On Wed, 27 Nov 2002 Reef Fish <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>On Tue, 26 Nov 2002 Krazy Kiwi Viv <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>This Sunday I will be joined by a group of co-workers in support of
>>the 'Save the Ningaloo Reef' rally at the Fremantle Esplanade.
>
>Viv, I have always admired your zeal (and energy) in participating in
>so many similar events to help preserve/save what's left of our
>Good Old Earth!

Sadly the energy levels are not as high as when I was a youngin' but you
have to be seen & heard en masse these days to get the message across to
the govt of the day.

I'm happy to say the number of people who turned up for the rally exceeded
even my expectations. In fact I'm sure I can safely say it is the biggest
rally ever seen in Perth yet. The media guesstimate there were around
+10,000 protesters at the Fremantle Esplanade for the speeches and I'm
pretty sure lots of others joined us during our protest march around the
streets of Freo as the line seemed never ending.  I then walked out to the
port area to check how long the queue was for the opening day of our new
Maritime Museum and seeing it would be over an hours wait began to walk
back to my car.  The protest march was still making its way back to the
esplanade for a free concert.

While I was folding up my placard that said 'Heritage list Ningaloo Reef'
to put in the boot of the car a group of businessmen passed by.  One of the
smartalecs jumped out at me & sarcastically said "out of curiosity have you
ever been to the Ningaloo Reef?".  No second guesses that this guy was on
the side of the developer.  Put him back in his box quicksmart with the
response "Yes, many times. Have dived there on a regular basis. Involved
with various research projects at Coral Bay and helped out with a book
about the Ningaloo Reef. Know very well the owners of the major holiday
village at Coral Bay & also know the majority of the locals by their first
names, do you?".  He quickly scuttled off sideways like a crab before I had
time to really glare at him & ready my claws.  I really hate it that the
developers & their mates think we all are just renta-crowd ring-ins.

>I couldn't help but find some "wicked humor" (as you sometimes called
>yours) in what you said.  :-)

The world needs lots more "humo(u)r"  ... wicked or not ;-)

>>Some folk are dressing up as Ninja turtles in support of the turtle
>>breeding project that volunteers help out with at Maud's Landing.
>
>Any Chinese in your club?  A "son of a turtle" is about the most
>derogative thing you could call a Chinese.   :-)))  So, they may
>not take it kindly to the sons of your Ninja turtles. <BWG>

'Son of a Bitch is' normally the first phrase that would pass by my lips
but, forewarned is forarmed .. ain't gonna insult any of my chinese
friends.

>>My work collegues suggested my group dress up as mermaids .. yeah
>>sure .. just look at us, all shapes & sizes .. would look like a
>>pod of dugongs instead ;-)
>
>Yeah, but your dugongs and our manatees were supposed to have looked
>sooooo good to the sailors who had been at sea for a long time that
>they thought the dugongs and manatees were mermaids.  :-))

Yeah, but they were at sea for a looooooong time so the sailors hanging
around Freo at the moment would more than likely need to be drunk-as-skunks
to hit on our group.

>Buggers!!  We could have done that on Strike's Reef, and a wet t-shirt
>competition (I brought everyone at least one <G>) among you, Sylvia,
>Helen, Cynthia, and Simone would have been a loverly event to remember,
>even without Sylvia's GIFT.   :--)))

Missed that opportunity didn't ya ... Never mind ;-)

>>Myself I was quite intrigued by the indigo hamlet and just loved the
>>colours & markings of the spotted drum, queen angelfish & queen
>>triggerfish.
>
>I resemble that remark, when I dived the Coral Sea!
>
>Besides the zillions of Pacific ARF (Assorted Reef Fish) that are so
>different from our Caribbean ARF, the clownfish, lionfish, giant
>clams, Potato Cods,  etc., etc., the equivalent intrigue factor of
>the Queen Angelfish & Queen Triggerfish to your WAUP club Aussies,
>are the "Regal Anglefish" and the "Titan Triggerfish" to THIS Feeesh. :-)

Yep. The first time I encountered a very large but unusually friendly Titan
Triggerfish was in the Solomons. At that time I was not aware how vicious
they can be during the breeding period .. which was fortunate as we were
both circling each other at arms length eyeballing each other off.
When I encountered them on Sipadan Island it was a totally different
situation. We were doing the triggerfish-tango trying to avoid being
seriously chomped on as Ma & Pa Trigger were on full alert to dive bomb
everyone. One of the Italians in my dive group was bitten right down to the
bone on her little finger.

>That is the GOOD (vely, vely good <G>) part of my TAKA II trip, which
>I have yet to write up, hoping I could find some way to stick some PIX
>in my report.
<snip of the kiwi shears>

So, any luck getting a "template" for a dive report webpage?
I think I need something like that .. but I need to pull my finger out &
get some pics scanned first. Looks like I will be busy on the office slide
scanner during the holiday break to catch up on the backlog of my better
pics as my web page has not been updated since the Coz99NEDfest. It's
always been a tomorrow job .. slack aye :-(
Viv