Friday, March 30, 2007

Amazing video by our clients - and a surprise!


Lots and lots of rain this March, and quite a few cyclone warnings: perfect weather for chilling out at home, do some editing and surf the web!

I've always wondered what our camera-toting clients manage to put together after their short visits with us and all I can say is: amazing stuff!
Here's a good example from a lucky 1-day dive on Shark Reef, and here, a nice slideshow/video combo. What really did blow me away however was this production featuring double tiger sharks: fantastic, bravo!!!

And, then a huge surprise: there's even a re-edited version of my very own naughty file!!!



I was kinda speechless but then again, an audience of next to 23,000 is way cool, too.... though I like my original music much better and the aspect ratio is off, meaning that in reality, the Sharks are NOT that fat! 
Having identified and talked to the culprit, we've both decided to leave it there.

Enjoy!

Monday, March 26, 2007

The Original Crocodile Man comes to Fiji

The team at Beqa Adventure Divers were proud to play host to the "Original Crocodile Man", David Ireland and his cameraman Mark for 2 weeks in early March.

David & Mark were visiting to shoot a documentary about the legendary Shark God, 'Dakuwaqa' for their latest series, The Wildlife Man. In Fijian folklore, the people of Beqa are protected from shark attacks and in exchange they will not harm, kill or eat sharks.

All of Pacific Harbour welcomed David & Mark, with Uprising Beach Resort kindly hosting them for the 2 weeks, Arts Village took them for a tour of the cultural centre and Beqa Adventure Divers took them diving.

Keep an eye out for the finished product airing on Discovery HD and Channel 9 Australia later in the year.

Long-term Decline in Shark Attack Numbers.

UF study: World shark attacks rise slightly but continue long-term dip.

Shark attacks edged up slightly in 2006 but continued an overall long-term decline as overfishing and more cautious swimmers helped take a bite out of the aggressive encounters, new University of Florida research finds.

The total number of shark attacks worldwide increased from 61 in 2005 to 62 in 2006 and the number of fatalities remained stable at four, far below the 79 attacks and 11 fatalities recorded in 2000, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File housed at UF's Florida Museum of Natural History.

“This was a nice dull year and we love dull years because it means there are fewer serious attacks and fewer victims,” Burgess said. “It’s really quite remarkable when you have only four people a year die in the mouth of a shark and puts in perspective how small shark attack is as a phenomenon.”

Good News for Mexican Sharks.

Mexico Passes Shark Finning Ban. New Protections for Great White, Whale and Basking Sharks, Manta Rays.

In a surprising move, the Mexican government has recently published sweeping new regulations and protections for sharks, including a shark finning ban, an extension of the moratorium on new commercial shark fishing permits, and extensive protections for great white sharks, whale sharks, basking sharks and manta rays.

“Mexico has taken a real leadership position here” says Patric Douglas CEO of Shark Diver http://www.sharkdiver.com/ a shark cage diving company based in San Diego. “The rest of Latin America is watching what Mexico does with great interest now, this is good news indeed.”