Monsters from the Abyss...

I've just returned from a shoot in Hawaii where National Geographic joined Dean Grubbs for a window into his research on Six Gill sharks. Dean long-lines these big predators down in 1000 feet of water off the Oahu coastline.

What I never realised was that Six Gills are among the top 4 biggest predatory fish, comparable to the Tiger Shark in size! These impressive looking, green-eyed monsters have carved out a niche for themselves at depth, and are obviously successful predators in this realm.

Dean would sample DNA, measure and satellite tag the animals before helping them on their way back down to the depths. This picture is of National Geographic's Brady Barr helping a Six Gill back down to the abyss.

Sodwana time again.

Its that time of year to move back to Sodwana Bay for our daily feeds. Sodwana is one of the more consistent locations on the South African coast, offering a protected bay from which to launch boats, and quite a diversity of underwater environs. Late summer sees those "silly" Zululand days... Dead calm conditions with the sea like glass.

Most days its pleasure to work here every morning, plus we get a great unobstructed view to the north west for the satelite link! Things we see here regularly are many coral reef symbiosese, clownfish, cleaning stations and such like. We also see fantastic coral growth at places like Seven Mile, and the massive green tree at Nine is spectacular.

Tiger shark footage sample

Tiger season is pretty much in full swing here at Aliwal, here's a sample clip of some full HD footage of these big sharks swimming close to camera. This footage is pretty much dead easy to get, as the sharks are quite used to people now with the SCUBA operators feeding them most days.

This clip is H264 and needs Quicktime.