Welcome to stories about my life.
Click one of the 8 chapter categories below to begin.
The site contains random thoughts that aren't ordered by importance.
The all time top events are my
marriage to Jo
and the births of
Pip and James.
Expeditions and Museum fishes
Tales of research ships, rough blue water encounters, and pulling up entirely undiscovered marine life.
Childhood memories
What it was like growing up in a different era, long before laptops or smartphones existed.
Delving into Art
Some of my driftwood sculptures, drawings and paintings.
My Digital Playground
Inside my personal sandbox of designing scripts, automated tools, and interactive puzzle games.
Close calls
The nail-biting moments, field hazards, and lucky escapes where things nearly went sideways.
Just wacky
The odd, funny, and flat-out bizarre events that I've experienced.
iNaturalist and nature
The wonderful natural world and delving into citizen science.
Travel
A selection of my travels, incredible scenery and cultures.
Expeditions and Museum fishes — Story Index
Pip on a museum fieldtrip
View Story →
Diving on a volcano
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Exploding meteor
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jjj crystal clear
jjj crystal clear
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jjj FNQ
jjj FNQ
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Goblin Shark
Goblin Shark
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Sydney Harbour Survery
Sydney Harbour Survery
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Kermadec Islands
Kermadec Islands
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Memories / Expeditions and Museum fishes
Diving on a volcano
Diving in disputed waters on a volcano
This Matthew Island an uninhabited volcano in the South Pacific, 300 kilometres east of New Caledonia and south-east of Vanuatu. I spent a few days here aboard the Braveheart in 2017. It is a stunning place that is a French territory although there is a dispute over ownership. Diving here was amazing. Sometimes we dived on the underwater slopes of the island and other dives were on a sandy bottom. Incredibly we watched volcanic gas bubble up through the sand. At one time an airplane flew laps around us and the island. We were contacted by radio from the plane asking us what we were doing. Whoever replied didn't answer with the appropriate seriousness whereupon the plane let us know that they were French officials and put in a report stating that we were in French territorial waters without permission. We'd actually received permission from the Vanuatu government but the incident caused quite a kerfuffle.
✍️ Author Workspace & Story Manager
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