Archive for November 15, 2009

KEN DaVICO IN HAWAII WRITES:

By JH ( November 15, 2009 at 5:52 pm) · Filed under 1. Our best adventure - ever!,

ken davico picture2
Have had a rash of calls this past month. Actually had three calls yesterday.  Two were up on the North shore which was having 20 foot waves.  had to pass on those due to the conditions.

On this one I had my camera so did my digital encircle photo. (above photo).

It was an easy find as it was in the sand.

They got my name and number from the Ultimate Kauai Guide book.

Beach was about 40 minutes drive from home and it was getting late in the afternoon.   I had to hurry a bit to get there and have a little hunting time before dark.
When I arrived there were several people going through the sand with their fingers in the area they though they had lost it in.
I tuned the detector and did a search but produced nothing but a few coins.
I questioned Mia again on the location.   She repeated what she said earlier.

She said: ‘I picked up a beach towel that was spread out on the sand and wrapped it around my waist to get fresh drinks from the outside bar.   Marc, my husband said, Hey, what ya do with my ring that was on the towel’?

Woops!

Well, I did a second pass over the area and no ring.   I asked Marc if he was sure he had placed the ring on the towel.   Yep, no question, he was sure.   I told him he must have lost it in another location as it was not where they thought.   He then remembered that the towels were originally about 10 meters closer to the water but the waves were getting close with the rising tide.   He had dragged the towels up to higher ground.

I went where the towels had been and found the ring in another 10 minutes.

Experience has taught me to ask a lot of questions.  Things are often not where thought to be.

Well, I had to autograph the Guide Book over the paragraph for the couple and a few spectators where it says: Call ‘Iron man Ken’ if something precious is lost.

Footnote: KenDaVico and ‘The lost island of Kapingamarangi’.  See Fathom 1 for pictures from this great adventure 40 years ago.

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MULLOWAY also known as JEWFISH

By JH ( November 15, 2009 at 5:32 pm) · Filed under 4. Big Game Spearing, , ,

mullowayFathom 4 promoted the spearing of pelagic species “Big Game Spearfishing” as opposed to resident reef fish.  We probably should have thought about the sparing of very large fish – the ones that produce the most offspring.  That cause would fall on mostly deaf ears.  We still get a thrill from catching ‘the very largest’ of any species.  Trophies are awarded.  Lists compiled.  It will be a long while before everyone accepts that the biggest are best left alone to continue breeding.

This huge mulloway/jewfish weighed over 70 pounds.  Filmed on 16mm movie film at Groper Island, Woolgoolga  (Mid north coast of New South Wales) about 1974.

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CORAL REEFS IN TROUBLE (1991)

By JH ( November 15, 2009 at 3:59 pm) · Filed under 5. Crown-of-Thorns, Wrecks, Giant Groper, , , , , ,

NEWSPIX36

irene reef1991

Coralita was returning to her home port at Cairns after a successful 10 day dive trip.  There was just time for one last dive.  It was either a gamble or a mistake by our captain.  He was shocked that he’d dropped us on such a poor (dead) reef.

My notes, just found, record the location as Irene Reef, near Ribbon Reef No.2 which is north of Cairns, Queensland.

A bit of confusion here, the skipper’s wife is also called ‘Irene’.  Therefore the official name today may be something else.

To my eyes this is an example of silt smothering a reef.

Maybe it was attacked by CoT starfish beforehand?

The point of publishing these pictures is twofold.

Firstly it’s a record of a reef in trouble – 1991.

Point Two, it’s an example  not normally seen published in diver or travel magazine.  In other words,  an education to help the reader appreciate a good coral reef when they see one.

Not every Great Barrier Reef is as poor as this one, but some are and some are worse.

Game fishing skipper Peter Bristow knows this region well:

“Irene is directly inside Lena, the small reef south of #1 Ribbon.  Irene and Lena are on the north side of Cruiser pass. Lena is on the edge and forms the outside northern corner of the pass.  The water there is always dirty for some reason.  Directly inshore you have the Bloomfield River and Cape Tribulation to the south.  This is a high rainfall area and I think the dirty water and river silt would contribute to the state of the reef you are referring to.  The push from the SE trade keeps the dirty water to the north side of the pass.  Cruiser Pass is the best ‘Red’ fishing I know of right there close to Irene.  They most likely prefer the dirty water”.

See the Crown of Thorns story in Fathom 5

Coralita1991

Ribbon Reef topFrom last roll of film in one of (the late)  Albie Ziebell’s  camera’s

We’ve circled a section of coral and then made enlargements.  In truth the whole piece of platform coral was in trouble.  It requires a trained-eye to ID dead coral in a situation like this.  Is the culprit crown-of-thorns starfish?  Probably not.   Coral bleaching?  Perhaps.   A photo really requires an eye-witness report to be sure.

Location is thought to be on the top of one of the ten Ribbon Reefs, north of Cairns, Queensland.

Albie Ziebel was the 2nd owner and captain of Coralita, after Wally Muller.  Albie passed away soon after this final roll of film was exposed.

We found it unprocessed and inside one of his fine underwater camera’s.

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