Last but not least NECO Marine and some of their staff. Without their effort and helpfullness this wouldn't have been possible.

Divecenter

Shallum Etpison (Owner of NECO Marine) and Herbert

Good Bye Party:

Marcel, Marcus and Selina

Bert and Edwin, the youngest spearfisher in Palau

Hennie, Marcus and Billy

PALAU. For sure not the last time for Herbert, Marcus and Wolfgang

We'll be back

Don't forget to watch Wolfgang's Blog about his life in the Philippines

http://wolfgangdafert.spaces.live.com/

Bye,

Wolfgang, Marcus and Herbert

Marcus preparing his speargun the night before

Herbert "repairing" his videocamera for hunting videos

Fortunately he got 2 cameras!

Herberts new floating device for the big ones

Catch of the day

"He is holding my fish" ;-)

Sashimi

TOMORROW: Spearfishing Video - Recorded with Herberts New Helmet Camera !!!

Local Palauan Newspaper

Herberts Introduction to Freediving

Marcus laying at the pool doing a breathing exercise demonstration

Spearhunting again. This time just Herbert, Marcus and Wolfgang.

Remember Hennie who told us sharks only go for tunas?

He was wrong!

Wolfgang hit a nice big barracuda and a big silvertip shark ate the tuna on the spear within seconds. Herbert even had a closer encounter. The same Silvertip Shark attacked not his fish (also no tuna), but Herbert himself. He had to kick the shark with his foot to defend himself.

Wolfgang, Herbert and Boatman

"Shark Kicker" Herbert ;-)

Marcus and his beloved ones

Herbert tested a new underwater videocamera housing produced by Tryguns. Because of its compact size it is specially suited for freediving.

 UW HOUSING

The housing can be used hand-held or mounted to a costum made helmet.

1st testing of the helmet in the pool

 Let's Go!

Turtle Close "Close Up"

Back at the NECO Marine Divecenter we showed the camera housing and also some of the footage taken.

Hennie with the camera helmet

BLOG Tomorrow:

Video result of the Turtle Close Close Up

and more nice videos

Herbert and his team got invited to freedive with Dolphins at Dolphins Pacific

Dolphin trainer Billy is briefing us

Dolphin with leaves

Dolphins are smart? Well, not all the time. The Dolphins at Dolphin Pacific eat leaves. But they cannot digest them, and get major health problems. So the dolphins have been trained to bring leaves to the trainers in exchange of fish.

Hennie from NECO Marine is inviting Herbert, Marcus and Wolfgang to go spearfishing with him.

In Palau, the social status of your family rises if one of the family member is a good spear hunter.

Unlike in other countries, where people eat fish, but spearhunting is not welcomed.

Bringing our Spearguns to the Divecenter

Hennie inspecting our guns

Herbert holding a local tuna gun

The local's use a different hunting technique than we do. We have the spear attached with a long line to our gun. Palauan's attach their spear to big floats, so the big fishes cannot drag you down.

Dog Tooth Tuna with a shark bite

We did a lot of diving with sharks so far. Watching them. Making Pictures. Even Chasing them. No Problem at all.

But as soon as you hit a fish with your speargun everything changes, all fish react panic and stressed. Espescially the sharks. And when they are hungry its a problem for the hunter. When hennie brought his tuna up, which was still alive the shark was attacking the tuna. Hennie told us that this can only happen when you go for tuna. 

Another Tuna - sashimi style - only biting it alive in the sea is fresher.

Coming home that day Herbert was doing a freediving introduction with some local spearfishermen. He showed Pictures, Videos and gave introduction all about freediving.

Herbert doing a freediving introduction

Marcus, that evening on the hunt again

One of the most famous divesites in Palau is called Blue Corner.

At Blue Corner it can happen that you have difficulties finding no shark.

1 shark

Lot's of sharks

And sometimes it's just ... " ... too much fish! We have to do something against it!" (Quote Marcus)

"Too much fish"

Herbert

After diving: Playing in the NECO Marine Pool

Herbert with Marcel and Selina (Scuba Guides for NECO Marine)

Right now there seems to be a problem with posting BLOGS on Microsoft livespaces.

Tomorrow i will try again.

 Seaside arrival to the jellyfish-lake

"Jellyfish Lake is quite simply one of the most unique places on the planet! A huge lake filled to the top with aprox. 13 million non-stinging jellies (actually they do sting, but the sting is so reduced you barely notice it)." (Source: NECO Marine)

1 jellyfish

1000000 jellyfish

On the way back

 Back at the Divecenter NECO Marine

 Arrival in Palau

 Herbert and Wolfgang - Manager of the Cliffside Hotel

Lobby

Selina from NECO Marine, our guide for the first day

Marcus with his invisible speargun

Marcus checking giant clamps for dinner

after diving drink at the Drop Off Bar

Worldrecord Freediver Herbert Nitsch was invited by NECO Marine to come to Palau.

 One of the many islands of Palau

Palau is located 800km east of the Philippines.

Google Earth Link: Google Earth Placemark of Palau

It is said to be one of the best diving locations on this planet.

But before going to Palau Herbert Nitsch and Marcus Schrauder visited their Austrian friend Wolfgang Dafert who lives and works as a Scuba Diving and Freediving instructor in the Philippines.

Wolfgang, Marcus and Herbert

Lot's of pictures and stories of their week in the Philippines can be found on Wolfgang's BLOG http://wolfgangdafert.spaces.live.com (German only)

After this nice "intro" Marcus and Wolfgang joined Herbert to Palau for doing safety, support and PR.

NEW BLOG ENTRIES at least every 2nd DAY!