Kaş, once an unspoiled fishing village, is now a relatively unspoiled tourist town on the southern bulge of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The area around Kas belongs to the Top 100 diving destinations worldwide. This is because this area have an high amount of underwater life, combined with very clear water (up to 40 meters visibility) and beautiful underwater landscapes. Actually there are around 30 different dive spots and many great places for swimming and snorkelling:  a destination really worth a Turkey holidays, in my opinion. Always, while I’m afloat on the sea surface, I know that a more or less intense underwater life is going on just under my feet: this fact simply makes me feel dizzy!  What then,  if you are bathing or -better- snorkelling a diving spot notoriously crowded by baracudas, stingrays, sea-turtles, rare snails, dorades, jack-fishes, soldier-fishes, octopusses, muray-eels, trumpet-fishes, brasses of many kinds, as well as huge groupers? What would be your feeling when so many amazing underwater lifeforms are to be seen regulary in unpolluted and crystal clear sea waters like Kaş’ ones? Would you realize at last, that a crowded, sunken and parallel world coexists with the one we are used to  ive in?

Illustration Friday topic is: mesmerizing

Practically every diver has fantasized about discovering sunken treasure. Although there is more treasure still lost in the ocean than has been recovered, the average diver is unlikely to accidentally find it. The chances of stumbling upon underwater riches are minuscule, and the coast of intentionally seeking it out is high…

Illustration Friday’s topic is: hoard

Many fish use camouflage to blend into their surroundings. Camouflage has two purposes: it helps fish avoid being eaten and allows them to make sneak …among them stonefish are found in the tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Averaging about 30 centimeters in length, their subdued colors and lumpy shape provide them with exceptional camouflage. Few fish can match the sinister reputation of the stone fish: when stepped on, the fins in the dorsal spine inflict an extremely painful and sometimes fatal wound. The stonefish is a master of disguise and deception, it looks like a piece of coral or sand covered rock, so alas, never put your bare hands upon rocks while diving tropical seas: it turns out to be really dangerous sometimes!

Illustration Friday‘s topic is: camouflage

About IF’s rejection, here are three works I like: cate anevsky ; gee,that’s swell ; zari_ZHM

Gravity attracts towards the centre of the earth but we all wish to fly and set us free from this fundamental law of nature. Unless we can afford an intergalactic voyage, we will never experience what really means to live with no load of gravity. As a child I remember myself watching TV and gazing curiously at those funny fellows hovering inside some spacecraft: how happily they smiled despite their complicated equipments and the absolute lack of freedom… I guess that vision has been enough for me to make the sudden decision of diving. In fact underwater hovering is an exciting experience, something really similar to space hovering: I heard that astronauts themselves train for a long time below the sea surface before attempting their expeditions and spacewalks. And both environments are similar as well: cold, blue still and deeply silent…

Illustration Friday‘s topic is: gravity

In clear water at 30 meters, everything is blue-grey; in murky water at the same depth, there maybe no light at all. Here divers consume air rapidly and usually experience nitrogen narcosis that tends to deteriorate mental processes and judgement. The lack of colour and light, may also cause the abnormal fear of confined paces called claustrophobia. Despite the demanding nature of deep dives, they have become a popular activity for a variety of reasons. Basically, the ability to dive deep broadens the realm in which divers enjoy… It happens that Andreas -a skilful German diver master- and I decided to go deep to the little cave located along the underwater cliff that run nearly vertical in Boracay’s  Yapak dive spot. The cave, at a depth of about 35 meters, is supposed to be a good place for fish watching. Due to the strong currents along the cliff and the physical exertion I did, when I got the cave I find out that my air supply had gone almost completely and I had not auxiliary air for decompression! I felt lost and showed quickly my air gauge to Andreas. The man was truly an exceptional diver: as usual he had got such a low air consumption and his cylinder was magically almost full. He rescued me simply by let me breathing trough his regulator all the way back. Moreover -according to his plan- we rested a while, side by side within that small and claustrophobic hole, enjoying the underwater realm.

Illustration Friday‘s topic is : phobia

]]> http://www.aynaku.net/2006/09/24/claustrophobia/feed/ 9 http://www.aynaku.net/2006/04/16/stingray/ http://www.aynaku.net/2006/04/16/stingray/#comments Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:36:27 +0000 massimo http://www.aynaku.net/2006/04/16/stingray/

Stingrays are a triangular flat shape with conspicuous spots on a light brown disc; the spots are well-spaced in young but crowded to form reticulated pattern in adult. White ventrally with a long, slender tail, they live in warm waters off sandy beaches where feed on small fishes, shrimps, worms…
…And off the sandy beach of Boracay, Tara and I used to dive, exactly looking for stingrays: it’s wonderful to watch as they take off into flight! It’s worth saying that stingrays have the most incredible camouflage skills. So one day, while almost crawling the absolutely even sandy-bottom, a huge and unnoticed himantura uarnak slipped swiftly the bottom right under our bellies.
Stingrays are not usually aggressive. They rummage on the sea bottom and only attack if they have been stepped on or threatened, but they are venomous anyway, and that lovely specimen really froze my blood!

Illustration Friday‘s topic is spotted

Homer’s Odyssey, the classic epic poem about the travels of Ulysses, is possibly the most ancient report on the enchanting songs of sirens, songs which charm the sailors and cause their destruction…
Since the first time I read the Odyssey – as a tender schoolboy- one of my dreams was to travel by sea and listen to that elusive song; now that I know where my eyes have been, I realize that every sailor follows his own song, which necessarily sounds different to anyone…
So it happened that I read, painted upon a wooden signboard of a cosy beach resort in Boracay, a mysterious slogan: Nigi Nigi Nu Noos.
Nevertheless its meaning (maybe a long and complex acronym), the sound of this phrase simply excited me at first: for some reason it suddenly reminded me of the truly exotic and enchanting sound of mermaid’s song…

Illustration Friday‘s topic is song

]]> http://www.aynaku.net/2006/02/19/nigi-nigi-noo-noos-2/feed/ 10 http://www.aynaku.net/2006/02/03/fish-feeding/ http://www.aynaku.net/2006/02/03/fish-feeding/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2006 16:16:31 +0000 massimo http://www.aynaku.net/2006/02/03/fish-feeding/

I worked as a dive master for a few months. Basically I wanted to dive for free. Truly, I wasn’t too much concerned about those training exercises and problems solving abilities, a dive master has to deal with…
So I was never happy when some excited chap asked me to go deep, looking for strenuous dives: sharks? sharks? At a depth of forty meters, it’s hard to take care of dive buddies, relax and enjoy at the same time, the marvels of underwater realm.
Diving in shallow waters was, on the other side, a big-great fun for me. Diving in shallow waters means low air consumption, therefore, long and easy dives; and if you aren’t in a hurry because air shortage and you haven’t any special expectation, every single detail became worth seeing, even a cute parrot-fish or a sea anemone. In shallow waters divers practice fish-feeding with small pieces of bread in their hands: maybe it’s worth saying that this spectacular and easy trick negatively impacts fishes in several ways, because the food that is fed (crust bread) is radically different from their normal diet…

I know, curiosity has driven you here, looking for cats…but “curiosity killed the cat” !
So, I apologize, no cats but just a bear today…Actually, last week I’ve been asked to do a Conan O’Brien vs. Bear illustration and here is one of two I did. No time to sketch brand new cats: I guess a bear is actually the most cat like animal in this blog! Strangely enough I never came across even a single cat worth mentioning for ten years! I got plenty of fish, pigs, karabaos (water buffalos) and furious cock-fighting in the Islands, but no cats; not even in Thailand home of the notorious and beautiful Siamese kitties…My fault, I know… I can’t go on thinking that curiosity killed…

Illustration Friday‘s topic is: cats

If you go off beaten roads and stroll along the leeward sea shore, easily you’ll watch natives diving in shallow waters. They do spear-fishing, home-made wooden goggles on, and a rough spike in a hand… A very basic outrigger-canoe anchored close by, marks the diving spot. They spend a couple of hours before quitting: usually they get just a very few coral fish and that’s enough for the day…
Perhaps I learned something about material needs during my living in the Tropics; basically I learned that poor people’s attitude towards life and environment is really eco-logical. I’ve tried to practice this issue while travelling and I enjoyed very much. At home I keep on training –somehow- such pure “ecology of the mind”.
I know that here is comparatively harder. Wealthy people definitely forgot their real needs, in the name of profit and comfort. After all, even my life-style in Italy is unconventional: I certainly belong to a valuable minority!

Illustration Friday‘s topic is: E for…