Archive for December, 2010


Blue water is best for underwater photography of people.  Two of Taiwan’s islands, with consistent blue water are both off the south east coast,  Green Island and Orchid Is.

The above picture was taken in Australia.

Taiwan has untapped potentials for underwater exploration by amateurs.

A good move would be to adopt the European scuba certification system offered by CMAS (of France).  It should have English text books by now.

Another alternative to the controversial PADI  franchise certification system  is NAUI.

The world federation CMAS is the better alternative.  It is not affiliated with any major equipment manufacturer.

An even better idea would be to promote breath hold free diving.  Good for the lungs both now in the present and decades later as the diver ages.  I can vouch for this.

The benefits of free diving are getting  greater confidence with the sea, the health aspects, the much lighter and easier to handle equipment.

Scuba has become a tourist thing that people try for a short while and then do something different.

Spear fishing might be added to the skill of deep free diving. Acceptable when pelagic fish are sought and reef fish avoided.  Spearing big pelagic fish is expensive.  Taiwan would be an ideal.  Divers drift offshore in the open ocean waters and wait for tuna and marlin to swim close enough for a shot.  A boat is necessary.

Personally I do not encourage anyone to attempt free dives beyond 33 meters.

Some girls are doing 66 meter free dives and even deeper.  A lot a practice and guidance is involved with these attempts.  All take the diver to a brink of suddenly going unconscious and is best avoided.

Deep free diving has been called the most dangerous sport in the world.

Situated between Cairns and Port Douglas is Ellis Beach, where I took this picture one morning at ebb tide.  Does Taiwan have deadly jellyfish?  Australia does.  The box jellyfish commonly called The Sea Wasp (Chironex fleckeri) appears throughout northern Queensland during the summer months.  It’s a bad one.  Fortunately they stay close to the coast and are not normally found on the Great Barrier Reef.

Councils often have a container of vinegar on popular beaches ready for public use.  Vinegar is the best, fast treatment as it destroys the live jellyfish tentacles which may be still clinging to a victim’s skin.

Some people swim in Lycra suits.  A few councils have special enclosures as other protection.

Magazine pages from FATHOM No.1 an Australian marine magazine for divers.

http://fathomoz.wordpress.com

Heaps of old Taiwan newsreels can be viewed at the British Pathe site.

http://www.britishpathe.com

December and January is a volatile time in Australia.  It’s the season when we have either a lot of rain or fires everywhere.   At present most of the east coast in being effected by heavy rains and floods.  Next year or the year after it will be bush fires.

Usually the best weather happens in April – our autumn.

Australia is so huge as compared with Taiwan.  There are good and bad living and travel aspects when comparing both countries.

An ideal lifestyle might be a few months in each, each year?

I’m now back home, on the east coast.  So many pictures and memories from my 10th trip to Taiwan yet to make selections from.  Returning to Taipei in a few months.

At Taipei Taoyuan I spoke with a lady returning to New Zealand via Brisbane and asked why New Zealand and not Australia?  It appears the slower pace of life there is the attraction.

The problem with Australian cities, like Sydney, is the high cost of housing.  Migrants are pouring into Australia and houses cannot be built fast enough – which means existing housing is rising in value – and so is the cost of renting.

Taiwanese in Australia head for the suburb of Brisbane called Sunnybank.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The west is so far from the east coast (where the most people live) that it’s almost another country.  It’s different.  Vast, friendly and with different problems.

During the winter the town that becomes popular because of good warm weather and no rain, is Broome in the north-west of the state.

Originally a deep sea pearl diving town that had a population of Japanese, Malay-Chinese and others from Asia who integrated with European and aboriginal locals.  It was once the most multicultural town in Australia.  Sufficiently unique for National Geographic Magazine to run a feature story on the town.

The best time to visit would be during the southern autumn and winter.  If camping then the earlier the better as space for tents is limited.  If going 5 star then the Cable Beach Hotel would be the best choice.

Important – plan to arrive a few days before a full moon, it’s a big social function called “Staircase to the Moon” – viewing the rising full moon from the only hill in town, the Mangrove Hotel’s outside lawn.

The moon rises over a low tide view of mangroves stretching into the distance below.  It’s a family night and worth attending.

Sunsets over the sea at Broome are viewed from Cable Beach just a few kilometers away.  Camels on the beach too.

SEARCH for extra pictures by entering Broome in the search panel.

Technical photo details.  Film was a Kodak stock made for underwater use – extra red.  The soft focus was an accident.  One of three screws had rattled out of the Nikonos 28mm lens (above water version).  A failure at the time, today ‘artistic’ and a relief from the technically perfect digital pictures we’ve become accustomed to.

Using a Photo Filter art function the following picture was made, in addition to Picasa functions first.  Both are free to download programs.

The soft focus error seems to have been overwhelmed by a pencil art effect.

 

Between Perth and Broome is Shark Bay and the much hyped Monkey Mia.  I would not waste too much time in this region.

Also in the north-west is the US Naval radio communications base at Exmouth, now a popular location to swim with giant, harmless whale sharks.

There’s a popular story (yet to be featured in Myth Busters)  that Japanese divers hired a small boat and went searching, alone, for a whale shark.  When their film was later processed it was discovered they’d photographed a large and far from harmless Tiger shark.