Entries by Robert

Experiments with Qik

Qik is a little piece of software that enables you to stream videos directly from your phone to the Web. Use it to stream engaging videos to your friends in Facebook, Twitter, etc. or as your camcorder to capture entertaining and special moments.

With Qik you can stream engaging video live from your phone to the world or use your phone like a camcorder to capture entertaining, interesting and special moments. Go LIVE with your life by streaming anytime, anywhere—right from your phone. Be an eyewitness, capture those first steps, or whip up your own streaming video blog. There are just a million and one uses of Qik.

This is one of the coolest Web things I have played with in a long time. Let me know what you think.



... Robert

I can remember when I was 5 years old and had formulated a theory of how electric motors worked. I got as far as electricity, currents and forces but how the forces "knew" what to do was a mystery to me! So began a career in electronics. In the last 23 years I have been involved in product development, embedded software design, engineering management, technology and innovation management, marketing and business development.

In short it has to date been a rewarding and fascinating time. As a self confessed techie, I love being involved in the latest and most interesting innovations, especially those impacting our everyday lives

... Robert

Edithburgh Dive Weekend 17/18th June '06



















Edithburgh Dive Weekend 3rd September '05


















Jennifer & Myself Diving 'The Lumb', 5th June '05


















Andy & Myself Diving 'The John Robb', 4th June '05

















Whyalla Cuttlefish Weekend, 15th May '05

I have been a SCUBA diver for more than 18 years now and in that time have had the opportunity to dive extensively throughout South Australia. I've dived elsewhere and yes, tropical water is wonderful but my soft spot is for the dramatic offshore waters of Australia's Southern coast. It may be cold but the dramatic scale of walls, caves, ledges, kelp, dolphins, seals, reef fish, oceanic pelagics and the odd rather too large for comfort predator make for what South Australian diving stands for!!

My favorite dive location is Allthorpe Island off the coast of South Australia's York Peninsula. My favorite shore dive is Chinaman's Hat, again on South Australia's York Peninsula.

I wish I could say how many dives I have done but for 10 years I kept no record of my diving, an oversight I now regret, many hundreds I'd say at a pinch! I now teach others to dive and my enthusiasm for the salty realm is as strong as ever.

... Robert

I have been involved in this mad sport for nearly 20 years now and can be found at the bottom of the pool on a regular basis. We play weekly at the Adelaide Aquatics Centre with formally organised teams and games. After the game you will almost certainly find us continuing the proceedings at a nearby watering hole!

Underwater hockey is very similar to field hockey in the way it is played with 6 players in the game per side and 4 players as interchange. We use a puck which, although looks like an ice hockey puck, is made of plastic coated lead. The hockey stick is very short, about 20cm long and is held in one hand. The entire game is played at the bottom of the pool while holding your breath!

Underwater Hockey started in England in 1954, but it was not until 1984 that the first World Championships took place in Chicago , USA where Australia made a clean sweep in Men’s and Women’s winning in both team events. Australian Open UWH Championships were held in 1975. The Women’s UWH Titles commenced in 1981, with the Junior UWH Championships commencing in 1990.

... Robert

I could could tell you a bit about who I am but I'm afraid the story would be obsolete before you get to read it. So let me give you a little of who I am at the time of writing this text. I am having a rich and adventurous life, full of "life experiences" as they say and it is my intention to keep things that way!

I presently live in the quiet city of Adelaide in South Australia. Adelaide may be quiet to some but believe me, there is plenty here to keep anyone thoroughly engaged, enthralled and occupied! You might just have to put in a bit of effort to find it sometimes!

My most recent passion has become the pursuit of excellence in teaching scuba divers. For me it has been a wonderful experience in bringing the brand new uninitiated into a world I have had many privileged years to be part of. Such a stark contrast from my previous life in the world of electronics, technology and computing.

That all being said I am still a technologist at heart and keep my ears to the ground and my eyes out for the latest, the greatest and most fun new things to play with. Today's new ideas may seem like fun and folly for the early adopters but history has shown that the future depends on us. If it were not for our insatiable appetite for ever new and more complex things to fill our lives with then I'm sure we would all still be living in caves and wondering "is this all there is!!".

... Robert

Flip Flap Green Green Bath

Just before getting into the water for my Edithburgh dive, we spotted this super-cool Australian sea lion basking in the shallows next to the jetty.

You can tell from this image that even though the water looks clear, it is actually very, very green, which didn’t bode well for being under the surface rather than just looking across it.

On entering the water, I swam to where this guy had been bathing, but alas, he had moved on. Sea lions are happy to interact on their terms, but not usually ours. Anyway, he found me later under the jetty and performed the classic “scare the living daylights” manoeuvre by sneaking up from behind. I’m sure they get a real buzz out of panicking divers.

The visibility, as expected, was not great. The destruction of the marine life was heartbreaking, and I didn’t see a single fish under the jetty. Still, the presence of sea lions here gives a glimmer of hope that we might yet see an end to the green, green bath.


#australiansealion #edithburgh #southaustralia #scuba #diving #yorkepeninsula #algalbloom #sealion

The first time we came here, twenty years ago, I had to make do by taking aim with my camera, just as any would-be plunderer of the twelfth century might have, from ground level.

Catapults and siege engines would have made short work of that lofty fortress, but somehow the Kilmacduagh Round Tower, near Gort in County Galway, has endured. To this day it remains one of Ireland’s best-preserved round towers, rising from the quiet monastery ruins like a sentinel from another age.

There are all sorts of theories about how this thousand-year-old tower has survived unscathed. Most point to the high entrance, several metres above the ground, as clever defence against the Normans and other marauders. But perhaps the truth is simpler, as Kilmacduagh’s remote setting may have spared it the attention of both invasion and ambition.

This time around, my arsenal of “siege engines” is a little more advanced, and I was able to capture a view any twelfth-century plunderer would have thought nothing short of magic.


#Kilmacduagh #RoundTower #IrishHeritage #Ireland #Galway #WildAtlanticWay #Travel #Gort

On yet another heartbreaking beach walk, I came upon many pipefish, weedy whiting, and tubemouths washed up and dehydrating in the sun. This one, identified by Janine Baker, is a tubemouth (Siphonognathus argyrophanes).

Tubemouths are almost impossible to see in their natural habitat when diving among seagrass beds. Perhaps I’ve captured them before, but never an image worth sharing.

This is not the place I would have chosen for my first image of a tubemouth, and I am sad to share it in this way.


#Beach #Death #SouthAustralia #GulfStVincent #AlgalBloom #Coastline #FishKill #Tubemouth #SiphonognathusArgyrophanes #Odacid

No underwater images this trip, as my camera gear is all back in Ireland, so the vista of our little boat off Troubridge Point, anchored on the wreck of the Clan Ranald, will frame my post.

Yesterday, the universe brought tide, wind, weather, and opportunity all together at the same time. Despite early rain and ominous clouds, Jennifer and I motored out from Edithburgh and made the 18 km trip around the coast to the site of the wreck of the SS Clan Ranald in perfect sea-going conditions.

Despite our smooth run out, I was dreading this dive.

The day before was my first dive under Edithburgh Jetty since the algal bloom, and what I experienced left me devastated. My once beautiful undersea world, a world of life, colour, sound, and movement, was all but dead. Colour had turned to grey. The crackling sound of benthic life was barely audible. Ascidians, soft corals, sessile scallops, and algae were gone or dead, and not a single living fish remained under the entire jetty.

As I descended on The Clan, the green, murky water was uninviting, and I had to will myself to keep descending. Twenty metres is not deep, but with only 2–3 metres of visibility, it felt like an eternity. Finally, dark shapes loomed around me, and the bottom lurched from nowhere to greet me. I have never been so delighted to see a common sweep swim out of the gloom to greet its unexpected visitor.

The wreck was clearly not healthy, but there was still plenty of life. The large schools of yellowtail whiting were absent. There were no bullseyes hovering under ledges, and most of the colour was gone. Again, the poor visibility and minimal light did not help. What delighted me, however, were three large blue grouper that followed me the entire dive, fleeting glimpses of sizeable queen and red snapper hovering at a safe distance, a foxfish or two, and a few longsnout boarfish.

There were gulf gurnard perch all over the wreck, cowfish, zebrafish, bluethroat wrasse, and leatherjackets. I eventually found bullseyes hiding deep inside the wreck structure. Of particular note was that most fish appeared to be mature adults, with only fleeting glimpses of juveniles.

I surfaced from yesterday’s dive mostly relieved, but still sad to see one of South Australia’s most revered dives in such a poor state. It is always a privilege to dive on the wreck of the SS Clan Ranald, and despite its condition, it remains a very special dive.

I pray it survives this environmental disaster, and I long for its recovery.


#scuba #diving #wrecks #aerial #SouthAustralia #GulfStVincent #TroubridgePoint #ClanRanald #algalbloom #coastline

I finally got back out on the water in Adelaide after a long hiatus. I’m looking forward with both anticipation and dread to my first dive in the gulf since the algal bloom extended its toxic grip.

While out beyond West Beach, I encountered a small pod of dolphins. One showed off by breaching with delight, another circled my boat and eyed me intently, while a more solitary dolphin kept its distance until I left.

I hope seeing them is a sign of healthier times ahead.

#Adelaide #westbeach #ocean #dolphin #lonely #sea #calm

Something beautiful to end the week. At the base of Torc Mountain, in Killarney National Park, lies the stunning cascade of Torc Waterfall.

So often, photographs of waterfalls use long exposures, creating ethereal, otherworldly movement. But if you’ve ever stood beside even a modest waterfall, “ethereal” or “otherworldly” are the last words you’d think of.

Waterfalls are noisy, dramatic beasts. My wife even calls them “crispy.” Their movements are violent and unrelenting, full of chaos and energy. The continuous roar of a large waterfall can be so overwhelming it becomes almost unbearable after a while.

Here’s a crispy look at Torc Waterfall.


#Waterfall #Nature #TorcWaterfall #KillarneyNationalPark #Killarney #Ireland

Skellig Michael is a dramatic, steep prominence of red sandstone rock protruding from the ocean 12 kilometres off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland.

Unless you’ve seen it up close, it’s hard to describe just how imposing this island really is. While on our surface break between dives, I decided to try and create an image as visually imposing as the experience of being here.

In the distance you can see Little Skellig, with the Kerry cliffs on the horizon behind. Far below, our dive boat, our lifeline home, patiently awaits my return before we head down under the waves again, to a completely different but equally awe-inspiring underwater experience.


#SkelligMichael #TinyPlanetPhotography #IrelandTravel #WildAtlanticWay #AerialPhotography #DronePhotography #TravelIreland #UnderwaterAdventure #IrishIslands #EpicLandscapes #blackandwhite #monchrome #creative

Two weeks ago, dead fish began appearing in the River Blackwater along a 40 km stretch between Banteer and Killavullen. Initial estimates suggested 400–500 dead, with early speculation pointing to a natural algal or fungal cause.

Today, two weeks later, that number has grown to 40–50 thousand, and investigations have ruled out natural causes. Instead, the official report describes it only as ‘some irritant’ being introduced into the environment.

I’m sorry, but in what universe is it acceptable to explain away 50,000 dead fish as simply the result of ‘an irritant’?

Someone knows what happened. But I suspect most of the community that lives beside, and depends on, this part of the Blackwater may never be told.


#RiverBlackwater #EnvironmentalCrisis #WaterPollution #FishKill #SaveOurRivers #EcologicalDisaster #ProtectNature #CleanWaterNow #EnvironmentalJustice #PollutionAwareness

I probably could not have staged this image even if I had tried. At the moment I was about to hand my camera up to another diver in the boat, I took the shot. Instead of capturing what I had planned, the camera focused on the inside of the dome and here is the result.

At first, I was going to discard it, but the more I mulled it over, the more its abstract nature grew on me, and I decided to share it anyway.

I could have claimed I’d planned it from the start, but really, I could never have pulled it off without an accidental helping hand.


#UnderwaterPhotography #AbstractPhotography #DiveLife #HappyAccidents #OceanArt #PhotographyJourney #BehindTheLens #DivingPhotography #CreativeShots #UnplannedMagic #lensblur #scuba #diving

If you ever find yourself with a spare couple of hours in Killaloe or Ballina, it’s worth the effort to walk the Tountinna Loop and enjoy the incredible view from the Ballina Hilltop Lookout of Lough Derg and the surrounding Irish countryside.

Or you can simply drive to the top, as we did. Still, the drive is not for the faint-hearted, as the road is only as wide as a single car.

It’s very nerve-wracking rounding a blind corner and finding yourself heading straight into an oncoming vehicle travelling in the other direction. What happens next is a battle of wills as to who will relent and reverse backwards to the last possible passing point. This happens often on Irish country roads, and I am now quite used to it.

Anyhow, back to the view. To the left and south, at the base of Lough Derg on the River Shannon, are the twin towns of Killaloe and Ballina. Lough Derg, Ireland’s third-largest lake, stretches to the north covering an area of 118 square kilometres as it touches the counties of Tipperary (where we are standing), Galway, and Clare.

Enjoy the view.


#aerial #dji #drone #loughderg #killaloe #ballina, #TountinnaLoop #ireland #RiverShannon

A sunset on beautiful Rossnowlagh beach is always a wonderful experience. Whether a solitary personal moment, or shared.

This time not all eyes on sunset were mine.


#aerial #dji #drone #flyby #goldenhour #rossnowlagh #sunset

Exploring the swim-through tunnels of Cuas Gorm, beneath Puffin Island, reveals all kinds of critters that prefer the dark, or those simply taking refuge until nightfall.

Normally shy and skittish, this lobster seemed perfectly at home as my bright lights pierced its shadowy den. I managed to bring my lens within a few centimetres of that imposing claw, and all I received in return was a slow, deliberate, warning wave.

You’d be a little unsettled too if you had a claw that massive to wield in your defence. I suppose size really does matter.


#puffinisland #scuba #diving #kerry #underwater #lobster #claw #ireland #crustacean #homarusgammarus #CuasGorm

A playful greeting from a grey seal welcomed us as we arrived at our Little Skellig dive site, an experience that stood in sharp contrast to the grim events of 1809, when the full-rigged ship Lady Nelson was wrecked here. Of her crew, only two survived while twenty-five souls were lost.

During our dive we were repeatedly “buzzed” by two of these enormous grey seals. Their curiosity drew them close, yet their caution kept them just beyond camera range. It was a magical, slightly mischievous encounter that reminded us we are guests in their underwater world.

Little remains of the Lady Nelson after more than two centuries. A few scattered iron cannons lie on the rocky seabed, the last enduring traces of the ship, survivors themselves of both time and plunder.

Diving in places of such natural beauty, yet shadowed by tragedy, is a humbling experience. It reminds us never to take for granted the power of the sea, nor the privilege of being able to explore it.


#littleskellig #scuba #diving #kerry #underwater #seals #greyseal #ireland #skelligs #ladynelson #shipwreck

It was just John and me today, the last dive of an unforgettable Portmagee weekend. With the ocean calm and flat, we decided to head across to Puffin Island.

On the western side of Puffin Island lies a dramatic fissure, almost splitting the island in two. Here, 50-meter cliffs of 350-million-year-old red sandstone plunge vertically into the sea. Beneath these towering walls was our destination, Cuas Gorm, or in English, Cove Blue.

Us we dropped below the surface we were treated to 20m visibility views of sheer rock faces dropping to 40 meters, blanketed in anemones and sea stars. As we descended deeper into the fissure, we found house-sized boulders scattered like building rubble, forming a spectacular three-dimensional maze of caves and swim-through tunnels where lobsters and shrimp hid in the gloom while wrasse playfully darted around us.

It was such a delight exploring Cuas Gorm in such great conditions and visibility. I’m already looking forward to next time.


#puffinisland #scuba #diving #kerry #underwater #sidemount #CuasGorm

As I headed upstream from Lover’s Leap toward the River Blackwater Beach, I noticed a change. There were fewer lifeless fish on the riverbed now, and the first signs of the living, dying, and desperate.

I saw trout with clouded eyes, their bodies veiled in a milky-grey film. Some floated upside down near the surface, barely moving. Others rose from the bottom in spasms of effort, only to sink back down again, spent.

These once beautiful creatures should have been freckled with vibrant red spots against sleek, silvery-brown bodies. They should have been darting through the current with speed, agility, and grace.

Instead, I watched their sickness, their distress, their final moments. Grief weighed on me. Anger too at what was, almost certainly, the work of human negligence.


#fish #fishkill #blackwater #mallow #munster #freshwater #grief #death #browntrout #ireland

Today, I slipped into the waters of the River Blackwater beneath Lover’s Leap, downstream from Mallow, hoping to capture some of the local river life.

What I saw instead distressed me. It made me angry. It made me sad. In less than 100 metres of river, I counted more than a hundred dead or dying brown trout and European eels.

I’ve since learned that more than eight kilometres of river upstream have been affected by what is believed to be a fungal infection, now under investigation by Irish authorities.

For months, I’ve been hearing about the devastation to marine life in South Australia caused by an unprecedented Karenia mikimotoi algal bloom. My experience on the River Blackwater today gave me a small, bitter taste of their grief.


#fish #fishkill #blackwater #mallow #munster #freshwater #grief #death #browntrout #ireland

Many divers that are not into photography simply swim continuously through their environment expecting that this will give them then best chance to see everything there is to see. For things that do not swim away this makes perfect sense.

If on the other hand you really want to see fish behaviour, the opposite is true. Pick a spot, really any spot will do, settle down, relax and wait.

It will not take long, perhaps a couple of minutes or two, but the fish will come to you. On this dive I had three curious blennies come and play with me for as long as I was prepared stick around.


#blennies #cheeky #critters #diving #fishbehavior #ireland #kerry #manchestermerchant #scuba #wreckdiving

It’s wonderful to be surrounded by an abundance of fish life, all going about their business, oblivious to our diving intrusion.

It’s quite something else when the wildlife wants to play.

I first noticed the blennies as I nestled down amid the wreckage, one, then two, then three, then four, as the blennies came out to play. Soon, our favourite game became, “How many fingers can be nibbled all at once?”

Too bad I was set up for big-vista, wide-angle photography, or I would have captured a fun, cheeky blenny portrait.


#ireland #kerry #scuba #diving #manchestermerchant #blennies #critters #cheeky #wreckdiving #fishbehavior

The spider crab is Ireland’s largest crab and can be found pretty much everywhere.

Here on the wreck of the SS Manchester Merchant, this guy was happy to pose for me amid the twisted metal, the starfish, the blennies, and the pollock. It all ended when I got a little too close, and he shuffled off in annoyance. At least I got the shot first.

Life on this wreck, lying in the middle of Dingle Bay, County Kerry, is nothing short of fabulous. I saw more fish, in both numbers and species, than I have on an entire year’s worth of dives combined!

It was a privilege to dive on the SS Manchester Merchant, and huge thanks go out to the members of the Inbhear Sceine Kerry Sub Aqua Club for organising such a great day out.


#Scuba #diving #ireland #kerry #manchestermerchant #shipwreck #spidercrabs #crabs #claws #wildlife #crustaceans

This lobster, hiding in the debris of the SS Manchester Merchant, was not coming out to play, no matter how long I lay there and waited.

The space was too confined to get any closer with the strobes attached to my camera, so I decided to fold them back, sacrificing light for access.

As I pushed my camera down into the hole, the lobster at first held its ground, then backed off just a little. I backed off slightly too, which seemed to draw it back toward me again.

Suddenly and without warning, bang! Two massive claws lunged out at me. I’m sure I heard chitin on glass as lobster and camera briefly sparred for territory.

After that, the lobster backed off, held its ground, and there it remained until I left.

Lobsters are normally very timid creatures. This time, however, I assume the behaviour was aimed not at me, but at some brutish competitor reflected back from the camera’s lens.


#Scuba #diving #ireland #kerry #manchestermerchant #shipwreck #lobster #homarusgammarus #claws #wildlife #crustaceans

We were deep, very deep, perhaps 35 metres down or more. A brooding grey sky above meant that very little light had made its way to us here. Colour had been left behind, languishing in the surface shallows.

To say there was no colour at all wouldn’t be quite true. All around us was a deep, dark, monochromatic green. I was tempted to call the photo ‘Green Day’. That green is what my camera managed to capture at a technically stretched ISO 12,800, but to my eyes, there was no colour at all.

So, in the end, I chose to share the image in black and white. Because down there, in that quiet depth, we were truly diving beyond colour.


Scuba #diving #portmagee #kerry #ireland #deep #monochrome #black&white

As I break the surface at the end of another amazing dive beneath the waters of Bray Head I’m comforted by the sight of the approaching boat with a competent coxswain at the helm.

Getting back into the boat is a real team effort. The first diver removes their gear piece by piece, handing each in turn to the coxswain. Once all gear is on board the diver must then kick and breach themselves out of water and over the side of the pontoon into the boat.

With two in the boat, they begin helping the remaining divers until all are onboard.

This is my last chance to capture a few images before making my entry stage left and then heading back to port.


#Scuba #diving #portmagee #kerry #ireland #kerrysubaqua #inbhearsceinekerrysubaqua #boating #ocean #rib #boats

I still find myself thinking I’m back in South Australia whenever I come across the European spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas), which looks almost identical to the southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii).

Here in Ireland, this beautiful creature is mostly ignored by the fishing industry in favour of the much sought-after European lobster (Homarus gammarus). From a diving perspective, this is great, we see them everywhere. Last night’s dive was no exception with crayfish everywhere.

In Australia, we have no marine clawed lobsters, so instead we place huge commercial and recreational fishing pressure on the southern rock lobster. Divers there regularly catch them, so they’ve become quite flighty and almost never interact, preferring to retreat into deep, inaccessible ledges.

Here, the European spiny lobster seems completely at home out in the open, giving us a wonderful opportunity to observe and interact with them unencumbered.

They might be the poor crustacean cousin, but they certainly seem to have a better life because of it.


#crayfish #critters #diving #europeanspinylobster #palinuruselephas #scuba #spinylobster #underwater #brayhead #portmagee

I’ve gazed into the flowing waters of Ireland’s famous Munster Blackwater River and witnessed its many moods over the years.

This river, known for some of Ireland’s finest salmon fishing, has claimed lives and bestowed both vitality and identity upon many towns in the south of Ireland. I’ve longed to discover what lies beneath its surface.

On one of those perfect blue-sky summer days, with the river running low and its flow gentle, I decided it was finally time to sate my long-held curiosity and dive into the Blackwater.

The experience was entirely different from diving in the ocean. In the narrows, I found water-worn rocks and pebbles; strands of green algae trailed down into deeper pools; and the bottom, far below, was cloaked in a grim, grey silty blanket.

I dived with no wetsuit — just togs, mask, snorkel, and fins — and could have stayed in for hours. I spotted unfamiliar species of fish, a solitary eel, and was enthralled by the dappled sunlight in the shallows. It’s no surprise, then, that I now feel a growing enthusiasm to explore more.

The waters just above the Mallow railway bridge offered a safe and gentle introduction. I learned valuable lessons about staying safe in a river and now look forward to discovering more of the green, in the black, beneath the blue.

#Ireland #mallow #blackwater #river #overunder #bridges #summer #diving #swimming