#139 Cirkewwa, Malta

Just getting used to diving after a two year break. Dived with Maltaqua, great service!

Volunteering at the Blue World Adriatic Bottlenose Dolphin Research at Veli Losinj

Did I get every single keyword inserted into the title? Hope so. This year I wanted to do something a bit different from diving, something that would still include spending time at sea. Getting to understand a bit about dolphins and dolphin research has been great. Of course it's not so much - or at all - about diving, but it offers other interesting insights.

The Blue World research center is - for now - located at Veli Losinj, a beautiful fishing village in Croatia. The new place is being built in the more populated, neighboring town Mali Losinj. The center is not to move there for another two years or so.

As a volunteer, you get to go on the boat quite a bit with the Blue World staff members. All of the staff are not scientists, but the blue world center publishes actively in scientific journals. You will be working on data collection on dolphin behavior, feeding, numbers, etc mostly based on photo identification. These guys are really pros at finding the dolphins on the open sea, so you are definitely going to see your share.

Photo identification is the main data collection method. This is how it works. In the boat there are two staff members and the volunteers. One of the staff members is taking care of the boat, while the other stands in the front and takes the pictures. Volunteers will have two tasks to fulfill. One is to keep track of the waypoints using a GPS tracker & sheet of paper and the other is to use a smartphone application and make a note every time a dolphin raises to the surface for air (or any other reason).

First when the boat leaves, you are going for a search. At this point volunteers only scan the horizon for a possible sighting. If/When dolphin(s) are spotted, the sighting and the volunteer work begins. The waypoints are marked every five minutes when there is a dolphin sighting going on. The coordinates are checked from the GPS, saved into the tracker and also marked down to a sheet of paper with the indicators of dolphin behavior, sea state and the stage of the sighting. This option is better if you want to take some pictures with your own camera, since it is not as time demanding as using the smartphone app. (However it's better not to take your own camera for the first trips. Get used to the process first. You will have plenty of time to snap some great shots, don't worry.)

The other volunteer using the app (no, not available from the appstore) is recording every blow as dolphins come up to the surface for air. If there are a lot of dolphins, a lot of smartphone screen pressing is to be done:) Also the dolphin behaviour is marked. Most common behavior patterns are:

• D as for diving without a clear direction
• DT as for dive traveling with a clear direction
• S as for socializing (playing, jumping)
• ATF as Active trawler follow. Dolphins often feed behind fishing trawlers.
• PTF as Passive trawler follow. Following trawler, but not feeding.

Confirm the behavior from the staff members. This is just my blogpost!

Later the pictures are reviewed at the office and the staff is able to identify pretty much each dolphin that has been spotted, comparing the pictures to the catalog. This is very time demanding, since there can be hundreds of pictures from one sighting, and the dolphin identification is not a straightforward process but requires attention on the details of the scars, fin shape and behavior of the individual.

Many scientific papers and thesis have been written based on this very data. Ask the staff if you are working on yours, or if you are interested of a longer internship with them.

Note that these guys are not fooling around or spotting the dolphins only when it seems like fun for you and everyone. If a dolphin is spotted, a sighting will be recorded no matter how many hours you already have spent on the sea. However, the boat goes out only in near perfect weather conditions, so on windy or rainy days the boat stays in, at least when the volunteers are present. In any case, always prepare for a longer than planned stay with sandwiches and water.

There can be lot of tourist boats after the dolphins as well. They often follow the blue water boat when they notice that the dolphins have been spotted. This can cause a bit of a havoc, since some tourists have no respect and approach the dolphins

when in the boat

Make sure you know what your responsibility in the boat is. The blue world staff members are not tourist guides. Having volunteers on the boat means also having responsibility and extra load for the normal routines. The sea is not exactly forgiving mistakes, so listen to the staff instructions and don't start getting too excited when you see dolphins or other cool things. Prioritize the data collection to your own photography for everybody's well being.

The volunteer house

The house is perfectly located just 2 min walk from the harbor and from the blue world office in Veli Losinj center. The sea view to the bay from the terrace is really nice. The volunteers share a room with 5 beds. This year there were some periods with only two volunteers. The house has two bathrooms, kitchen and the dinner is usually served at the little garden or yard. The volunteering price consists of all meals, which means that the fridge is packed with all kind of stuff and everyone prepares their breakfast and lunch sandwiches themselves. The dinner is prepared in turns, so every now and then it will be your turn to prepare the dinner for everyone. Also the housekeeping and dish washing is done in turns, which circulate so that every now and then there is a free night with no responsibilities. Its nice to have dinner together and share the experiences of the day. Note that since it is a shared house, the tidiness is not always perfect. Its a pity since the house has potential to be really nice. In summer months you will also get used to some grasshoppers and bugs around the garden, as well as the two cats who live there. At the time of writing, the other volunteer in the house was allergic to cats but was not very bothered since they stayed outside. The house has a stereo, tv, but (fortunately!) no wi-fi so you can get rid of your internet addiction here. There is a washing machine for clothes available.

Other things to do

The island is perfect for many outdoor activities. You will have some free time also, since not all days are spent in the boat. The hiking trials by the coast are stunning, and you can walk miles just adoring the coast and when walking towards and after Rovenska bay, you can even get lucky and spot dolphins from the trail. If you want more demanding hikes, head to the hills and you will have plenty of rocky paths to climb. Also chances for mountain biking and open water swimming are excellent. At Čikat Bay you can do windsurfing (really, try it! It's really cool and you can get thee equipment for around 10€/hour. If you want a course or classes, book in advance - there are lot of people during summer months), and explore some Austrian style villas on the go. If you are into diving, look for Neno-Sub in Mali Losinj harbor, just behind the fisherman statue. The diving here is not like in the Philippines, but you have great visibility, nice drop offs and easy caves, and water temperatures around 19-25 degrees in August.

Some thoughts

It is really great that such a project is taking place. Sometimes you might wonder what's the deal for just shooting endless amount of photos and then identifying the individuals for the rest of the week. How is this exactly helping the dolphins to survive? Keep in mind that this is the base data that is used by many researchers to gain and publish information on how the population is doing. Another thing that puzzled me was the tourist boats that followed the research boat after they found out that the dolphins were present. It is acknowledged that the boat traffic is the main purpose of stress, so wouldn't it sometimes be better to avoid the contact altogether? Luckily the local tourist operators really respect the dolphins and the researcher boat, but this is not always the case with random tourist boats which sometimes chase the dolphins rather wildly. That's why the Blue World is there to raise awareness. Also it would be cool if the group would be able to assist or do more in cases when the dolphin really needs help. Such cases include dolphins which are injured after been tangled in a net, or even worse as what happened when we were here, shot with a spear gun. Unfortunately not much can be done besides documenting the cases and informing media. You can have some interesting discussions on the topic with the staff.

Amazing experience

This is a truly unique experience and gets you in touch with the dolphin research as well as the local community in a way you could never experience through a hotel-stay. Thanks Tihana, Matea & Marco for this opportunity for letting us work with you. It's been a real eye opener and never have 12 days gone so fast than here.

Packing to the trip

Don't overdo it. Unless you are combining your Adriatic experience with some other journeys, you can keep it as light as possible. I came with a carry on luggage only and was just fine. Essentials would include : Shorts, T-shirts, flip-flops, a light long sleeve shirt for sun/wind protection, a light jacket, a camera, swimming goggles, sunglasses.

#138 Srakane Cave, Losinj, Croatia

Another dive at the same island and with the same bunch of divers. This time went through a nice swimthrough, in to a nice cave in around 10 meters depth. Very nice. Inisde, an approximately 40 square meter cavern with an open top. Very cool. Unfortunately you need a degree in biology to find something alive here. Some seaweed, maybe 1-2 tiny gobys, and fortunately a lot of their 1 cm to-be-adults. Max depth 12m, weights 8 kg, 5-7mm long hooded wetsuit, divetime 42min. Water temp 22 degrees. And I had more than 100 bar left after the dive, looks like I am still able to go with limited consumption. Well, the others were still doing their open water, moving around like a bunch of cheerleaders, and kicking sediment all around making the swimthrough slightly more interesting...

#137 Srakane Wall, Losinj, Croatia

And here we go!! Finally, finally, finally after again more than a year of inactivity, we are in da wodar! I am now volunteering for the Blue World Adriatic dolphin research center in Veli Losinj, and during a free day was able to organise couple of dives with a local pro called Neno Starčič. A cool guy, instructor trainer, approved maintenance technician fro Scubapro, and organiser of the archeological dive activity and courses in the area. So, got geared up at the diveshop and off we went. In the boat there was some open water students, so that was not a great signal from the times to come. One German-Italian family with two teenage daughters and one german 16-old one star SSI diver. No, after a year break I was not into anything hardcore, but this group felt still quite far sketched...!!! But to the dive. Divesite was Srakane Wall, a 45 min boatride from Mali Losinj (where you can spot some truly bigass luxury boats!) to a small isolet Srakane. The wall was OK, a vertical dropoff to around 45 meters. Visibility was OK as well. But the true problem in these waters is that there is not much actual sealife to see! However, after a long time away from the water and with water temperatures around 24, it still felt great to be in the water! Absolutely great, every single time!!! And, we did spot one giant crab in about 15 meters, but apart from that it was just seaweed and tiny fish if even that. Weights : 8 kg Suit 5 or 7 mm long, hooded max depth 19,2 m divetime 47 min divebuddy : german guy Water temp at 19 meters 18 degrees, at the surface 24 degrees.

Deep South, Red Sea, Egypt (Dives #120-#136)

First of all this trip was close to a complete disaster, so many things went wrong right from the beginning. From the 18 people onboard, five people had their gear missing at the arrival. Luckily I wasnät one of them. This lead to some obvious unnecessary hussle, but also affected the journey route and schedule. Also, the boat planned for us had broke the previous week, and we had to organise a new, slightly smaller boat. So long the two jacuzzis that were on the other boat!

Anyway, the next morning after arrival we hit the rough waters of the Red Sea. Huarghada is not much praised for its attractions so everyone were happy that we were finally on the move. This trip was heading to "deep" south, penetrating the red sea southwards towards the southern border of Egypt. Still not even half way down, but what the heck, the big fish was waiting for us beneath.

First dive was a much needed equipment check dive at Abu Hashish, relatively shallow and easygoing. Having had more than a year from last diving session, it was a good idea. I was very hesitant to dress the heavy 7mm thick long suite for these water temperatures, but having had literally all the organisers telling me it was necessary, I entered just to make sure and to find out it was a real unnecessary hussle and the remaining dives would be done with my ultrathin 0.5 mm long which was completely enough. Maybe I am just hot blooded, but really wearing unnecessarily thinck wetsuits makes absolutely no sense. It adds the hussle and especially the amount of weights, weakens your boyancy control and just cuts from the fun of diving, especially in the preparing stage.

The waters of the Red Sea were much praised and the expectations were high for this trip. Having dived some top destinations in the Philippines, Thailand and Malesia, I had heard from various dive industry professionals that the Read Sea would top it all. Surely this trip could not let me down.

The first site naturally didnt hold such expectations, but first dive after a year felt special and it was topped with a swimming giant moray which isn't a commons sight.

One good thing about this liveabroad was the unlimited enriched air available. The not so cool factor was the amount of volatility in the oxygen levels, making it necessary to examine the oxygen extra carefully before each dive with a single examiner that was passed from diver to diver. During a single dive the oxygen level could vary from 24% in one tank to 34% in another.

During the days of diving, the the rough seas tunred out the be one major issue, causing lot of havoc on board and making more people than myself quite sick. I spent one entire night vomiting and feeling dizzy, but luckily had to skip only one dive. The nature of this trip was to travel far, therefore the boat was in open seas each night, facing some respectable waves and winds and turning everything onboard upside down. The items not tied up to the boat were flying around and into the sea, including matressess, clothes and dishes and causing some very tired red-eyed divers waiting for calmed waters. It was this very fact that eventually made me quite happy to arrive back from the trip, even it was much waited.

Divingwise there were some awesome highlights, and some top sightings such as dolphins were spotted from onboard. Also a whaleshark was spotted! Always a magnificent sight, even from a bit of a distance. Of course for the hard core junkies such whale spotting is nothing unless you can get right close and personal with them, but neverthless a whaleshark is a whaleshark. And talking about sharks, it was going to get better. This is what the deep south safari is all about, the Daedalus Reef offered some extraordinary sharkspotting providing hammerheads, grey reef and oceanic whitetips in a signle dive. A treasher shark migh have been present since a couple of less experienced divers claim to have spotted it, but my opinion is still that they got confused with a long backfin of one of the hammerheads. The divemaster Basem, a cool guy and one hell of a diver, himself claimed to have seen a silvershark, so there were at least three and possibly even five species of shark in one single dive! Now come on, how can you top that?

Apart from the sharks, the deep south safari offers some splendid reef formations and coral gardens, truly world class. My absolute favourite was the Siab Claudia, where the Eden-like gardens and the shallow caves and chambers offer some great memories the dwell in in the office days to come. From the negative side however I noted the absence
of muck diving quite completely. Often so common nudey branches, shrimps, crabs or other small critters just weren't there. Throughout the seventeen dives in a dozen of different site, I spotted just one nudey and two shrimps. Not a single crab, bubble coral shrimp or whatsoever was present, not even to mention seahorses or other rare fellows. Ok, this trip was designed to show the big stuff and hell yeah that was what we were after too and that was what we got.

I was left with mixed feeling with the oceanic white tip, the fourth most dangerous maneater shark, resposible of attacking a swimmer with fatal consequences just last year. My understanding was that the oceanic white tip was the
most likely shark to be seen here, but we saw only one to pass by far away just in the latter part of the dive after safety stop. You might think that we were lucky to spot it from such a distance, but having been told about their curiousity towards divers I would have hoped a bit closer encounter. Our divetrip organiser Jussi Sila even informed us to push or kick them away if they get too close and personal. Not a wanted scenario either, but ok, I can say I
have seen the oceanic whitetip but that a few seconds in the blue isn't exactly what you are after having come this far!

Dive1 15.10.2011 Abu Hashis
Dive2 15.10.2011 Panorama reef
Dive3 15.10.2011 Panorama reef, southwest
Dive4 16.10.2011 Night dive somewhere
Dive5 16.10.2011 Elphinstone
Dive6 16.10.2011 Elphinstone
Dive7 17.10.2011 Elschun
Dive8 17.10.2011 Daedalus
Dive9 17.10.2011 Daedalus
Dive10 17.10.2011 Shaab Maksur
Dive11 18.10.2011 Shaab Claudia
Dive12 18.10.2011 Siel
Dive13 19.10.2011 Abu Dabab
Dive14 19.10.2011 Ras Torombi
Dive15 19.10.2011 Ras Torombi
Dive16 20.10.2011 Middle Reef
Dive17 20.10.2011 Panorama reef

#119, Meditation Wall, Siamil Island, off Mabul

26meters, 52min

Last dive. 9 dives in 3 days (19.7.-21.7.2010) is enough, you start to get a bit tired. I was kicking bottom and lifting silt like a recent open water graduate!

A good slope though, not really a wall, the best coral formations during these three days, with some interesting nudey branches (in groups of three!), morays, big frog- and a big scorpionf.





Afterwards 70min back to Mabul, a quick burn of pics to cd and then another 70min or so back to Semporna. I noted that from Mabul to Semporna the boats two 200hp engines used more than 55 litres of gasoline. Thats pretty darn sick in about one hours time of driving.

Overall the Scuba Junkies have really grown up. In 2006 when I was here last time, the shop was a slimy little room in the shitty town of Semporna. I still remember their ugly home made logo, which literally shows a shark with an ok sign and scuba mask. Its so ugly and badly designed that it stays in your mind. Now they have kept the same logo, but everything is a few steps better. The shop is bigger, nicer and cleaner, and they have opened a big scuba training center at Mabul as well. The Mabul site is exceptionally well organised and run, the rental equipment is brand new and the rental-, boat- and DM procedures are highly professional. Not surpisingly the place is packed with youngsters doing their open water or another divecourse. Also five dive master trainees were doing their dm course. The staff is quite friendly and very international representing varios nationalities. The Junkies were at the right place at the right time, presence of Sipadan has really helped them to grow. Interestingly, the operating manager Tino remembered me from four years back when I visited here last time for just a few days!

Last night I saw a post on the Mabul SJ noteboard indicating that if some of the clients would like to play chess, they should contact one of the DMs so I did. We played a few rounds and it turned out that many junkie divemasters, barstaff and even the owner were a bit of chess junkies as well. They have to pick up ther game though since this round was Mike 6 (wins), Scuba Junkies 0. :-)

#118 : 1st Beach, Siamil Island, off Mabul, Malaysia

18 meters, 64min

HORRIBLE visibility, the weather was so crappy that everyone waited one hour surface interval in the water instead of the boat. Ha! Anyway, it was still better below the surface than above, even it was as clear as in the first dive. This was just off the beach, and it was sandy slope and bottom all way long with little pieces of coral. However it must be Siamil that makes Mabul so highly appreciated among muck divers. This sandy bottom was packed with small and creepy critters and creatures.

Scorpion, dragonmoth, cornet, flying gerrard, frog, cuttle, porcupine, squad & bubble coral shrimps, crabs, moray, dwarf lion, cleaning station (shrimps), etc


Porcupinefish


Flying gurnard

Full photo album

Not a bad day to dive with a camera with!