Ocean News

Jannie Wessels, Managing Director of The Rainmaker Group of Companies which manufactures BRIGHTWEIGHTS scuba diver weighting systems, has kindly stepped up to the plate and sponsored Lesley with her very own full set of diving weights. This includes the newly developed soft ankle weight system, the internationally acclaimed cylinder weight…

… But I will be going there from here (Cape Town) for five weeks as part of a small team of scientists and cameramen from the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) to assess and document Aldabra’s unique marine life. The countdown is on and together with the BBC Wildlife award-winning…

An incredible amount of change is taking place at 28 Main Road, Kalk Bay. The Save Our Seas Shark Centre is taking shape, some aspects very fast, others seem to drag a little. All in all progress is slightly ahead of schedule. Yesterday, Lesley met with a remarkable artist, who…

On Tuesday morning, Lesley kindly invited the SOSSC staff to join her at the Two Oceans Aquarium to watch while "Elle" the raggedtooth shark was taken out of the I&J Predator Exhibit and placed into her holding pool on the roof of the aquarium, awaiting her release back into the…

Claire and Bruce of Phase 2 Interiors, above, working in synergy with Adam and Lesley, are starting to get very close to the final ‘look’ of the decor, with colours and textures now into the ‘final selection’ phase. We are looking forward to showing you what beautiful decor is lying…

Construction continues against the clock to have the centre ready for the launch, the edit suite is now being seperated from the office (above) which will become the home of White Shark Field-Researcher Alison Kock., and the progress continues on the shop. (top) The team of divers from SOSSC (Alison…

With the massive amount of construction that is going on around us at the moment, the constant rattling of power-drills, hammers and cutting tools, it starts to get very hard on both the hearing and the nerves. The beauty of the location however, is that if we take a 10…

Builders have just removed the double glass doors which divided the entrance foyer from the back patio, and work is underway to enclose the far end of the patio to form the shop. The shop will run on donations, and will house Save Our Seas merchandise, including books and educational…

Boardroom area before, and current – above. Apart from the edit suite and shop area downstairs, the work is now well underway on the upstairs area, and boardroom. The area will also house the camera-crew and staff of the International Save Our Seas Foundation offices during their trips to Cape…

The new edite suite will form part of the centre, and will be boasting the latest in Apple Mac and Final Cut Pro technology! For the moment, the layout remains on paper, with the builders clearing the way for the new equipment. The edit suite before the builders got stuck…

Lesley Rochat’s sister and PA Verona Smith his been running the accounts and admin in the middle of a construction site for the past week, using her laptop and ‘sans’ internet for most of the time. Happily however, Jan ‘The Brain’ has now hooked her up with her new PC,…

The biggest asset to date in the early stages of the SOSSC has been our ‘man of mystery’, who goes by the name of Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo has thrown himself into all aspects of the house with tireless enthusiasm, arranging men and woman for volunteer work, giving advice on the…

Top, a group of volunteer ‘workers’ from Pisces divers, Jan, Gemma and ‘Ro’, hard at work, then middle, resting after a long haul of painting! They pitched in on friday evening to do some touch up work in the garage. All 3 work at Pisces Divers. Ro and Jan are…

Lesley has spent much of the time recently in meetings with the interior design team, going through the finer details of the decor that will be welcoming visitors to the Shark centre once it opens it’s doors to the public. Lesley, above, discussing the designs with Claire and Bruce of…

Alison and assistant recovering data from a ‘listening station’, top, and the dorsal of a tagged white shark, above. Whilst we are working through every aspect of preparing the centre for it’s official opening, the research team are hard at work in the bay. Alison Kock has been busy tagging…