In the previous posts The TOP Highlights of the 18 JBL Expeditions Part 1 & The TOP Highlights of the 18 JBL Expeditions Part 2 , I described the 2015 to 2019 expeditions.
As the expedition leader, the question I’m asked most often about our expeditions is: What was the most beautiful expedition so far? And this is exactly the question that’s hardest to answer. It depends on your point of view and where exactly your personal interests lie. If you love sea slugs you’ll have been in seventh heaven on our Philippines Expedition 2007. It’s hard to find more plentiful and more beautiful nudibranchs on this planet than in Puerto Galera! However, if you wanted the once in a lifetime chance to observe neons and altum angelfish in their natural habitat, close up and in colour, you could fill your boots in Colombia. With the best will in the world, I can't name any ONE best expedition.
But I can tell you the highlights of the last six expeditions, from my own personal point of view:
JBL Expedition Colombia 2022
Colombia offered the unique opportunity to visit habitats once in the dry season and once at the end of the rainy season through two expeditions to the same places, only at different times of the year.
I have been snorkelling in many different waters, but the Rio Atabapo on the border to Venezuela was absolutely world class! Altum angelfish, flag cichlids, L number catfish and piranhas in clear, though brown, blackwater – and all at 32.7 °C! The bathtub-warm water made leaving the water a hard step to take, even hours later. The observations we made of the fish species there were unique. As far as I know, I am one of the first to have photographed altum angelfish in their natural habitats under water. The experience of filming while hanging horizontally from a tree in a strong current at a depth of six metres, in particular, as the altums stood calmly in the current, was just mind-blowing.
The second, very special experience I had was in a small stream near the indigenous village of Santa Rosa. I wanted to use a tin of JBL PRONOVO NEON for video recordings and photos. I opened the tin in a small hollow in the stream and couldn’t believe how the characins jumped at the food. They even swam into the tin till it was hard to see any of the tin at all. This flurry and guzzling of wild fish reacting to a food they have never seen before was one of the most impressive feeding experiences I have ever had!
The third, very special experience came about because I didn't feel like climbing Mount Mavicure again on my second expedition. Even though the view from 170 m over the Inirida River and the surrounding jungle is really magnificent, I wanted to use the morning for something else. Next to the camp there was a smaller river that flowed into the main river. The high water level had caused the turbid water from the Rio Inirida to flow into the smaller river, but I assumed that at some point the water from the smaller river would push back the Inirida water and the water would become clear. So I snorkelled upstream in the murky water and kept checking the visibility with my outstretched arm. After ONE hour, the water was still murky. I was no longer sure if I was even in the right river, as the high water level left only the trees and bush tops sticking out of the water. Half an hour later I came to two large rocks lying in the river. And lo and behold: behind the rocks, one metre later, the water became crystal clear! This change was incredible. Suddenly I could make out the logs at the bottom, sucker catfish were scurrying around, pike cichlids were swimming near the ground. I was curious how the river went on and came to a strong widening that looked like a lake. This biotope was among the most beautiful I have ever seen in freshwater. The edge consisted of flooded ferns and mosses. It looked as if aquascapers had freshly scaped the whole scenery. Many characin species, cichla, crenicichla and catfish were swimming around. Shoals of redeye tetras with over 100 animals passed me by. At the end I found small river hollows in rocks, where there were beautiful shrimps to be seen. Wow - this is what an aquarist's paradise must look like!
More details, such as research results, pictures and videos, can be found on the expedition page:
JBL Expedition South Seas 2023
The expedition took us to the remote Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia, about an hour's flight northeast of Tahiti. We set off from Fakarava on the sailing catamaran Aquatiki III to various dive sites in the Tuamotus. In short, they were the cleanest, most intact and beautiful reef sections I have seen so far.
The first, very special experience I had was at Tetamanu. It was the first time I was able to capture 150 sharks in one photo. At the end of the dive, we drifted with the current past the small village of Tetamanu. Suddenly, at a depth of about 20m, a wall of sharks was visible in front of us. Not wanting to drive the animals apart, I held on to a dead coral on the bottom. With the other hand I tried to point the camera towards the cow sharks. But that didn't work because the current was too strong. The camera kept flipping in the direction of the current. I tried to move the coral branch to the crook of my arm to free up my second hand. Somehow I managed to use both hands to align the camera, adjust the aperture and flash, and finally snap a few pictures of this phenomenal sight. The sharks were standing right in front of me, probably admiring the adventurous contortions I was doing on this piece of coral.
Another encounter I had with sharks, this time with blacktip reef sharks in 50 cm deep water, is also unforgettable. When we went ashore, we saw a cook throwing fish scraps from his workplace behind the hut into the shallow water above the reef. A sizable group of blacktip reef sharks had gathered there and were fighting over the fish scraps. The next morning I prepared an underwater camera and was keen to take photos of the sharks in this shallow water, as their dorsal fins could be seen above water and their bodies above the corals underwater. Even though I had learned how sharks tick through our shark workshop with shark specialist Dr Erich Ritter, I also had to think of his remark: "Blacktips are little assholes". So I climbed "death-defyingly" into the extremely shallow water and was curious to see how the 20 or so sharks reacted to me. They collided with my legs as soon as I got in. But that was it, the only contact! They avoided further contact and didn't even pinch my feet or hands. Even approaches from behind remained contactless, although sharks are very well aware of where the back and front are in humans – without knowing it.
The third event which made a lasting impression on me was a dive on the outer reef with the aim of finding soft corals, which turned out to be rare there. We dropped into the water and dived down. At a depth of about 30-40 m we could see the bottom, thanks to the incredible visibility. But somehow the ground was moving. As we dived deeper, the black ground billowed like a current and when I was only 20 m away, I realised the cause. It wasn't the bottom at all! It was a shoal of bigeyes swimming close together above the ground. The fish are actually red, but due to the depth, the red light was absorbed and the red colour only reappeared in the light of a flash or lamp. When I got to the level of the shoal, I wanted to take a photo from below, because there was still a metre between it and the real bottom. As I dived through the fish, I saw groupers lingering. It became one of my most beautiful photos taken during the two South Sea expeditions!
There are so many more exciting or impressive experiences from past JBL expeditions and I look forward to all those to come. If you would like to share such unique experiences too, simply register for a JBL expedition. With a bit of luck you will be part of it and we can enjoy the nature together while learning something for our aquariums and terrariums.
More details, such as research results, pictures and videos, can be found on the expedition page:
