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28/06/2005: "SHARK MOUNTAIN on free to air TV"
I worked on a voluntary basis for Howard Hall when he and partner Marty Snyderman were filming sharks and turtles for an episode of Wild Kingdon (insert picture) around Heron Island. Ron Isbell was the guiding skipper aboard his Tropic Rover.
Ron and I tuned in last Saturday to watch the latest Howard Hall underwater documentary Shark Mountain ("World Around Us" Seven 6:30pm Saturday's) and we were in for a treat. Filmed at the Cocos Island off South America - where Howard has worked on similar projects for IMAX, this TV film featured new diving equipment, new animal behaviour and even a shot of syrup water - when different water temperatures fail to mix and form a distortion - something not seen in a documentary before.
It was a fantastic film, in remote but clear waters, sometimes under very difficult circumstances which illustrates what the marine world mostly is - not always like a swimming pool in bright sun and warm, calm seas. Lots of rain and sometimes strong currents.
Howard Hall is athletic and capable - an excellent free diver and at the fore-front of video camera and diving technology. An excellent role model for aspiring adventure marine cameramen.
We saw schools of: hundreds of white tip reef sharks feeding at night, huge rays, time lapse starfish, lobsters eating starfish, mating flounder, beautiful schools of big eye jack, rebreathers in use, UW voice communications used for good effect, A night dive amongst 50 silky sharks. All good cutting edge adventure.
Pictured above: Howard sadly against a backdrop of Taiwanese shark and fishing boats at Cocos Island in Shark Mountain. Taiwanese are possibly aware of the rich shark grounds and may have even seen this through other people's documentaries on TV at home.
The end credits for Shark Mountain were 'mucked up' - details from another film next week were broadcast in error, a point unknown to programme staff at the Seven Network when we called today.
