Great Whites of Australia
March 6, 2008
In Feb ‘07 I travelled to Port Lincoln, South Australia to attempt to realise (for the second time after a previous bust in South Africa) my dream of diving with and filming Great White sharks. I chose to dive with Rodney Fox’s Great White Shark Expiditions after hearing about Rodney’s forty years of shark conservation work - a remarkable feat in itself but even more so considering that Rodney survived a Great White Shark attack in December 1963…
Great White Shark attack victim, film maker and expedition leader, Rodney Fox, was born in South Australia on 9th November 1940. He is happily married to Kay and they have three children Andrew, Lenore, Darren and 7 grandchildren.
The Fox family have opened “The Rodney Fox Shark Experience” a Shark Museum and Nautical Gift Shop. This museum features Rodney’s private collection of displays and items from a life time film making and research with sharks. The displays feature Great White Shark models, cages from the film “Jaws”, giant fossil teeth plus photos and video highlights from many films that he has been involved in.
When he is not talking to groups of people in his shark museum, Rodney’s time is spent consulting and coordinating film crews and arranging and guiding tourist adventure trips and expeditions specializing in Great White Sharks, Whale Sharks, crocodiles and other marine creatures.
Rodney Fox was attacked by a Great White Shark and badly bitten around the chest and arm in December 1963. His story of the attack and escape has been published many times. He is regarded as a miracle survivor of one of the world’s worst shark attacks.
Rodney went on to build the first under water observation cage to dive the Great White Shark and has now led hundreds of major expeditions to film and study his attacker. He is regarded as a world authority on the Great White Shark and has a great reputation as an expedition leader and producer of sharks. It is estimated that Rodney has been involved in some way with 90% of all prominent White Shark images taken world wide, in the 20th Century.
Since Rodney’s attack by a Great White in 1963 his involvement with the giant sharks include consultant, guide, expedition leader, hunter, film producer, photographer, coordinator, actor, diver, cage designer protector and more. He also spent much of his early career as a professional abalone diver. This wide variety of experiences gives Rodney a huge repertoire to talk on as a much sought after public speaker.
Rodneys talks inspire his audiences to overcome fears they may have in life, and through a process of understanding and education he hopes anyone can begin to appreciate and respect that which they were formally afraid of, to enjoy a better life.
In January 2007 Rodney was inducted into the International Scuba Divers Hall of Fame http://www.scubahalloffame.com/hof/rodney_fox.html
Whalesharks of Honduras video:
Many thanks to Carl Roessler and Andrew Fox for providing additional footage and shots for this film
Download from my portfolio on iStock:
Utila, Honduras
March 5, 2008
The last time I went diving somewhere that took 48 hours to get to was to Kho Tao in Thailand, it was also the last time I had such a rewarding traveling / diving / recharging experience.
Traveling through Roatan to get to Utila, I was struck by another parallel with Thailand, that Utila is to Roatan as Kho Tao is (or was) to Kho Samui. Its that extra mile, that greater effort that delivers you to the off-the-beaten-track idyllic hideaway where, by the time you get there, all the trappings and stress of your crazy-ass existence has somehow already been left behind you.
Although we knew where we were staying at Colibri Hill Resort (yes, there will be more shameless plugs here, these are the people who shaped our experience of Utila after all) chance lead us to Deep Blue Divers headed up by Phil and the crew who, as it turned out, had exactly the right balance of professionalism and fun (come on PADI, admit it, that’s your USP!).
This was my first trip as a videographer. I knew about Utila’s world-wide reputation for Whale Sharks but I also knew that sightings can be pretty rare so everything was up to chance, or so I thought. Enter one unassuming Honduran boat captain by the name of Gringo guiding the Foxy Lady (she’s a beauty) on our quest for even one, please even one sighting of these majestic beasts of the ocean.
30 dives, 10 days and 5 sightings later, Gringo, in my mind at least, earned the well-deserved title of Best Whale Shark Captain in Utila.
That’s not to say the other 19 hours and 50 minutes of diving was sat around waiting for Whale Sharks. The seas around Utila are packed with life - stunning corals, eagle rays, sailfish, manta rays, turtles, barracuda to name but a few of the cast that gave us a full-on show.
I’d love to tell you more about the night-life on Utila, but the only experiences that made it past my early nights and hungover memory-loss are: a full-moon beach trance party, Tranquila Bar, Coco Loco’s, Dave’s Restaurant, Bar in the Bush (great for getting up close and personal with the locals) and that nameless gem that sells the greatest rum cake in the world - a standard breakfast necessity (cheers for the tip Orlando!) So, if you’re thinking about Utila, do it.
Whalesharks of Honduras video:
Download from my portfolio on iStock:
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