Our news - July 2000
Marc Montocchio's Underwater Photography Course
We received an email
from Marc Montocchio several days after we'd first met him during the
sardine run. The photos of common dolphins
that were attached to that email were stunning. His comment accompanying
those shots was "Not too pleased with these but they're just about
sellable"! He is one of South Africa's leading underwater photographers
and needless to say he is a perfectionist. Since meeting him, we've seen
his name on many underwater pics in South African magazines. When we heard
he was doing a photography course in Cape Town, Mark decided to join the
course and re-learn the basics from the expert.
Click here for more information on Marc
Montocchio's Underwater Photography Course
Oil-slick threatens Cape Town Penguins
We heard on international news that the lives of several thousand Cape Town penguins had been seriously threatened by the sinking of an oil container in Table Bay. As we were in Cape Town at the time, we decided to offer our help. On arrival in Salt River, an industrial area in the middle of Cape Town, we were guided to the warehouse by the potent aroma of penguin poo. The TV appeals for volunteers had obviously tugged many Capetonian's heartstrings as the warehouse was heaving with people wanting to help. Each person was allocated oilskins, boots and gloves and then waited patiently in line until assigned a particular job for the day. We ended up cleaning out the penguin pens all day. A very smelly but nevertheless rewarding job when you knew you were going some way to help out. Those people who were experienced were helping to clean and feed them. Invariably these volunteers would end up joining the first aid queue which grew by the minute as penguins were viciously biting and scratching their captors. It was a sorry sight to see the oil-covered penguins standing in their pens disorientated and helpless. In desperation to preserve the future of these penguins, the breeding adults had been saved and many of the chicks left to die. There had not been enough time or manpower to save them all. Once the penguins were cleaned, they were transported 1000km overland to Port Elizabeth and set free on the beaches to begin their 10 day swim back to Cape Town. The theory behind the long swim home was simple. It would provide a 10 day window for cleaning up the oil-slick. Three of the first penguins to leave PE had tracking devices attached to them and the world watched while Peter, Percy and Pamela swam non-stop back home. There was such an atmosphere of team spirit and hope in that warehouse. It was a wonderful sight to see so many people working together for the future of this small animal.
After
a very slow 30,000km, she's made it through the finishing posts. Although
at times we could have happily driven her over a cliff or sold her for
50p, she's turned out to be a tough old bird. We've decided to take her
with us on our next adventure (god help us!) as we can't bring ourselves
to sell her. Call us 'soft Pommies' (and many have), but no matter how
convinced we are that it'd probably make sense to buy a more reliable
alternative, we just can't give up the yellow beast. She's recently been
taken in to a convalescent home for Trucks to relax and re-energise. She'll
hopefully be raring to go when we come and collect her next year for Dive
The Dream part two .......
Our
Plans for 2001
Our dream for next year will be leading us through several lesser known
African dive spots. We'll be lugging along an air compressor and inflatable
boat to explore the more remote dive sites of the Mozambiquan coastline,
Namibia's desert caves and lakes and Zimbabwe's Chinhoyi
Caves. In order to explore some of the deeper sites, we aim to take
our technical diving courses before we head off. Between now and then,
the race is on to raise more sponsorship. We're going back to the UK to
earn some more pennies. We'll let you know how we get on via a weekly
diary on this site. If you want to find out about our present sponsors,
click here.