Vol 1 #5

"The Leafy Sea Dragon Specialists"  

Contents Photo Competition Karen Gowlett-Holmes Research trips Local School takes the plunge Whale watching Next seasons trips Pacific trips for 2003

G’day from Kangaroo Island to all our friends where ever you may be.

We really hope you are well and that you are having fun.

Our diving season on Kangaroo Island is now closing off with onshore winds and it is cooling down.

Hope you enjoy this news letter

Photo Competition
And the winner is…Tony White from UK with a great shot of a juvenile Leafy Sea Dragon hatching.

On his second trip to Kangaroo Island in recent years Tony has been enchanted with the Leafy Sea Dragons.

This year he managed to photograph a number of these beautiful fish, however one just happened to be hatching and he was able to capture the sequence on film.

Interestingly enough it hatched head first, unusual as most hatch tail first and some just burst out.

Well done Tony.

Karen Gowlett –Holmes.
Karen, whom some of you may know has been involved in marine biology for many years.

Karen’s passion for marine life has seen her work for the South Australian Museum, CSIRO Marine Research (peak research body in Australia), and the Australian Maritime College.

Well known international photographers and writers such as David Doubilet, Fred Bavendam, David Hall, and many others have employed Karen to assist them in finding, identifying and learning about some of the seas’ most elusive creatures.

Karen will be our onboard marine biologist for a number of next seasons’ trips.

Karen is also an international award winning photographer, and some of her photos can be viewed HERE on our web site. Below is a small sample with some of these.

Over 300 samples were collected of which 50 or more are possibly new species.

One diver took over 1600 images on one trip alone.

A selection of the more exquisite ones are attached for you to see.

Some unusual nudibranchs, rare octopus, previously unknown soft coral, and some “living fossils”, brachiopods (lampshells) were found.

To quote Karen “ We have only seen the obvious so far. I am sure that what we have seen is less than half of what is here”.

During mid May we started a trip on the north coast of Kangaroo Island and then spent a week on lower York Peninsula, sheltering from the westerly winds.

Karen found three out of five species of angler fish (sometimes known as frog fish) known to exist in the area. The clients on the trip took as many photos as they could of these wonderful little creatures.

Adding to the delights of the trip were pinstriped squid, 3 different specie of octopi, ornate cow fish, seahorses, pipe fish, Australian giant cuttlefish, warty prow fish, black cowries (and some juvenile cowries with gold coloured shells)

Go to the following link to view our list of specimens collected during the marine invertebrate biodiversity survey off the Western River CP on Kangaroo Island.

The Principal, Gael Little, and staff are very excited to be involved in setting up the opportunity for the children to study the jewel that surrounds this island.

Kangaroo Island Diving Safaris with Karen Gowlett-Holmes and Kangaroo Island Marine Centre are co-operating with the school to help facilitate this project.

We are swapping regulators for binoculars for a short time whilst winter blows hard on our shores.

This is the season for whales in the area and we have secured a whale watching permit.

Southern Right and occasional Hump Backs are frequent visitors.

Same contact details,

Look forward to seeing you there.

· November 17th-23rd , research trip – , North Coast KI. with Karen Gowlett-Holmes. Expect; sea dragons, nudibranch, prowfish, seals, sealions, dolphins, rays, unusual little creatures.

· January 28-Feb 2nd Tony White ( multi award winning photographer) is leading a photo trip North Coast KI.
Expect sea dragons, sealions, seals, nudibranch, dolphins, rays

· Feb 16th to 22nd North Coast KI to Gambier Islands then to Sir Joseph Banks Group of islands in southern Spencer Gulf, finishing in Port Lincoln. (with Karen Gowlett- Holmes)
Expect; seadragons, sealions, lots of unusual fish and invertebrates in the warmer waters of southern Spencer Gulf, bird rookeries, and uninhabited islands only visited by boaties.

· Feb 24th to March 2nd From Port Lincoln, to Sir Joseph Banks Group of islands, Gambier Islands ,North Coast Kangaroo Island. With Karen Gowlett –Holmes
Expect to see as above

· March 24th to March 30th North Coast KI and Southern York Peninsula, finishing in Adelaide.
Expect; Sea dragons, seahorses, frog fish, nudibranch, cuttlefish, pinstriped squid.
With Karen assisting on this trip you are *100% guaranteed sightings of angler fish.

· March 31st to April 5th Starting in Adelaide, Southern York Peninsula, north coast KI, finishing on KI. Expect: same as above .

· 100% Guaranteed sightings. If we cannot show you an angler fish on this trip you will get another trip free of charge.

· June and July 2003
Tony White photo expedition to Micronesia.
Tony will be leading two trips in this region.
Brief outline
14 day trip Starting from Pohnpei, visiting outlying Islands and atolls and communities who are rarely visited, including Nukuororo, Sapwaufic, Ant, completing this trip in Chuuk ( Truuk) Lagoon
Two days in Chuuk , before returning via the same route to Pohnpei 14 days later.
Maximum group size 10 passengers.
Please contact us for further details

· August 2003 , PNG, Bougainville, Solomons

· September 2003 Vanuatu, and New Caledonia.

· November 2003 Kangaroo Island

Please contact us for any details or information you may need

Look forward to seeing you in the coming months

Best Wishes

Jim and Josie Thiselton

Email:   kids@kin.net.au
Website:  http://kidivingsafaris.com
Postal Address:   RSD 451 Kingscote    South Australia     5223
Phone/fax:   +61  8  8559 3225