Off to see Great White Sharks with Apex Expeditions

Hi all

Monique woke me at what appeared to be the middle of the night. It was still dark, the time was 5.00am. We all got aboard and departed Simons Town harbour just before first light. Monique said that all the Apex Crew and even the other guests on the boat were just as excited to have me on board and help me make the most of my experiences.

I asked why it was called False Bay and one of the crew told me that the name "False Bay" was used by sailors (at least three hundred years ago) who confused this bay with Table Bay whch is further to the north.

We were not the only ones active at this time of the morning. As the sun was just below the horizon and the sky was still a beautiful shade of early morning pink, we came across a school of about 400 common dolphins.

We could see large shoals of anchovy (fish) on the surface and this had obviously attracted the dolphin to the area. As our boat approached most of the school broke off to follow us in the wake of the boat. Everyone on board was very excited to see this beautiful scene. I have seen dolphins on my travels before but not hundreds in one place or so close to the boat.

As we looked towards Seal Island we were in for another surprise … 3 Southern Right Whales were relaxing on the surface just 1 mile from Seal Island. On our boat “White Pointer 2” we sat with our engines turned off, just a little way away from the group of whales. Within 10 minutes the whales were extremely relaxed and had moved very slowly towards us.

The crew found me a safe comfortable place to sit on the side of the boat where I would be close to the whales.

I enjoyed an amazingly close moment with the 3 Southern Right Whales. One of the whales even “spy hopped” right in front of us.

This is when a whale pokes its head out of the water to have a look around. Monique said that maybe the whale was just as curious about me!

Monique said that the Southern Right Whales migrate from Antarctica to the South African shores, arriving here in August/September each year. Whilst they feed in Antarctica their reason for travelling to South Africa is to use the safer shallow bays to breed and give birth to their calves.

I have seen acrobatic humpback whales in the Hawaiian Islands and Channel Islands in the US. But there is something very special about floating on a very still ocean listening to the whales calmly breathing in very loud spurts very close to us. They seemed quite happy with our company, something I will always remember.

Wow, so much excitement and we haven’t even seen a great white shark yet!

Ed meets famous shark experts Chris and Monique Fallows

Hi, I am Monique Fallows. Earlier this year Ed the Bear wanted to visit us to learn about Great White Sharks. In September we could finally make this dream come true and help Ed to experience and learn more about the famous Great White Sharks of Seal Island.


Hi all

Well I am back in South Africa I can’t believe my luck. Earlier this year I had hoped to see great white sharks. For some reason only a few sharks returned to seal island and so I did not see any before I had to return to England.

However, this changed very quickly and I got a call (and invitation) from Chris & Monique Fallows, who are naturalists and Shark Lovers (!). They would to be my hosts and guides.

Monique explained that even though we were going to be looking for Great White Sharks at Seal Island, we were also going on a Marine Safari in the magnificent False Bay. She told me that this natural Bay is a very special place in which a huge variety of marine life and different ecosystems co exists.

I asked Monique what an ecosystem was. She said that the plants and animals that are found in a particular location are referred to as an ecosystem. These plants and animals depend on each other to survive. This balance between the plants and animals is a delicate balance and can easily be damaged by some human activities.

I asked Monique why they were called Apex Shark Expeditions. She explained that the great white shark is an Apex Predator, which means no other predators hunt and eat great white sharks. So I wondered why the oceans were not full of great white sharks if nothing else eats them.

Monique explained that great white sharks help keep the other animals in the ecosystem in balance. While nothing eats the great white sharks, their numbers are kept in balance by the rest of the ecosystem. The amount of sharks will not be greater than the amount of food that is available to them. No wonder the oceans are in so much trouble when ecosystems are so delicately balanced.

Because of this wealth of wildlife, the opportunity to see other wildlife is something that Chris & Monique and Apex always make the most of and share with others.

I asked Monique what wildlife we might see, but she said she did not want to spoil the surprise. When at sea you never know what you will encounter. Chris and Monique said that everything in nature exists together and there are many unique relationships, so it is always a good idea to go to sea with your eyes wide open! You never know what you might see.

Monique said we would be leaving very early in the morning so I left them both planning tomorrows trip and went bed.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Back in South Africa to find out about great white sharks

Hi all
Some very exciting news. I am back in South Africa to visit Chris and Monique Fallows who study great white sharks.

When I was in the USA visiting the National Marine Sanctuaries I visited the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. I was photographed by a life-sized model of a great white shark.

Sadly, I did not get to see a live shark, but I hope to see some here.

I have heard lots of crazy things about sharks. Some people think they are very dangerous and eat lots of people, other people think they are beautiful animals. While I am in South Africa I hope that I will be able to find out what is fact and what is fiction about sharks.

I have been told that Chris and Monique are very passionate about sharks and so I am sure they will be able to tell me why sharks are important - I found out recently that Geat White Sharks are endangered!

While I am very excited I am also a bit nervous too as I am only a little bear, but I know I will be safe with Chris and Monique

More about my visit soon

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Friends of Ed the Bear explore West Beach Local Nature Reserve UK

Hi all

If you are a follower of my this blog you will know I spend much of the time travelling around the world learning about marine life and investigating conservation threats to the ocean. You may not know this but the wildlife and coasts around the UK are just as fascinating and important.

So I will be enlisting the help of children and their 'bear friends' around the UK to visit these beaches and make a report of what they discover. This may be individual children, schools or at special events.


They will be the Friends of Ed the Bear.


To find out more about the Friends of Ed the Bear and their adventures at West Beach you can follow the link below to the friends of Ed the Bear website.

http://friendsofedthebear.blogspot.co.uk/  

I hope you enjoy discovering West Beach along with the first of the Friends of Ed the Bear. Sand beaches, tide pools, a pier, vegeatetd shingle and sand dunes all on one beach.  

Bye for now  

Ed the Bear

Bella's Animal Olympic Games

Hi all

While I am busy putting together the final pictures and blogs from my trip to the NABS Youth Summit, why not check our Bella's Animal Olympics on my sisters weblog at

 http:/theadventuresofbellathebear.blogspot.co.uk

More form the Youth Summit soon

Ed the Bear

The Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

Hi everyone

Today we are at the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge.

It was set up 1966 as a refuge for migrating waterfowl that spend the winter here and other bird life. 　 The Discovery Center at the Refuge provides a place for refuge volunteers to meet visitors and answer questions.

Chanel McFollins has written my blog entry about our visit toi the wildlife refuge. I hope you enjoy reading it. - Through Ed the Bear's eyes

Although only the second day of the NABS youth summit, Today was a blast!! First, we went to the Discovery Center on Brazoria. There, my group first toured the environment on the bus with an interesting marsh view of all types of animals including alligators! There were many in the stream and we stopped to take pictures, then continued on to our destination to learn several key facts about the specific marsh land. Then, some of us put on fisher boots & caught some fish, brown shrimp, and a blue crab in the water.

Next, my group went to catch as many insects as we could to determine the freshness of the marsh water. Because there were dragonflies and shrimp caught, the water was undoubtly fresh, however we decided not to drink it.

During this time, there was a mother alligator watching us, for she had previously snatched a net from the preceding group. She swam back and forth, but need harmed us. Did you know alligators can go 2-3 years without eating? Or that the best estimate of its size is to change the units from inches to feet? Well, that's what we talked about in the next section, & I even got to touch one! It was so smooth. I also touched boxed turtles, corn snakes and more!

After lunch we went to OceanWorks, which is a company that creates, builds, and manufactures ocean technology and equipment for underwater building and projects. An example of this would be divers trying to fix the broken oil rig during the BP oil spill. They use a suit called an ADS, which stands for Atmospheric Dive Suit. One person usually goes down for half an hour to inspect the premisis, then goes back to land to formulate a resolution, and works for 6-8 hours at a time. They are able to come back to land so quickly because the ADS remains at 1 A the whole time, while their air is being filtered. If cut off, the air will last up to 48 hours! I even got to get inside of one. It was a bit oily, but the experience was priceless.

We also took put one copy of the cups Ms. Michelle had us make at 1,000 ft to understand why myself and the humans in NABS can't go deep underwater without the proper equipment. Today was awesome! I can't wait to see what NASA has to offer.

I was invited to take part in the 25th Anniversary Event of the Lewes Railway Land Nature Reserve back in the UK. This beautiful nature reserve has woodland, grassland and like the refuge, it has many freshwater habitat to. I was unable to accept because I would be here at the Youth Summit, so my sister Bella went instead. Bella took my display stand about my adventures and ran some bug hunts with visitors. You can read about her adventures and see some of the wildlife on Bella's weblog on the following links

Part 1

http://theadventuresofbellathebear.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lewes-railway-land-nature-reserve-25th.html

Part 2
http://theadventuresofbellathebear.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lewes-railway-land-nature-reserve-25th_11.html

Bye for now, Ed the Bear

Arriving at the Youth Educational Summit and meeting everyone

Hi all

I have arrived in the USA and I was pleased to meet up with my good friend Lisa. As with my last visit to the Youth Education Summit, some of the youths will write some of my blogs for me.

I just arrived from England and met my friend Lisa at the Houston Hobby airport. It was a 10-hour flight, we arrived in at 8:20 A.M

Then after we got off of the plane we then went to the TSU (Texas Southern University) lobby and just hung around until we could get into our dorm rooms. Once we got in our dorm room we cleaned the room and bed up a little bit so we could put our sheets on the mattress. After we finished cleaning and putting the sheets on the mattress we came back down to the TSU lobby so we could register for our rooms. 

We are waiting for everybody to arrive tonight. At 2:00 we took a tour around the Texas Southern University campus. We went to the Moot court room and that is where the law students practice their cases so they could be ready if they actually had a jury case. Then after we did that we talked about Jacques Cousteau and we wore red hats to celebrate what his birthday Jacques Cousteau invented the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) Written by Lisa.

I got to have my picture taken with all the youths when they arrived.

 This is me with Alexis Braden (I met Alexis last time as well)

 This is asmin Henry

This is me with Bashir

 This is me meeting Cesar

 Here I am with Colin

 This is David Brown Jr

 This me relaxing with Desiree Boyd

And of course, this is me with my friend Lisa

 This is Matthew Edwards (who I have also met before)

 This is me with Rachel Stewart

 This is Toure'

This is TJ Bently

Here I am with Winston Sharp III

I hope I will be able to remember all their names.

I can't wait to find out what we will be doing tomorrow.

Bye for now, Ed the Bear.