Adventure on Saltspring Island
Part 4: Would you rather be a whale or a submarine By Warner M. Montgomery

Amos Nachoum swam among hammerhead sharks.

Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

The first speaker at the Saltspring Explorer Conference looked like a Greek sailor - short, stocky, swarthy. In a harsh but mellow accent he spoke to the assembled Explorers, "I do not prefer to speak to you. My photographs will tell my story."

Amos Nachoum, an Israeli-American, is an internationally acclaimed marine and wildlife photographer who has led many National Geographic expeditions. His essays and photos have appeared in more than 500 publications. He founded Israel's Marine National Park on the Red Sea and served in the Israeli Defense Force.

After a three-year circumnavigation of Earth in 1978, he moved to California and established a deep sea diving company. In 1992, he focused his interest on big animals, producing images for magazines, TV, and films.

His presentation was entitled "In the Company of Big Animals, an anthology of years of having fun pushing the envelope on the edge of wilderness." Image after image demonstrated how Amos slipped in among great white sharks, killer whales, polar bears, leopard seals, humpback whales, and dolphins to record their mysterious lives. (Check his work at http://www.biganimals.com)

With this photograph, Amos Nachoum proved that orcas dine on baby seals.

Amos showed us how he photographed

+ A herd of hammerhead sharks on Cocos, the legendary Robinson Crusoe island;

+ The open mouth of a whale shark, the largest fish in the sea;

+ Orcas (killer whales) gobbling seals in the Argentinian surf;

+ A mother humpback whale giving birth in the South Pacific; and

+ A polar bear snoozing in the ice desert of the Arctic.

Captain Fred S. McLaren was president of The Explorers Club from 1996 to 2000 and has received all of the clubs major awards. As a naval officer, he made three Arctic expeditions on nuclear attack submarines during the Cold War. Recently, he has dived on the Titanic, the hydrothermal vents near the Azores, and the Bismarck. In 1994, he was honored by The Scientist magazine for his research on global warming.

Amos Nachoum photographs a mother humpback whale with its newborn calf.

McLaren gave a presentation on his forthcoming publication, Unknown Waters, about the first and only survey under ice of the entire Siberian Continental Shelf when he commanded the USS Queenfish. Not only was his story one of conquering the unknown, but one of extreme peril given the USSR threat and the natural elements. On several occasions, he was able to maneuver his submarine between the ice and the sea floor with only 50 feet to spare.

(Next week: How deep is the deepest cave?)

Capt. Fred McLaren commanded the USS Queenfish under the Arctic ice. Amos Nachoum got this photo of a polar bear sleeping then ran like...... Photographer Nachoum uses many methods to photograph big animals including this Skyrider ultralight. This drawing shows how close McLaren had to maneuver the USS Queenfish under the Arctic ice.