In January 2011 Jon Shaw and I flew to Port Lincoln to spend a day photographing Yellowtail Kingfish for Clean Seas in their aquaculture pens south of Port Lincoln prior to going on a liveaboard trip with Rodney Fox Expeditions.  Australian aquaculture pioneer, Clean Seas also catch, grow and harvest Mulloway and Southern Bluefin Tuna but their pens only contained Kingfish while we were there. And it was their Kingfish that Clean Seas wanted us to film and photograph.

Prior to our dives in their aquaculture pens, we were treated to some dolphins swimming around our boat, Arcoin, and a snorkel with sea lions which produced close encounters with a mother and some younger pups.

But then it was time to get serious. Aquaculture Pen 27 near Boston Island proved to be about 50 metres in circumference and 12 metres deep and Jon and I took it in turns to drop into it, Jon going first. For this dive we wore standard scuba gear including fins but not a BCD or a tank, instead we had a harness with a very small tank and an AGA mask. This is a full-face scuba diving mask with communications, similar to a fireman’s mask.  Unfortunately mine got pretty fogged up! We jumped out of the boat onto two very slippery PVC tubes about a foot in diameter which moved with the swell, then had to leap over four feet high plastic fencing into the pen while avoiding the low lying netting suspended over the pen to protect the Kingfish from predatory birds. And all the time we were still tethered to Arcoin via our air and communications feeds. To successfully to do this it helps to be young, athletic and coordinated.  Despite this Jon succeeded. I did not. My fins slipped on the wet moving PVC tubes just as I launched myself at the fencing. Shamefaced I disappeared below the swell on the outside of the net. My second attempt was fortunately successful. After taking some shots of the Kingfish in surprisingly poor visibility, I joined Jon aboard Arcoin. We had been on the boat since 8.00 a.m. and with the level of professionalism you would expect from us, had not brought food, water or sunscreen.

Arcoin moved a short distance to Pen 28 which Jon and I dived together. Jon’s company, ginclearfilm, is a Sydney based multi award winning boutique video production offering among many services HD underwater videography training. Entering the water gently and silently, without so much as a ripple is key to Jon’s videography students ensuring their intended subject is not disturbed – check out the image “Jon slips effortlessly into the water” for an insight into Jon’s highly unusual technique. 

Arcoin docked at 7.00pm. I was thirsty, hungry and sunburnt. But is ever the case when in Jon’s company, had hugely enjoyed another fabulous and unusual days diving.