Great Barrier Reef WARNING LOTS OF PHOTOS! - Page 14

Dyepes · #**326** 09/02/2007, 11:51 PM

I sent you a pm edr42, but I assume your box may be full or just some error happend. If you do have the original higher resolution image still, I would love to get it.

You can email them to me here

Shoreliner11 · #**327** 09/11/2007, 07:26 PM

Great pics. All the pics from Orpheus make me miss it alot. I'm jealous of the vis you had in most of these pics. It wasn't very good last time I was there.

armagedon48 · #**328** 09/13/2007, 05:45 PM

amazing photos, i wish i could be there in person! thankyou for shareing, looking forward for more

slapshot · #**329** 09/22/2007, 07:27 AM

Simply amazing work, thank you.

FishBait · #**330** 09/22/2007, 11:45 AM

It's funny, I sit here and look over this thread every week during lunch at work. I'm not 50' from a 236K gallon tank and am looking at the ocean right now through my window...yet I everything I want to see is on my screen! It's also fantastic to hear how well the reefs are doing there.

dtaylor123 · #**331** 09/27/2007, 12:40 PM

Wow! You brought insight into the GBR for me. Who ever is in charge of keeping the GBR healthy also needs to have the same power over the rest the worlds reefs. Absolutely beautiful!

Dan

mskohl · #**332** 09/27/2007, 12:57 PM

The starfish you posted a picture of looks kinda like the Crown of Thorns Star on the t.v. documentaries.

When you see it, do you see a path of destruction behind it? They supposedly can wipe out an entire area of all it's corals. I think they eat the tissue right off the skeleton.

Do you have any pictures of this?

BTW, I love that pink and green coral in the last set of pics.

barrman · #**333** 09/27/2007, 04:12 PM

thank you for sharing all these awesome photos!!

josephatmbibank · #**334** 09/27/2007, 05:05 PM

Wish I could go one day!

edr42 · #**335** 09/27/2007, 05:20 PM

mskohl, yes that is indeed a crown of thorns. I saw a maybe 3 or 4 over 10 dives, so the population is not prolific. There was so sign whatsoever of any coral destruction in its wake, all reefers know how insanely fast corals can grow in the right conditions, so any destruction these things cause is totally insignificant.

They eat by extruding their stomach lining over their prey (coral polyps) and digesting the food before absorbing it.
You must remember that these critters are as much a part of the reef ecosystem as parrotfish, angelfish or butterfly fish, and if you actually take a close look at one one day, they are quite fascinating.

dtaylor123, the guys who run the GBR marine park would appreciate your support. One of my lecturers was in charge of the zonation planning, and got everything from death threats to public condemnation for increasing the protection level.

I'm hoping to make a day trip to the S.S.Yongala wreck, and another 4 day reef/yongala trip in the next week or two. But my camera woes are far from over. Still need at least $1500 for a new set up, and all my savings just went into car repairs.
So it looks like there won't be any photos from these trips. Might be December before i can afford anything, and by then i'll be back down in Sydney.

mskohl · #**336** 09/27/2007, 08:40 PM

Thanks for the info on the starfish. I'm in Oklahoma and have only gotten to go snorkeling once while in Hawaii (and we were too new to realise we were in a too populated area). All I've seen is on the documentaries and they make it seem like total devastation. Nothing like a real-life observation.

Good luck with the camera situation. We'll miss the pics for sure.

daniloronchi · #**337** 09/28/2007, 02:04 AM

Wonderful... wonderful... wonderful... I'haven't words to thanks you!!!

Amazing!!!

Thanks for sharing!!!

ezcompany · #**338** 09/28/2007, 02:54 AM

can't wait to see pics of your next trip

melev · #**339** 09/29/2007, 08:30 PM

How much to repair your broken camera?

edr42 · #**340** 09/29/2007, 08:55 PM

Hey melev,
Camera is unrepairable, they stopped making the model a few years ago, and it's just worn out.
All the lens gears are falling apart, the electronics have regular fits, and lines were starting to apperar on photos under low light.
I checked to see if they could repair it, and it would have cost far more than a new camera to get it done, if it could be repaired at all.

All in all it's just worn out. It did pretty well over its lifetime.

What i'm looking at now is the canon powershot G9. The other alternatives are only around $100 cheaper, so it makes sense to go for one that will be useful for quite a while when shelling out $1,500.

This is really crap timing to be needing to pull money out of thin air with all these dive trips coming up, and with no camera as well.
A friend of mine at uni (from florida) has a relative high up at the National Geographic, and i was hoping to send some photos from these upcoming trips over to see what they think, but it looks like i'm gonna be caught short with money and time.

Ah well, such is life.

I was also hoping to post some updated tank photos ( it's finally looking really good!).
I guess you guys will just have to hang tight until i figure something out.

In the meantime, thanks for all the comments, and i'll see what photos i have lying around to keep everyone interested until i have some new ones.

melev · #**341** 09/29/2007, 09:03 PM

Too bad. I hate to think about all that dive time without our resident photographer working for us.

edr42 · #**342** 10/10/2007, 08:28 PM

S.S. Yongala trip on Sunday! But no camera yet.

I'll dredge up some older photos to keep things ticking over until the new camera gets here.

On a side note, my GBTA split today.

tor101898 · #**343** 10/11/2007, 08:39 AM

did you get the G9?

vsnph · #**344** 10/11/2007, 11:26 AM

Good Day !!!

Great thread indeed !!!!

Just wondering though, until when will you be researching on that wonderful part of the AU ?

Apon · #**345** 10/11/2007, 05:45 PM

Great Pics! I am surprised people have not offered to donate a small amount to help you buys your new camera in return for the continued pics. If a bunch of us just donated like $5-10, that wouldn't be so bad. In return you could send us our favorite pics files in high quality so we can print them out. What do you think? If you like the idea I would donate a few bucks to continue the see these pics.

skinz78 · #**346** 10/12/2007, 12:39 AM

Truely awesome pic's. I am sooo jealous of you, it would be too hard for me not to pack critters home with me if I were you.

I'm sure if you need we all could chip in to help you replace your camera?

Keep up the good work.

Chris

edr42 · #**347** 10/13/2007, 11:05 AM

Hey guys,
I'm in anguish at the moment as my S.S.Yongala trip was cancelled today at the last minute due to a high wind warning.

grrrr, oh how i wish i could control the weather!

Anyway, i'm flattered that you guys would be willing to pitch in towards a new camera.

Any donations would be rewarded with full resolution jpegs of the image(s) of your choice.

So how about this:

Anyone who feels like donating can do so via paypal (edroberts@optusnet.com.au).

All donators should send me a pm or post on this thread which image(s) they would like in return.

I will then email full resolution copys of the chosen images.

Anyone who is generous enough to donate can also have their pick of any other images which i post in the future.

I hope to give you guys many more marine adventures in the future!

vsnph: thanks for the kind words, i'll be up here for at least another year, probably more like 4 or 5. But i will never move far from the ocean, and hopefully i will just get a job that allows me to indulge that passion.

vsnph · #**348** 10/15/2007, 09:19 AM

vsnph: thanks for the kind words, i'll be up here for at least another year, probably more like 4 or 5. But i will never move far from the ocean, and hopefully i will just get a job that allows me to indulge that passion. [/B][/QUOTE]

Good day !!!

Wow !!! Thats good to hear !

That means we can see more great pic's from your tank (GBR ) ! Hope you wont be fed up posting them !

Thanks !!!!

Stoney Mahony · #**349** 10/16/2007, 11:47 AM

Awesome thread, awesome pics! So..... I have to ask.....Seen any Great Whites out there on any of your research trips? Sorry but I had to ask!

Again, unreal man.

edr42 · #**350** 10/18/2007, 10:43 AM

Thanks Stoney Mahony.
Never seen any Great Whites out on the reef, they are a cold water species and don't venture this far up the coast.
I have seen one small (7-8 feet) great white off Jervis Bay, which is 3 hours south of Sydney. They largely keep to themselves though. They are very sleek and powerful critters.

Camera Fund has kicked off, running total is at 1.53%, only 98.47% to go.

Hopefully it will all come together in time to make it out to the reef before i head back down to Sydney. Although i will go and visit Bluey again when i'm back down south, so there will be photos no matter where i am.