a turtle resurfacing for a gulp of air before heading back down
into the blue void that was to be their new home.
Delaying the release by a month means that the turtles are, of course,
stronger and the natural predators both from the air and the sea are in
many cases caught in unawares, especially if the release is planned at
the right time of the day.
So, why not just release the baby turtles out at sea over the reef rather
than tiring them with this journey?
Well, Chris explained, that their struggle along the beach is necessary to develop their homing instinct as the very few that survive to adult-hood will eventually return to this beach when it's time to lay their own eggs. This just highlights the very thin line that we tread between helping nature on it's own way or distorting it to the point where we end up making a negative impact despite the best of intentions.
The results
of this and other Pemuteran projects are quite staggering - it's now very
difficult to imagine that such destruction ever took place as many of
the dive sites are now blessed with an abundance of colourful coral and
marine life ranging from coral covered walls, beautiful coral gardens
and an amazing variety of reef fish and unusual critters. As well as the
protected dive sites, there is a constant variety of new dive sites being
discovered within the bay.
More to follow about the beautiful diving and accommodation at Pemuteran
in our next newsletter!
World
Class liveaboards in the Solomons !
It's always been well known in scuba circles that the The Solomon Islands are quite a sensational dive destination. For the past few years this region has been hampered somewhat by it's lack of accessibility due to an irregular and unreliable flight schedule.
However,
the introduction of a 3 times weekly service between Brisbane & Honiara
has once again opened up the Solomons to visitors who can then immediately
jump on to either the MV Bilikiki or MV Spirit of Solomons liveaboards.
Without doubt, liveaboards offer the best diving experience in the Solomons.
According to recent feedback from some of our regular diving clients,
these vessels offer some of world's best liveaboard itineraries, with
a selection of 7,10 & 14 night expeditions throughout the year that
visit some of the remotest island groups on earth - and all in the comfort
and ambience you would expect from a world class liveaboard.
Check out the 2006 schedules of MV Bilikiki & The Spirit of Solomons but don't wait too long as many of these beautiful trips are already heavily booked !
Diversion Marine Conservation Fund
Researching and observing Humpback Whales in Hervey Bay
Hervey
Bay, just South of the Great Barrier Reef is a major stop on the annual
migration of the Humpback Whales along the Australian east coast. The
warm sheltered waters of Hervey Bay offer a safe environment to young
whales, pregnant females and mother/calf pods before they begin their
long journey to their Antarctic feeding grounds. With the recent discussions
about Japan wanting to increase their "scientific" killing of
whales it is important not to become complacent about the fate of those
giants of the ocean.
On
a recent trip, Claudia and Dirk met up with Trish and Wally Franklin,
who have been observing and photographing the whales in Hervey Bay for
over 16 years under the name Oceania Project.
What has started as a private passion has resulted in some serious research
data. Both Trish and Wally are now also lecturing at the Southern Cross
University and finalizing their PH.D. Their work has created an invaluable
database with more than 44 000 photos taken and more then 200 individual
whales identified by the unique shape of their "flukes". During
the whale season (from August- October) they spend all their time at sea
on their chartered expedition vessel "Moon Dancer".
Trish
and Wally like to encourage public involvement in the Expedition through
their Internships and Eco-volunteer programmes.
Participants are directly involved in the long-term study of the ecology
and behavior of the Humpbacks of Hervey Bay. By participating in the Expedition
you will (financially) support and also directly assist the research program
and create your own special experience with Whales and Dolphins. You can
get involved by taking photos, collecting skin samples, counting whales
and observing their behavior. No experiences needed! Wally and Trish will
train and guide you in what needs to be done.
This
is not a dive excursion, and people are not allowed in the water with
the whales. All observation and research is done from the boat.
\If you are interested in a completely different experience and do something good for the ocean and its habitants, this might be it!
A week on
their boat is already available from AU$ 1150. For more information, check
their website: http://www.oceania.org.au
Specials
Please bookmark the following link for all the latest and greatest specials.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/specials.htm
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