We are live at the Georgia world Aquarium tonight. Food is courtesy of Wolf Gang puck catering, although Mr. Puck is no were in sight. However the executive chef says that the food will be good. And the first course, which is salad is. We will be updating this post as we progress thru the evening.
Click the read link to follow our progress…
9:36PM EST-And were done. See you at next years MACNA!
9:30PM EST– New Jersey reef club is showing a slide show of what to expect in 2009 MACNA XXI New Jersey. Tradeshow will be at the Atlantic Convention Center.
9:25PM EST-Winner is: Mike (the guy in orange)
9:24PM EST-And the Winner is…
9:22PM EST-Still waiting on a winner, everyone and their uncle is buying a ticket.
9:01PM EST-They are raffling their FIJI prize courtesy of FIJI Gold (Walt Smith’s Company) An all inclusive trip to Fiji. Walt Smith has entered the stage. Whoa, this is one nice trip!
8:55PM EST-She left the BBC and has now started her own company. mediadivecrews.com
8:450PM EST-Desert is here. Apple/french toast mix. Everyone loves it.
8:44PM EST- The last video film she worked on was Pacific abyss which was nick-named “Pacific abuse” by the film crew which took 5 weeks to do the whole film. They were on a ship for 5 weeks with re-breathing equipment. Helium is very hard to find everywhere in the world since that was required in the re-breathers including the oxygen. They had a ROV (remotely operated vehicle) which could deep as low as 1KM. It was used to find and destroy mines, it was retrofitted for use for a camera. They also used a kite cam which was a total disaster, the kite made a nose dive and lost one camera and another. Fantastic for still shots but completely useless for video. Housing had to be designed to protect the cameras for the depth of the sea. They also filmed Jelly fish lake which some of you may have seen at IMAX. Now showing a video clip of what she just describes them filming. Hilarious.
8:40PM EST-Photo slide show of Caribbean film shoot. The film crew created a “grave site”, yeah nothing you see on tv is real. Showing a 1867 ship that was blown around by a storm which sunk. The wreck was eventually claimed by a new reef which formed at the wreck site.
8:30PM EST-Video clip of the difficulties of diving at night, and how its almost impossible to dive at night. A sea of sharks, which were reef white tip sharks. They were feeding and the divers are observing them. The sharks really don’t mind the divers as long as you don’t bother them, they have better things on their minds. Like dinner. These sharks can detect the electrical tips of fish.
8:25PM EST-Photo slide show of their filming of the deep abyss. They used re-breather machines and it was a very difficult place to film because of the pressure and the rebreather machines.
8:24PM EST-Video clip of Thrasher sharks visiting an area looking for the cleaner wrasse.
8:23PM EST-Our main course is here, it looks like chicken something. It comes with pumpkin mashed style. Whoa this is really good.
8:21PM EST-Blue planet clip of Whale Sharks. General information about them and their feeding grounds. They all meet in a specific location in the ocean.
8:20PM EST-Showing a slide show and how sometimes she really has it tough while filming across the world. They were looking at whale sharks at that location.
8:17PM EST-Showing a clip of the robo shark, which is a robot shark, which we covered a few months ago.
8:12PM EST-Showing a clip of penguins. The host is flying via the Royal navy to Antarctica. Their Destination is portlet island which is one of the biggest homes of penguins in Antarctica.
8:10PM EST-Still doing clips of sardine’s.
8:07PM EST-Showing a clip of Sardine fish as they swim through the ocean. In this clip dolphins are trying to catch themselves dinner.
8:03PM EST-Showing a clip of Martha Homes about cyanide fishing about cynide fishing. And how fisherman keep using this method. Very interesting. Fishermen use this method not only for home aquarium fish but also fish that will be sold at some fish markets.
7:56PM EST- Showing a clip of Ocra whales preying on grey whales. From Blue Planet. If you seen the blue planet then you most likely seen this. Still awesome though, if you like carnage. Although Joanna Ruxton has promised to end the clip early before it gets to gory.
7:52 PM EST-“The blue planet was filmed in over two hundred locations in the world. The budget was 8 million pounds. ”
7:49 PM EST– Slowly introducing Joanna Ruxton, who is giving a speech on “Behind the Scenes as an Underwater Wildlife Producer for the BBC”. She has worked on “Deep Blue” and other projects involving a variety of organizations.
7:47PM EST– 2nd course is here, grits with shrimp on top. The grits are smothered in butter and utterly delicious.
7:30PM EST– The new MASNA website awards have been given out, generally we found that whoever has the biggest MASNA logo put up on their site wins. We’re kidding of course. (kinda)
