AUGUST 8, 2011
"SHARK SESSIONS" SERIES - EPISODE 1- So I finally got back to editing films, other than my blogs and created the first of a short film series I am calling Shark Sessions. The series will profile shark people who are doing some amazing things in this industry. And it will be anything from; shark conservation, art, photography, films, to shark operators and people who just plain old fashion kick ass and are just cool as hell. So this first one is about my friend Charlie, and his work and relationship with the bull sharks of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I hope you enjoy it.
June 27, 2011 I wanted to kick Monday off with two short stories. One is about my weekend with my family, the other is a blog I found that is pretty amazing and I believe everyone should read it...
I have so much work this week and I am trying not to think about it. I did take a part of the weekend off to just enjoy my family, which is something I find myself not doing as much as I would like or should do. But a sunday afternoon at the beach, body surfing and teaching my daughter how to ride a boogie board was good for the soul. At the end of our day at the beach, we were cleaning up after ourselves, picking up our trash and, as is normally my habit, other people's trash as well. It reminded me that we really need to do more for our world's oceans. It really is bad out there, not just the over fishing, but also the trash and debris that we leave behind. The really shitty part is the public does not care. They really do not. So it is up to the people who care to make a difference, and try to educate people and our future generations into caring. I have mentioned that I have set a personal goal of sharing sharks and the ocean with 1,000 kids - that is my goal, and after this past Saturday, (I spoke to kids at a public library) the official count is now 900 to go. So 100 kids in my area and their parents have learned more about about sharks and their importance to our oceans. But after my beach visit, I now will be including beach clean up into my talks, and the importance of picking up every single spec of trash they find.
At the end of every talk, I always ask the kids to say really loud and together, "Say No to shark fin soup." Now I am going to include these words in that mantra, "Leave it cleaner then you found it."
Here is a shocking video that talks about how much plastic pollution we have in our oceans...its disturbing, it truly is...
I also wanted to share with you this amazing and inspirational teaching that I read on Bronnie Ware's blog. I found it amazing and felt I needed to share it with you all here to kick off your Monday morning...enjoy!
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard. This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier. This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
June 23, 2011 Ok lets talk shark. The summer is here and with it comes the annual migrations of sharks in all different parts of the world. For North America it means, the blues and makos return to the East Coast. My buddies up there are already experiencing some great trips. I think they had 12 blues on day one with a mola. Thats' just insane.Then over in Mexico we have whale sharks who have shown up around the waters of Isla Mujeres and Holbox. That has kicked off and should be in raging bloom by the time we get there. Then there is a new summer spot happening, sevengills in Southern california. They have always been there in the kelp beds, but the sightings have always been spotty. This year, for what ever reason the sharks are seen on a regular basis. That is the kind of news that gets my heart and soul on fire. Plus it is a species I have not seen before, and I am in desperate need of a new species to add to my list of seen it. So it is a ragin summer and I am amped up to get out there, get my gear wet and find me some sharks. I truly hope you all are as well. If not what the hell are you waiting for?
So here are a few updates of what's going on at Sharkdivermag.com's website. I am finally adding a proper shark store. For years we have been running with plug n pay for our store, but we have grown up (sort of) and we decided it was time to upgrade. It is not officially up yet, because I have been working hard on adding product, and that is really time consuming. I am hoping that I will be finished by mid next week-ish. Earlier than that I hope, it is just a lot of information I have to add. But I am really excited about the new store, it will be a huge improvement and a lot easier for you all to navigate and find what you are looking for. Plus a lot cooler looking as well...
We also have a few new shirt logos we will be sporting on our shirts for you all. Of course our Tibby logo will still be part of our gear, Tibby has always been good shark karma for us, so it is a must for all our shark divers that they have Tibby around to help them find sharks. Here is one of the logos that you will find on our new SDM shirts for the summer season...
New tee shirt logo for 2011
Also just an FYI, I am in search of articles and images for our 25th anniversary issue. I have a few but the mag is not completely full yet, so if you have some ideas or cool shots for our mag, by all means send them in. This is going to be THE very best issue of SDM I have ever released so if you want to be part of history and have your images and/or articles in the World's greatest magazine (ok, maybe it is not the World's greatest, but it is pretty damn close.)... send us your stories. the articles need to be between 900-1200 words (max), and accompanied by 6-10 images. Shark species that have not been published in SDM are almost guaranteed a spot in this issue, everything else will be decided upon when all submissions are in...
cheers and wishing you all a great summer shark season my friends!
June 15, 2011 So I just finished editing a new video for our Tiger Beach expedition page. It is a good video, and well worth a look, lots of great natural history shots, and some interaction shots as well. That is the type of trip I run when I am out there - which are opportunities to get plenty of natural history shots, with beautiful back drops, as well as opportunites to capture unique interaction shots. Which to me are very important when trying to show sharks in a different light. I know I have been talking about the other side of sharks to people all over the world, but until I showed them these types of interactions no one really ever believed or cared. But these videos opened up minds to whats possible. Kids are saying sharks are cute now, when before they just thought of them as scary. Its beautiful and just gets me fired up to create more videos that show this. Changing peoples minds about sharks is the ultimate goal.
Working with kids at the Juvenile Bootcamp detention center. These are really good kids who are just a little lost. but they love the talks and asked question after question. I spent 2 hours there trying to answer them all. such great kids.
I have a new goal I set for myself, which is to reach 1,000 kids within the next 8 months and share the ocean world with them, as well as sharks and what they are up against. The idea is to show them that sharks are important, and not mindless monsters. So far I have already spoken to about 50 plus kids, so the numbers are already going down. And today I have a presentation to at risk kids, and tomorrow with kids at a day care. So the idea is to reach as many kids as possible in a short amount of time, so that I can set a new goal with more kids that I want to reach. The ultimate goal is to reach 10,000 kids. But that is a long term goal, but very possible. So the first goal is to visit 1,000 and do it within 8 month. This week I should reach a total of about 80 kids, and next week I have more presentations set up. The kids are great, they really love the interaction videos, it blows their little minds.
Kids at a summer camp, it was an ocean theme week.
These interaction videos have shown kids that they are not just eating machines, and that there is a thinking animal that does sometimes enjoy a scratch on the nose, and belly. Which is still a foreign idea, even to divers. Now granted swimming up to a shark thinking they all want a scratch is wrong and vain, and that is something I do not do. I do not enter the water grabbing sharks left and right like some may think. The opposite actually occurs. When I drop down and try to interact with sharks, I wait to see what sharks approach me, and show the signs that they are interested in interacting. Because the reality is, sharks that want nothing to do with you, will never come up to you and allow you to touch them, no matter how much food you have down there. Sharks have their own personalities and only the sharks that are confident and sure of themselves will come in for a scratch. Of the 40 plus lemons that visit our spot when we are out there, I only interact with maybe, 5-6 different lemon sharks. The rest are shy or lower in the pecking order and not allowed near the bait box by the dominant sharks, or the sharks just do not trust me. So I work with the sharks that are interested in me, just like I am in them. It is a mutual respect for each other, and I am very careful in how I approach and work with specific sharks.
With Taxi. and Hook. Taxi gets either jealous or protective, and always comes in when Hook comes in. Never fails.
Some sharks I trust more than others. For example, i trust Taxi, a lemon shark I work with more than I trust Scratch or Rocky. Scratch is a much more aggressive shark when it comes to visiting me at the bait box, so I am careful in how I interact with her. Taxi on the other hand is a very confident shark in the way she approaches me and never has shown me anything that would make me concerned for my safety. Even though I am always careful around her, because she is a shark and I know what she is capable of doing, I know she is one of the safer sharks I can interact with. Rocky is a very confident male shark, and he is jumpy, and figidy, possibly having to do with testosterone. So I never quite relax around him, and I never give him a hand out of fish scraps. I just feel it is safer with him that way. Taxi sometimes does not even take the scraps I offer her. Scratch gets excited right after and I have to calm her down a bit because she gets fired up. So in the time I am in the water, which averages an hour and a half each dive, I maybe had out 5 to 10 pieces of food, if that. It is not about giving them food, its about bringing them in close for opportunites to photgraph them, film them, and sometimes, if I am lucky interact with them.
June 10, 2011 So I am deep into editing 2 film projects. One is a short film I need to keep private for now, as it is for a potential future film project, which I am very excited about, if it happens. The other is a conservation film I have been working on for a while. Well at least the filming portion of it. I am now in post and hell bent on editing it, and bring it to life. This will be my first film, where I am directing, and editing it, and it will have a strong conservation message with it, I just hope I know what I am doing. We shall see...
So earlier today I reworked our back issues page which was in need of an update. And as I was looking at it it got me all fired up to create issue 25. I am already excited about this new mag, but after seeing all my babies on one page, it got me even more amped up. So like I mentioned in yesterday's blog, after I finish up this lastest film project I move into editing issue 25. Which is going to kick ass. Yes modesty is out the window with this issue. It is for the simple fact that I am extremely excited about what the final product will be when the mag is finished, because it will have my whole heart and soul poured into it. 25 issues is a huge deal for me. Most of my haters, and doubters thought I would of given up and quit after our first year in this game. But here we are, almost 10 years later; 24 issues already published, award winning documentaries under our wing, and countless adventures with our readers, (thats the best part, hanging with you all) what else could we ask for? Well maybe a megamouth shark to play with, that would be cool. Again to all of you - I am proud you all have allowed me to continue publishing this magazine... so for that thank you. I promise that the next issue will be the best one yet.
June 09, 2011 So I looked at my schedule and its going to be a crazy busy one. From up coming reader trips. Which by the way just an FYI, I am letting everyone know that I only have a few spots left on the remaining trips...
One spot left for whale sharks in July.
3 spots left for California shark seafari
5 spots left for an October tiger shark trip (We just posted it today by the way.)
Our December tiger shark trip is 100% sold out.
And we have 3 spots left for our bull shark trip in December.
I also added a new video to our expeditions page. Well its a temporary one, till I cut together the film I want to show. But now I have an idea of what I want to put together, I just dont have the footage yet, but I have 5 trips left to get what I need...pretty exciting.
An update on my films, lets see...I am in the process of cutting together a short conservation film, which I am hoping will be done here shortly, I need it done for Andy Murch's Sharkfest so I am rushing like mad to finish it. Of course I also want it to be good, so we will see how it goes. When that is done then I get back into magazine work. I need to get issue 25 kicking. Damn issue 25 already. This is the one I have been waiting for. 25 magazines. I am going to put my whole soul into the creation of this issue, so be ready for lots of news and updates about this great issue. Not to mention video blogs...I can't wait. So again after cutting together a film for Andys festival, its straight onto mag work.
June 03, 2011 I just skimmed through my blogs and realized that I have not posted much from February to the end of May. Damn I am way behind on my rants. Sorry about that. What it does show me is that I have been busy with mags and traveling, and video editing and I have been lacking in my web work. Lately when I do get online, I am improving pages or making changes and so on. What I have been doing a lot of is editing short films. I finally learned how to edit videos, and now that I have learned, there is no stopping me. I love story telling, and cutting together videos really is the best way to share a story. Don't get me wrong, I love creating mags too, but the mag only tells a half story, the rest is lost in translation. You just can't capture the energy or the emotions that run through a person when they experience something incredible, not on paper. It just does not come across as well. No matter how hard I try, it has never really come out. But with film, you can get what someone is feeling, and saying...the energy surfaces.
For example, here is a video I cut together for our friends who joined us on Cat Island this May for oceanic whitetips, you can totally feel the energy that everyone on the boat was feeling after a perfect week of chasing sharks...
I cut this together to show the fun that people who love sharks have on an adventure like this. Moments like these are why you keep going back out there. Because you never really want it to end. You just want to keep diving, keep visiting new places, meeting new people. Telling stories with video helps share that energy. But of course video has its flaws too... My good friend Daniel, who is an amazing photographer said to me while we were motoring out from the harbor to go find sharks one morning. We were passing this amazing spot of beach - crystal clear turquoise colored water, with rocky outcroppings and white soft sand. There was a clear blue sky with a few clouds spattered across. It was just beautiful. I said Daniel look at the beach, no photograph could ever truly capture that beauty, maybe video? He said "No, only the heart and the mind can, you just have to see it for yourself."
The bottom line my friends, get off you butts, and go and experience the world! Feel the energy, live big and let your soul's fly.
I'll see you out there.
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