New dates announced: 13-20 May 2021Get ready for an evening of inspiration, adventure and discovery.  Now in its third year, the Underwater Tour team have curated a stellar international line-up of underwater photographers for 2020’s touring speaker event series.Aaron Wong (Singapore), Dr Janet Lanyon (Brisbane) and Dr Richard Smith (UK) are setting out on the road together to showcase their extraordinary images live on stage and share stories of marine scien...

On the verandah of their beachfront chalet a family are enjoying morning coffee. In front of them a mother turtle has just laid fifty or so eggs in a deep chamber she dug furiously an hour earlier. In between audible sighs of exhaustion she’s back-filling the holeA turtle completes its nesting cycle at dawn. Most turtles come up to nest on or near hig...

Eastern Indonesia is a bottleneck between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The largest surface currents on Earth, thousands of islands, deep ocean basins, diverse topography and bathymetry create a complex and rich environment. These factors determine the likelihood of animal abundance because they combine here, on a scale like nowhere else on our planet, it makes this region one of the most important for driving ocean-climate linked biodiversity processes (Chapter 3). This makes Eastern Indone...

Every year, the largest animals that ever lived on Earth, migrate from Australia's cool southern ocean waters to tropical eastern Indonesia.This fact was only discovered relatively recently after Australian researchers tagged animals off Western Australia.  “Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between...

A Weddell seal appears to be in a deep sleep. Lying on fast ice (ice attached to land) off Larsen Harbour, South Georgia, it was relatively safe from its predators – killer whales and leopard seals – and so could relax and digest. Weddell seals reach lengths of up to 3.5 metres–with the females larger than the males , their bodies are covered in a layer of blubber to keep them warm above and below the icy waters of the Southern Ocean. (Black and white category). Photograph: Ralf Sch...

Built by Wall Street millionaires in the 1930s, SeaCloud celebrates its 90th birthday next year. SeaCloud II was built more recently with all the style of the original ship but the technical features of a modern ship. SeaCloud offer a range of departures from port-to-port journeys in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, to actual sailing adventures across the Atlantic ... something to suit anyone. Contact us now for advice on these incredibly beautiful and unique departures.

Losing her heart on the savannah, Susan Bredow marvels at all East Africa has to offer.It’s taking some time to find a suitable picnic spot for lunch. Three lionesses lying low through the midday heat are in the first chosen place beside a small pond.We let them be and drive on until our guide stops in the shade of a balanite tree. He’s looking up for some time before he unpacks.“I set up one day with the table laid and everything ready when a guest not...

A couple of days ago an eagerly-awaited piece of research was published about the behavioural effects of whale swims on Humpback Whales in Tonga. It revealed two key findings. FINDING #1Average diving time and the proportion of time spent diving in the presence of swimming activities increased significantly for mother-calf pairsWhat this means is cows and calves spend less tim...

Twenty years ago the number of Humpback Whales off Australia's east coast was as little as a quarter of the estimated 33,000 that now make the journey from Antarctica each year. Some experts estimate the population may have almost recovered from the impact of whaling. So it's great news our generation can enjoy seeing whales off Victoria's coastline once again.Winter is also a great time to get to the coast. The wind is fresh and the air is clean, the ocean is lively and there are...

It's that time of year again. Humpback Whales are passing our coastline and the next two weekends are the peak for seeing them as they head north from their Antarctic feeding grounds (now shrouded in darkness). Two Bays Whale ProjectThe Two Bays Whale Project is a citizen science program aiming to better understand whale movements within Port Phillip, Western Port and the nearby waters of Victoria. The project (

EagleCAM is a live remote feed that has been operating since 2009 out of the BirdLife Discovery Centre in the Armory at Sydney Olympic Park close to the Parramatta River. In March before the Eagles started their nest renovations a small dedicated team of EagleCAM volunteers worked for over two weeks  (over 450 man hours) upgrading the system. All cables were removed and relayed, new power cables added and obsolete cables removed. All computers upgraded, new remote control devices added a...

How do I get there?Raja Ampat is accessed via Sorong, a city situated on the far western tip of Indonesian West Papua. Sorong is a quite peaceful city although it's growing quite fast. The airport is quite small but on arrival we always make sure you're greeted by someone. Getting to Sorong is either via Makassar or Jakarta. How do I get around?There are 1,800 islands in Raja Ampat. It's safe to say, you c...

Raja Ampat is the centre of our planet's blue heart. One thousand eight hundred reef-fringed islands lie in the path of the Pacific Ocean Throughflow current. The density of life here is like nothing you've seen before.There are many who would travel to a place like this and barely break the surface of what there is to understand and learn. There are many more who miss the regency's largest residents. Whales and dolphins are, to Raja Ampat, like grazing wildebee...

Did you grow up like me? Watching Sir David Attenborough, wanting to see African animals up close and personal, and to narrate their lives in a clear, authoritative and enthusiastic way? Oh, and to wear a dapper safari outfit?Well this year, my girlfriend and I got that opportunity and, barring the narration, we got everything we dreamed of and so much more.As we were on final approach to Hoedspruit Airport, exhausted from all our travel, I was looking through the window of the...

By Chris SawyerHanggar meets us with a warm smile and we know we are in good hands. His English is very good and he communicates a passion for conservation as he explains the itinerary for the day and we set off. Being on first name terms with the local people, he’s treated like a family member. We can ask many questions and feel like we’re in the heart of a real community for conservation. Everywhere there are good news stories to be told by the local people who are happy...