shark diving Archives - Fred Buyle - Nektos

Hosting Airbnb event at Paris Aquarium

Fred — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 16:50:37 +0000

Earlier this month Airbnb organized one “a night at” event at the Paris Aquarium.
I was chosen to host it, it was a good opportunity to bring shark awareness and conservation to mainstream media. More than 1200 key media talked about it around the world including Good Morning America, Cnn amongst others. The guest slept in a underwater bedroom immersed in the main tank. On a personal level it was very interesting to collaborate with a company like Airbnb, their economical model is part of the future, shared economy is somehow one of the solutions for a better world and the ecological issues we are facing.

The post Hosting Airbnb event at Paris Aquarium appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

baja california expedition

Fred — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 01:40:41 +0000

I wanted to do that trip for more than 20 years, sailing down Baja California and stop at the mythical dive spots such as Benitos, Alijos Rocks, Thetis Bank…

A friend of mine, Nicolas Mouchart, is currently doing a round the world sailing aboard his 42 foot steel ketch named Perd Pas Le Nord. He left from Belgium 3 years ago, he does not sails full time and divides the journey in legs of various duration. So far his biggest achievement was to go through the North West passage in 2013, Perd Pas le Nord was the only boot to successfully doing the passage that summer. After sailing down Canada and California he left the boat in San Diego. I decided to join for the next leg which was a 3 weeks trip around Baja to end up in La Paz. Nicolas and his girlfriend Florence are keen divers and freedivers so we planned the route with the best dive spots in mind.

But this year we were not lucky, with an strong El Nino and a shorter time frame of 2 weeks we couldn’t dive all the dream spots. Benito was beaten up by 4m swells and 35knts wind. We sailed down directly to Alijos Rocks in big seas and wind hoping it would calm down when on site. The bet paid off and when we reached Alijos the wind had dropped. But the residual swell made our 36h stay the worst anchorage we had ever experienced! The place is stunning, some small rocks sticking out of the open ocean 300km offshore, crystal clear waters and tons of fish. We were expecting lots of sharks but probably because of the storm they stayed very deep and only a few Galapagos sharks paid us an elusive visit. Some sea lions seem to own the place, they were very peaceful and not bothered by us at all.
We left Alijos heading to Cabo San Lucas for a quick refuel and then headed to La Paz where the boat will spend a couple of months. When Nicolas and Florence left, William Winram an I stayed a bit longer in the area to dive Cabo Pulmo with the Pelagios Kakunja team to help them tagging sharks. Cabo Pulmo marine reserve is simply amazing. Not only it is full of life but it is extremely well managed by the local community. The diving is strictly regulated, limited and spread over the dive spots leaving them period of total “rest”. It is an example that all the marine reserve should follow: why create a marine reserve if hundred and hundred of divers are bothering the sea life and create an anthropic pressure that can sometimes be even worst than a well managed fishery…? A topic that should be raised more often.
We saw only 3 shy bull sharks and we eventually tagged one.
The best memory of that trip is for sure the giant school of jacks, we spent hours contemplating that tornado of life, one of my best freediving moment ever!

[See image gallery at nektos.net]

The post baja california expedition appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

underwater underwater photography exhibition nemo33

Fred — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 13:08:58 +0000

Until mid april 2015 Nemo33 host an uw photo exhibition with my pictures. 14 large format prints are hanged from 1.5m to 10m. You can visit the exhibition in both freediving and scuba, it’s even possible to do a first experience dive or freedive with an instructor if you are not a diver yet.
I must say that I enjoy the project very much and I could rediscover my images as seeing them underwater send me back to the exact moment I took the shots.
So if you’re around Brussels in the next weeks give it a go!

The post underwater underwater photography exhibition nemo33 appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

Expedition Guadalupe 2014

Fred — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 11:21:19 +0000

Back from our 2014 Guadalupe Island expedition. This year we spent a full month based on the island instead of operating from a liveboard like we usually do.

Camping on the island helps a lot to focus on the tagging work and allows to enjoy Guadalupe at its full potential! From my first visit I could feel that Guadalupe was not only about the white sharks, there is much much more. The island itself is spectacular, the mineral landscapes totally surreal.

Our camp was set in a old building near a beach. Well, by building I mean some old walls with areas partially covered with old plywood sheets, the place was full of mice and roaches, there is no fresh water nor electricity.

We asked boats to fill our water jerrycans and once every two days we fired up an old 2 strokes generator for an hour

in order to charge our electronics. One hour was just enough not to get fully suffocated by the exhaust gases…

We brought all our food with us on the island and sometimes we were getting a meal on one of the diving charter boats anchoring in the bay and taking the opportunity to give a talk about the research we were conducting to the guests. These conditions don’t sound particularly nice but there are so many things to see here that we din’t even think about it.

This year was an El Nino year, the water was 3°c warmer than it should be and the sharks stayed well below the 40m thermocline, where the conditions are more stable for them. The visibility was not as good either. The sharks rarely visited the surface waters. Well, that’s just the cycle of nature, we had to deal with it, we had to be more opportunistic to tag the sharks as they were not staying very long after their curiosity in the boat and the freedivers was satisfied. Despite these difficult conditions and the usual problems you can face during expeditions in remote locations….we could eventually tag 14 great whites, four of them with a new generation tags that were deployed for the first time ever. These tags will bring groundbreaking informations about the social behavior of the great whites during their annual migration to Dr Mauricio Hoyos and Dr Yannis Papastamatiou, the leading scientist of the study .We were aiming specifically at male sharks to place these new tags.

Now we’ll have to wait next year for the second phase of the study and recover the precious data’s the tags will provide…..I can’t wait for next year’s expedition!!!!

We would like to thank Islander Charters, the owners Shane and John, the captain Jason and his amazingly professional crew who helped us a lot by giving us a ride to and back from Gudalupe as well as logistical support when they were at the island with their guests.

The post Expedition Guadalupe 2014 appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

Shark Week vs positive shark education

Fred — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 16:02:46 +0000

This morning offshore Faial, Azores, I took two childhood friends who never saw a shark before. I showed them the true nature of these animals. Now they will be shark’s supporters forever and had a glimpse at how fragile they are and the important role they have in the ecosystem! So instead of watching Shark Week which badly impact shark’s perception, go and have fun with them in the ocean!

The post Shark Week vs positive shark education appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

Great White Sharks 3D IMAX trailer

Fred — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:14:15 +0000

Here is the trailer of the upcoming IMAX 3D movie Great White Sharks by Yes/No Productions in which I appear together with William Winram during one of our tagging mission. The movie will show the true nature of these magnificent animals. Soon in an IMAX theater near you, stay tuned for more updates!

The post Great White Sharks 3D IMAX trailer appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

Freediving and great white sharks on IMAX 3D, shark tagging

Fred — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:14:33 +0000

Just back from two great white sharks expeditions. The first one to place acoustic tags on 10 individuals and the second one to shoot an IMAX 3D movie about them. William Winram and I were once again blessed to be able to work with these magnificent creatures, to contribute showing their true nature to the public and helping scientist to know more about them. Thanks to all the team and supporters involved in the projects.

The post Freediving and great white sharks on IMAX 3D, shark tagging appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

Whale sharks of Papua

Fred — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 08:06:06 +0000

Some images of my last trip to Cendrawasih Bay in Papua, we were there to shoot a sequence of a documentary produced by St Thomas Productions. The whale sharks are fed by fishermen to bring them good luck and that of course participate to conservation as the living shark means an higher income from tourism than a dead shark sold for its fins and meat. With cameramen Jean Charles Granjon and Benoit Demarle we had some magical moments. Everything shot in Red Epic and Red One of course!

The post Whale sharks of Papua appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

Freediving with great white sharks

Fred — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:41:28 +0000

Ocean Encounters team Fred Buyle and William Winram swimming, filming and taking pictures of great white sharks.

Freediving with Sharks

The post Freediving with great white sharks appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.

requins ile de la réunion/sharks réunion island, tagging attempt

Fred — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:58:21 +0000

Une photo d’assez mauvaise qualité prise par 35m de fond lors d’une tentative de marquage d’un requin bouledogue en baie de St Paul. Jusqu’à présent c’est la plus courte distance à laquelle nous avons pu les approcher…mais il manquait 50cm pour le marquer…c’est un mâle de 2m, il était accompagné par une énorme femelle et un autre mâle.

One low quality picture taken at 35m during an attempt to tag a bull shark in St Paul’s bay. So far it’s the closest we’ve been to the sharks….but still 50cm to short to tag it…He was with another huge female and an other male.

The post requins ile de la réunion/sharks réunion island, tagging attempt appeared first on Fred Buyle - Nektos.