The Kairos Company Expeditions: Whale Sharks, Mozambique

Programme operates from November - Dec. 2007

Since its foundation in 1991, the Shark Research Institute (SRI) is probably one of the most famous and efficient non-profit scientific research organisation focused on research and conservation of sharks in the world.

SRI (http://www.sharks.org/) works with the scientific community, individuals and organisations concerned about the health of our marine ecosystem, and marine resource users: subsistence fishermen, sport divers, and the dive tourism industry. SRI works to correct misperceptions about sharks and stop the slaughter of 100 million sharks annually.

The Kairos Company intends to organise with the Shark Research Institute  a Whale sharks expedition in the North of the Mozambique Channel . Jean Marc BOUR, our crew and divers will make a TV film showing all the techniques used by Suzy QUASHNICHKA (Shark Research Institute, UK Manager) to collect data on the biggest and the most friendly fish of the seas.

Expedition Leader : Jean Marc BOUR

Documentaries, however, are only a part of his video achievements. The skills and professionalism of Jean-Marc when it comes to shooting underwater sequences have also been very much appreciated in the cinema industry, for example in action movies such as Taxi 3 or The Transporter. As a director of photography, he has worked with Luc Besson on A Ton Image, and contributed to a large number of documentaries and TV fictions. Jean-Marc had previously worked with Besson as security chief for the dives in The Big Blue.

Jean-Marc also dubs characters, lending his skills to top rated actors below the surface, as he did recently in Frédéric Schoendoerffer’s Secret Agents. You think you don’t know him yet, but you might in fact have seen him more than once on the silver screen. Always a perfectionist, Jean-Marc is very keen on tracking the newest techniques, the most up-to-date equipments so that he can push further the limits of each project he works on......

Scientific support : Suzy QUASHNICHKA (SRI)

Suzy has performed many roles in the Shark Research Institute : Researcher, fund raiser, public relation and press agent. She dedicated four years to collecting and cataloguing video material of Whale sharks in the field at Ningaloo Reef , Western Australia . This comprehensive library has been used by several research institutes to further an understanding of this rare species of shark. Because of her research she is very knowledgeable about whale shark behaviour, biology and the difficulties in filming the species. More recently she has represented SRI in the UK .

Accommodation: The Kairos

36 meters long and 7 meters wide....

The Kairos, though an oceanographic research vessel, has been entirely conceived for the comfort and satisfaction of 12 guests in 6 spacious and fully air-conditioned cabins.

At a cruising speed of 8 knots, passengers can fully enjoy the comfortable and marine designed environment of this remarkably stable ocean-going ship.

A wide range of interior equipments contribute to the guest’s well being:

• 6 spacious guest cabins fully air conditioned, 3 of which with en-suite heads and showers, with both twin or double-berths;
• a large classroom for the briefings and certificate courses on the accommodation level with all kind of multimedia facilities (TV, DVD, VCR, library, 2 multi-media PC, LAN, color printer, Wireless network, Satellite phone...);
• a spacious dining-room and bar equipped with a king size plasma screen;
• a technical zone where every guest has a reserved space to put his own diving equipment;
• a professional galley, with two walk-in fridges, secret reserve from which the chef draws his daily inspiration, for the utmost delight of our guests;
• an outside dining-room, teak furnished, well shaded, to benefit from the beautiful views and refreshing sea breeze from breakfast to sunset.

The underwater digital photo and video workshop is available for all the guests free as far as it is used in the framework of the expedition.

All this equipment is at your disposal.

          Digital Video Cameras (DVCAM/MiniDV)

• 1 Sony PD150
• 3 Sony VX2100
• 2 Extreme Vision camera houses + 4" monitor
  
  Lightings
  
• 2 200w HMI spotlights with 100m surface power supply
• 2 50 w HDI spotlights
• 100m custom-designed optical fibre broadcast device with facial mask communication system interface

Digital Cameras

• 2 Olympus C5060 with camera houses

Computers and screens

• 42’ Plasma screen PDP 435 HDE
• 2 PC multi-media 400Go, flat screens
• Studio 9 media suite software
• Photoshop element 3

The Whale Shark Programme:

Expedition step by step - itinerary

See the departure dates and prices

Including seven nights and days aboard.

Day 1 / Wednesday : Airflight to Dar Es Salam.

Day 2 / Thursday : Guests arrive in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) on Sunday. Transfer and boarding on the M/V Kairos in the early afternoon. . Guests are welcomed by The Kairos Company at Dar es Salaam Airport, and then directly transferred by car to the ship - or to the tenders if the ship is moored outside the harbor. The Kairos will leave her mooring in the evening.

The first 24 hours will be dedicated to explanations, demonstrations, and in-water testing of the specific equipments, as well as setting up groups for courses and certificates.

Day 3 to day 8 / Friday to Wednesday : Current research and expedition in the open sea off the tanzanian shore, involving visual tracking, behavioral and DNA studies of sharks with the help of the scientific support.

Several workshops will be set up: Whalesharks, underwater filming, making-of, and editing, according to each guest’s skills and experience. Each dive is carefully prepared with all guests, covering detailed objectives and concise logistics and timing.

Divers will be briefed every evening, a process that involves the review of the day’s rushes and the planning of the following day’s shooting. About two dives a day are scheduled, plus some night dives as well.

The Expedition Leader will define the planning on a weekly basis. The shots will be edited on board, enabling each guest to bring a DVD back home, covering the segment of the expedition he took part in, as a souvenir. Return to Dar Es Salam in the night of day 8.

Day 9 / Thursday : In the morning, breakfast is served before the transfer to the Airport for the return flight home.

Prices for The Kairos trip