Dive Mistress - Latest Comments

Re: Scuba Bucket List – Where in the world do I want to dive?

Suzy Walker-Toye — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 18:46:21 -0000

Raja Ampat covers your requirements, well not sure about the whales. We saw Mantas, sharks, amazing macro (nudis, pygmy seahorses, wunder pus, too much to mention), mangroves, crazy good wide angle and more fish than you can shake a fin at.

Re: Trip Report: a Good Friday underwater

Tara Sutherland — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:04:17 -0000

Haha righto - lets try that out then eh? And a double OK :)

Re: Trip Report: a Good Friday underwater

Deralie Flower — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:22:18 -0000

Just yell at me. I can hear quite nicely on my new toy and have developed that rather annoying habit of talking during a dive. Last weekend's mutterings consisted of 'MARTY, STINGRAY, OVER THERE, ANOTHER ONE, LOOK UP...', 'NOT ENOUGH WEIGHT' and 'LOW BATTERY, BUGGER'. I like chatting underwater :-)

Re: Trip Report: a Good Friday underwater

Tara Sutherland — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:55:59 -0000

Thanks buddy! Will try and call you over next time (will need to come up
with a nudi signal that I know you will hear!) .... STINGRAYS!!!

Re: Trip Report: a Good Friday underwater

Deralie Flower — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:32:59 -0000

Nice blog DM! And like the pic of Ms Clague too. Roboastra huh?! You kept that quiet. I saw NO nudi's all weekend (but this could well be because I couldn't take my eyes off all the stingrays!). See you next Sunday!

Re: Day Eight: Sharks, Sharks and Sharks

Tara Sutherland — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:36:33 -0000

Thanks Rach :) I'm reliving the whole week little bit by little bit as I work through the 1700 photographs I took. Yikes!

Re: Day Eight: Sharks, Sharks and Sharks

Rach — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:33:11 -0000

That's a great blog! Takes me back there and makes me feel excited, I'd do it again in a heartbeat too.

Re: Day Five: Currents and Corals

Cazzy — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:33:21 -0000

love following you guys!!!!its amazing and so proud of my big sis x x

Re: Fiji 2012: Days One and Two (and a night in between)

Arlene — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 15:49:05 -0000

Amazing photos Tara! I am so happy for you and a bit jealous! Of your piccies and where you are. ;-) Still haven't uploaded my photos from Sharm! Have a wonderful time!

Re: Fiji 2012: Days One and Two (and a night in between)

Jo Yearsley — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 15:27:30 -0000

Awesome Tara... Living vicariously here so look forward to the next update!

Re: For Sale : Second Hand Drysuits

rainberry — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:18:59 -0000

Are second hand drysuits still available?

Re: For Sale : Second Hand Drysuits

Bluefins Mn — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:41:24 -0000

Hello, can a diver still get 2nd hand drysuits?

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

T. LaRoque — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:33:42 -0000

From what I read the people actually are Not doing this because they are hungry/ in need of the food. In fact their own government has stated the animals are not good for eating. Also I have read (not seen first hand) that a large portion of the carcasses are discarded or in fact taken and dumped back into the ocean.

Would not compare this to the slaughter of pigs or turkeys. Those animals are used completely either for food or in by-products. I can live with that. But this whale slaughter might (imo) be better compared to hunting or fishing more as a "sport" in which food is not really the main reason. I am totally against killing animals for sport. I don't know or care that medievel vikings 8 have done. For sure things were different back in those times.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

T. Rock — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:57:18 -0000

Reading through all the comments here, I found "Dillinger" from "one year ago" made the most sense. I doesn't interest me so much the past history of Faroe Islands and if the people are truly ruled by Denmark. Also, I do understand that so-called Calderon dolphins are actually pilot whales, which are techically dolphins. That's all interesting and possibly even confusing, but it all misses the point.

It would be quite another point, a valid point (imo), if it were shown that all this dolphin meat were going to feed hungry people. But that doesn't seem to be the primary argument. If it is give evidence! From what I can find many of the animals, or their remains, are left unused or taken back to sea. The meat is really not good to eat.

I'm from the U.S. (no apologies to the few haters here), and I do eat some (not a great amount) meat. But the packers here "use every part of the animal except the moo" or "the oink" in the case of pigs. I myself am totally against killing any animals for sport. So-called traditions don't justify that. We do kill many turkeys for Thanksgiving, but they are mostly completely eaten. The (viking?) "tradition" of slaughtering cetaceans is now barbaric and rightly condemned.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Andreea — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:01:59 -0000

Alex, one queston for you: what "rite of passage" are you talking about? The one so nicely "describe" in an imbecile e-mail that circulated the net and which is full of twisted facts and lies? Interestingly enough in all the time I've spent in the Faroe Islands I have never heard of such thing and I have a Faroese husband and 22 yo nephews.

"Would someone please go educate this clearly deprived culture of Islanders and let them know that, as of this point in their lives, those creatures are smarter than they are." Patronising much?

Oh dear, this being said by the guy who lives in a country of which army kills innocent civilians in Iraq and Aghanistan in the name of ... what? You don't have a clue of how people from the Faroe Islands are, I don't actually believe you have a clue WHERE Faroe Islands lies on the map. And as a foreigner that have been living here for the past 10 years, I can easily assure you that people here are much more civilised than a bunch of patronising Americans who believe they have the monopol over civilisation and democracy. Grow up! And try to inform yourself properly besides making an arse from yourself.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Reuben Matene — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:26:40 -0000

You go Dive mistress!!! you've got my support all the way!!!!!! I love your commentary, and i love the calm and patience you have to endure all these ignorant people!! Love it - Give em' heaps!!!

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Really? — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:02:35 -0000

The whales are brought home and processed, the meat is not sold commercially. So you'd likely find few pictures as intimate as someones home from this remote place.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Really? — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:58:00 -0000

So you are blaming people for hunting a food source that naturally comes within proximity of their land? Should they put out a Craigslist Ad asking for less intelligent form of life to wander by? Granted this is a modern era, and you have internet and a chai latte, but it wasn't 'just' like that.

Re: Basic First Aid for Scuba Divers

Paul Keetley — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:15:38 -0000

Dear Tom and Deralie
A great first aid kit for stings, bruises, cramps and muscular problems etc is the ENAR interactive electrotherapy device. Its re-useable of course, but not cheap at $990.
see www.enar.com.au

We like your first aid image, may we use it? Thank you. paul@enlightenedtherapies.com

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Just Laughing — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:44:38 -0000

If it's a tradition i don't see anything wrong with it. The two things that I see wrong with it is driving them towards extinction and the killing part is sad, and should be done more humanely, but with the larger animals it's harder to do. Look at the way we kill animals. I mean, we put a hot piece of tattered metal into their flesh at 3000 feet per second and most of the time have them running around afterwards until the BLEED out. Just because they don't make a sound doesn't mean they're not hurting.

You think we're going to stop thousands of years of tradition just because we feel sad for them? But like I said, this should be stopped and for one reason only, extinction.

And for all of you bad mouthing Denmark, 'danish', danes...
This happens on the Faroe Islands, which belong to Denmark, yes. But the Danish government or the Danes themselves have nothing to do with it or agree with it.

The people on the Faroe Islands don't consider themselves Danes, they consider themselves Faroes and have their own government.

Half of you guys don't even do research. You see a cute animal in distress and start screaming.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Alex — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:10:23 -0000

Anyone who defends this horrible tradition should know that killing a dolphin makes you far less of a man... this is no right of passage, this is disgusting, and this is murder. People used to own slaves too but as times change so do traditions, and this is probably the most pathetic one I have ever seen. Killing a friendly and intelligent creature that would never even pose a threat is shameful, cowardly, and no right of passage. Would someone please go educate this clearly deprived culture of Islanders and let them know that, as of this point in their lives, those creatures are smarter than they are.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Annmarievans — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:01:12 -0000

Ok, I'm enlightened.
I know the facts & I'm not a vegetarian but it still looks barbaric to me.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Anna — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:56:53 -0000

Caroline, do yourself a favor and have a conversation with someone from the Faroe Islands and ask THEM why they do what they do before you make assumptions. I happen to live with a Faroese person and YOUR facts are wrong, too. Stop preaching until you actually talk to someone who lives in the culture you're criticizing.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Emma — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:11:35 -0000

I don't think they're doing this as a 'coming of age' ritual. This is a tradition and a communal sharing of food. I'm

Try this POV. You're an American right? How different is this from our annual tradition of 'mass murdering' thousands of turkeys for Thanksgiving...or say thousands of cows for our restaurants year after year. They're both harmless creatures. How about pigs and fish?

I understand your disgust if you're a vegetarian, but if you're not then isn't hypocritical to hate these people for what they're doing? I have a feeling that they are more humane in how they kill these animals compared to how we raise and slaughter our livestock in our country.

You might say that these animals are intelligent creatures but I heard the same can be said about pigs and you and I both know that our country love our pork chops, and we don't hear much an outcry to save them.

These people are eating what they kill; they're not hunting them for trophies to hang them up above the fireplace.

Just sayin'.

Re: Shame – but not on Denmark

Martin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:59:56 -0000

Let's make something clear, pilot whales are classed as dolphins, that's a fact. I've never heard of a Calderon dolphin, we call them, as a herd, a grind, (pronounced 'greend'), or individually grindahvalur.
The people on the Faroe Islands kill an estimation of 0,1% annually. That would take 1000 years to wipe them out. And the fact that records show all the way back to 1584. And there hasn't been a decline of whales, which should prove that it is sustainable.
I agree, large animals probably do suffer a slow and painful death if attacked with harpoons. Fortunately harpoons aren't used in the Faroe Islands. Large blades are cut into the spine, making blood stream up into its brain, making them unconcious within seconds, as they bleed out, which is why the ocean's red. If you've seen any type of slaughter, you'd know any animal is drained for blood. The videos will look like utter barbaric chaos, if you don't understand they are doing. The men don't like making any animal suffer, which is why everyone's in a rush. To put the whales out of their misery as quickly and swiftly as possible. Killing 60-150 whales within 6-15 minutes is desperately trying to give them a merciful death. If they didn't care, it wouldn't be this quickly.
If you're against Faroese whaling, that's fine, but please get the facts right and don't make things up. Ask anyone from the Faroe Islands, they'll tell you the truth, but they probably won't a agree. Which is where you come in.