So make sure you check back in early 2013 … I will be giving away a few canvases and prints to celebrate my new site

Dan

OceanArtwork.com is currently closed for long overdue maintenance and upgrading please come back and check in again soonj

One of the great things about that is when the conditions are right, I can  just grab my housing and walk out the front door in my wetsuit and shoot a few … pretty cool

These are some of the little beach breaks out the front yesterday 20th June 2010.

These shots are from a few weeks ago when Dave was building the flowrider boards.

Dave produces a wide range of surfcraft that come from his factory at Tweed Heads.

You can see Diverse shapes at their showroom at Tugun on the Gold Coast highway or check out Dave’s site here

We found a nice little bank in front of the Surf Club at Fingal, it was pretty small but the water temperature was great and crystal clear. I got a few nice shots of some tiny tubes as well as a few of the boys…
But it was a shame it wasn’t just a touch bigger

Chris Stanton turned up and had a go on several of the boards Dave had brought along.

Daves board brand is Diverse, you can find them at Tugun or on their web site www.diversesurf.com.au
the sequence of Jason Gale at Rainbow bay on the home page was taken by me about a year ago.

There was plenty of whale action and even a very new calf … that was possibly only a few days old.

Here’s a  few of the best shots from the day.
You can see more of the photos from the day by clicking here

Carol gets pretty excited when she sees any humpback whale. So she was ecstatic when she heard that Migaloo was spotted off Port Macquarie on Sunday the 28th June.

According to Tony and Carols calculations that meant Migaloo would be off the Gold Coast around Tuesday or Wednesday.

They were pretty much spot on because the ‘big white fella’ (aboriginal meaning for Migaloo) was spotted off Evans Head on Monday then again off Ballina late Tuesday afternoon.
I was out on the Whale watching charter with them on Tuesday morning and got some nice tail photos of several humpbacks cruising north in very glassy windless conditions.
When we heard that evening that Migaloo was off Ballina, we were a little concerned that he may have passed during the night. And we would miss him.

And sure enough there were reports the next morning that he had been spotted off Moreton Island up north.
By now I was beginning to understand how Captain Ahab felt when he was chasing the elusive ‘Moby Dick’
Wednesday morning we headed out with a full charter of about 40 people .
The weather was the complete opposite of the day before choppy, windy and crossing the Tweed Bar was a bit like a Theme Park ride!!.

We spotted a pod of whales not far off the coast, but with all the bouncing around from the northerly wind swell … it was a nightmare trying to get photos.
Then we got a call on the radio from Mal of Fingal Charters that he was following Migaloo about 10 nautical miles off the coast.
We headed out there and I managed to get a few shots.

Migaloo is truly an amazing whale to see. He is completely and totally white.

I just wish he had been a little more active .
The photos below are from the 30th June and 1st of July 2009.

Many thanks to Tony and Carol of Aquatic Blue Charters Whale watching for getting me out there.

The people are friendly, climate is great, it’s cheap to live and the waves are some of the best in the world.
This trip put me up to around 20 visits since 1980. And at 2 weeks the shortest trip Ive ever made there.

Bali is one of the most culturally rich experiences for the traveler and a dream for Photographers.
As you can tell by this short post I love the place and am already planning my next trip there.

The surf wasn’t so great this time but as you can see by the photos even a bad day of surf in Bali is still pretty dam good… I guess that’s why its become one of the surfing Mecca’s of the world.
Here are a few of the photos I took on this trip. I hope you like them

Dan