Andre Crone

The Antarctic continent is the last continent many people would think of when planning a dive trip. Its cold harsh conditions don’t sound too appealing for the average holiday diver. For other divers going to Antarctica is a dream come true. The dive sites are almost unexplored. There is a lot that you could possibly see during a trip to this coldest continent. Penguins, ice bergs, fur seals, leopard seals, ice fishes are just waiting for you. We had the opportunity to visit this incredible part of the world. What we experienced this trip was more than we ever could have imagined.

It’s our first evening in the south of Tasmania and we are surprised by all kinds of animals around our bungalow. We just cannot believe how many animals we see around here. Our bungalow is not standing in the middle of in the bush. But nevertheless so many wallabies (small kangaroos) and wombats gather around our house. We have become one with nature immediately. Nature we could not have imagined being so beautiful. But besides the airport and our little bungalow we have not yet seen anything of Tasmania yet.

For divers in tropical waters feather stars are a common sight. Almost all around the world feather stars bring colour to the under water environment. Despite its nice colours divers normaly do not pay too much attention to these animals. We are more likely to pay attention to all the fish around us; search for the bog animals and leave the feather stars on its own. We think of it as less interesting animals. But this means that we will miss a number of surprising meetings.

Waking up to our last day of diving in Tofo Beach and we almost have to pinch ourselves. It is another beautiful sunrise over the Indian Ocean, with the sound of the waves gently breaking on the beach just in front of our chalet, and still one more day of diving to go. Yes, we had heard the stories, had seen the photos and watched the DVDs, but until we were here it was hard for us to believe it could be true. But here we were - one week of diving behind us and already we had had close encounters with more than seventy Manta Rays and twelve Whale Sharks!