Google+

Nicholas

About Nicholas

Nicholas has always intended to work under the oceans and become a voice for marine conservation. He has a graduate degree in Marine Biology & Oceanography and is an experienced PADI scuba diving instructor. He lived and worked in Egypt as an instructor and dive guide until 2014, when he then moved to work in South Africa with Kathryn. His passions are educating others about marine life and sharing with them the beauty of the oceans, from the smallest critters to the larger well known species. He likes nothing more than teaching people of all ages to scuba dive and is a keen photographer and videographer.

Unfamiliar is Scary

This I feel is much of the reason why people fear sharks. This is why Kathryn and I set up Friends for Sharks and why we took the route we did – educating people on what sharks are really like, to enable people to gain some familiarity with these incredible animals. Are they dangerous? Well […]

By |May 3rd, 2017|Blog|Comments Off on Unfamiliar is Scary

Shark cage diving – how risky is it?

 

 

Well to my mind it was only a matter of time until a white shark found its way in to a shark cage. Twice in a month surprises me, but as others have mentioned you can never be absolutely certain of anything when dealing with wild animals in their own territory. Our main hope is […]

By |October 14th, 2016|Blog|Comments Off on Shark cage diving – how risky is it?

Diving Thailand

Our last trip blog for the Friends for Sharks 2015 World Tour focuses on diving with Projects Abroad in Thailand at the tourist hot-spot of Ao Nang – well known for its stunning beaches, beautiful island groups, warm water, coral reefs and cliff climbing.

Projects Abroad conduct 3 days of survey diving per week alternating between […]

By |February 15th, 2016|Blog|Comments Off on Diving Thailand

Projects in Thailand

The last stop on our World Tour for Sharks was Thailand. Again we were working alongside Projects Abroad and from their site near Ao Nang we had easy access to diving, beaches and the nearby town of Krabi for school work and Mangrove projects.

We’ve explained the importance of Mangroves in a previous blog. Interestingly, unlike […]

By |February 2nd, 2016|Blog|Comments Off on Projects in Thailand

Working for Cambodia

We spent 3 weeks with Projects Abroad in Cambodia and while they have had a marine conservation project in the region for a number of years, the current operation on Koh Sdach has only been running for a year. It takes a while for any such organisation to find its feet in a culture that […]

By |January 8th, 2016|Blog|Comments Off on Working for Cambodia

Diving Cambodia

The waters off Cambodia are shallow and warm, with many rivers bringing nutrients to the Gulf of Thailand and creating ideal conditions for coral reefs to prosper. Intense fishing pressures from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam have reduced what were probably huge fish populations though there is still much to interest SCUBA divers. With average annual […]

By |November 16th, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Diving Cambodia

Experiencing Cambodia

Spending 3 weeks with Projects Abroad on the Island of Koh Sdach at their marine conservation site may not sound like an opportunity to explore much of what Cambodia has to offer. Little could be further from the truth; so long as you allow yourself to try things.

 
First up was getting to the coast from […]

By |November 14th, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Experiencing Cambodia

Surveying Fiji

Whilst we have now been at the Projects Abroad Marine Project in Cambodia for a week, the loss of our laptops to hardware failure have delayed some of our blogs. Here is the last one from Fiji:

As discussed in the ‘Meet BRUV!’ blog, part of the role of a volunteer with Projects Abroad in Fiji […]

By |November 7th, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Surveying Fiji

Meet BRUV!

What at first glance might look a bit like an enormous shiny spider crab is actually a growing phenomenon in underwater species distribution research. BRUV stands for Baited Remote Underwater Video and they’re being deployed in various locations around the globe for a number of research projects. Here in Fiji, Projects Abroad are using them […]

By |October 7th, 2015|Blog|Comments Off on Meet BRUV!

Shark tagging in Fiji

Fiji is well known for its shark diving tourism and boasts a considerable number of species of these amazing creatures. Visitors from around the world travel for thousands of miles to experience the incredible spectacle of sharks swarming around them. Bull sharks are a highlight with Tawney Nurse sharks, White and Black Tip Reefs, Grey […]

By |October 5th, 2015|Blog|1 Comment