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The World Oceans Day 2019

Gender and Ocean – how are these two connected? Not at all – you might think. Quite much, however, is the answer. Gender and Ocean is this year’s topic for the World Oceans Day. Celebrate this day with us, find out more about why the world’s oceans are so impressive and
take part in a fantastic raffle.

Each year on the 8th of June, people all over the world celebrate the ocean and try their best to change its story. In doing so, they celebrate each and every life on this wonderful planet. Because no matter where you are and no matter how far you might be situated from any coastline, you are somehow connected to the ocean.

Why?

The oceans are the lifeblood of our planet and the source of all life. Not only do they hold over 95% of the planet’s water, they produce more than half of the oxygen in our atmosphere, are said to be important for 50% of the breaths we take and absorb a lot of carbon. But there’s more to it.

 Ann Karin Matberg • OM-D E-M1 • M.Zuiko Digital ED 8mm F1.8 Fisheye 
• PT-EP11 • PPO-EP02 • 2 x UFL-3

In many ways, the ocean acts as a regulator of our climate. By soaking up the heat and transporting water of different temperatures all over the planet, it regulates the weather, the temperatures as well as rains and droughts in many places and it makes most parts habitable by keeping the balance. And speaking about habitation – the ocean does not only help to make our planet such a great home to us, it is also a home to the greatest abundance of life including some of the smallest and some of the biggest creatures there are. From critter to whales – there is a variety of life in the oceans that is hard to imagine from ashore and that we can only do our best to partly capture with our lenses.

Gender and Ocean - The oceans also provide us with food. That goes hand in hand with the fact that they create many jobs – not only for fishermen. From tourism and transport to water sports businesses: many industries and jobs are highly connected to and dependent on the ocean – and its condition. And it goes without saying that a (commercial) world – and our supermarkets – are quite hard to imagine without ocean freight.

Marcin Dobas – Exciting encounter with steller sea lions

Marcin Dobas • OM-D E-M1 Mark II • M.Zuiko Digital ED 8mm F1.8 PRO
• PT-EP-14 • PPO-EP02 • UFL-3

For many divers, underwater encounters with marine mammals are an unforgettable experience. Whenever I meet a dolphin, a seal or an eared seal (Otariidae), I am sure that I have just met an incredibly intelligent creature which enjoys our encounter as much as I do.
The goal of my last photographic diving expedition was the coat of Kamchatka coast. To some of you, this idea may seem absurd. Everyone who starts diving dreams about the warm waters of the South Seas, the sun, the coral reefs and orange clownfish playing in the water.
The water around the peninsula of Kamchatka, however, is cold, the visibility is not good and the biodiversity is limited. So – why go there? […]

Read the whole story


Juan José Sáez Méndez - The great white shark

 Juan José Saéz • OM-D E-M1 Mark II • M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO
• PT-EP14 • PPO-E04 • 2 x UFL-3

On my second trip to Guadeloupe I wanted to capture the behaviour of the great white shark in my pictures. With the help of my results as well as the information provided by the scientists who work with these animals, I wanted to explain or rather express the importance that these special animals have in the ecosystem and show what is being done to protect them. 

The great white shark is an alpha predator that is at the top of the food chain and that, in theory, should not be at risk because it has barely any natural predators. Unfortunately, the great white shark is still on the red list of the worldwide endangered species due to direct or accidental catches in fishing nets, the constant pollution of the seas and the warming or narrowing of their natural habitat. This makes us humans their main predator. […]

Read the whole story

Karin Brussard  - Dolphins – my experience after waiting for 20 years!

 Karin Brussard • OM-D E-M1 MarkII • M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm F2.0
• PT-EP14 • PPO-E02

In the 20 years that I’ve been diving, I’ve taken a lot of photos; from seahorses measuring a mere centimetre to swimming elephants. But I’ve never encountered a dolphin. Until now.For this mission, we chose to search in a large area in the Bahamas which is home to around twenty dolphins. Everyone on the boat was on the lookout. As the hours passed, my hopes began to fade once again. There wasn’t a single dolphin fin to be seen across the wide expanse of water. My attention wandered after just two seconds, I gave up and went to do something else. […]

Read the whole story

What’s your story? 

To celebrate this very special day with you, we have prepared a raffle for you.
As first prize you can win a brand new TG-6 with its Underwater Case.
Second prize is the cool Tough Adventure Pack and the
Third prize is a practical H2O drink bottle


What to do:

  1. If you are not signed up yet as a MyOlympus user, quickly click here, register and refresh your browser or click here after having signed up. In case you are already signed up, log in here and you will get back to this page.
  2. Like this blogpost and think about your most impressive animal encounter/underwater experience so far.
  3. Write a short comment under this blogpost in which you describe this experience
    until June 22th, 2019. --> raffle is closed !


Please view our Terms & Conditions

Thank you very much for your participation.
Your Olympus Underwater Photography World

Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous
    My most impressive encounter was a night dive in Deep South of Egypt Red Sea. It was in beautiful reef system with many big hunting moreens.
  • Какая интересная у всех здесь жизнь! Мое самое впечатляющее столкновение с рыбами - они покусали меня на Средиземном море.
  • I was this year in marth in Marsa Alam in Egypt Red Sea for snorkeling, there are beatyfull reef with different colours fishes and corals.
  • While snorkelling off the shores of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ islands I noticed a number of turtles feeding on sea grass. They were happy to have me sit alongside them and even swim along with them. I have seen turtles since but that first experience was magical.
  • The Blainville Beaked Whale is not so often seen in the seas surrounding the Canary Islands, as far as I know. We encountered it in early october 2018 offshore in the south of La Gomera.
  • The most amazing underwater experience was to swim and snorkel with turtles and a reef shark, when i was in barbados. The turtles was so near that they touched me on my Arms when they swimming around us, bc of the shark i was a little bit scared, but it was amazing to see it so close (only some Meters away)
  • While I was not actually fully submerged and not actually in the ocean my most memorable time in this connection was seeing the multi coloured Sockeye and Chum Pacific Salmon spawning in a channel off the Harrison River in British Columbia. It was only happening because enough people, particularly First Nation individuals had the vision to protect the species and ensure that the ocean continued to sustain the thousands of miles of river life feeding into it. This year of the Salmon is not just about angling.
  • Beaucoup de rencontres m'ont émue depuis mes premières plongées de 1993, mais je crois bien que celle qui sort vraiment du lot date de 2007, lors de ma première visite aux Philippines. Nous venions de faire le tour du monde en avion pour finir sur la petite ile de Malapascua, le gros décalage horaire nous a permis de ne pas être trop perturbée par le réveil plus que matinal pour une mise à l'eau à 5h du matin au large. Lorsque nous nous immergeons, il fait sombre et nous descendons alors sur un plateau rocheux, très peu de vie à cet endroit, mise à part des tout petits labres. C'est là que venant des profondeurs, nous avons aperçu deux silhouettes s'approcher, en ondulant. Une petite angoisse en voyant cette masse se rapprocher, et alors que les deux requins étaient proches et semblaient nous observer à leur tour, j'ai découvert le requin renard. Magnifique rencontre d'une dizaine de minutes, puis ils sont repartis dans les profondeurs de la mer des Visayas...
  • Mon expérience sous-marine se limite à un saut au large de la Guadeloupe au mieux de poissons qui me sont inconnus. J'espère un jour les revoir avec l'appareil photo adéquat...
  • While scuba diving in the Andaman sea at the coral reefs in front of Koh Ngai, a banded sea krait swam directly at us - it was horrifying, luckily it just hid between the corals... However, some small fish decided to bite my ankle as I probably came to close to it’s nest :-)
  • Because i'm an open water swimmer usually i go for snorkeling and free diving up to 8 meters, thats enough for me to see this phantastic coloured coral world. Once at the Bermudas i tried to go for the old tradition of helmet diving by Greg Hartley there. Immediately i was remembering Jules Verne's Captain Nemo's simple way, also for all of those of no snorkelers and no scuba divers. With a big glassed helmet from brass on my head and the fresh air tube from the boat i walked easily on the strong protectet coral banks to watch this unbelievable underwater world and took a lot of photos with the old olympus tg-1.
  • My most memorable underwater experience happened when I was learning to dive. It happened at the very end of a stony pier on Black Sea cost. On my third dive that day I noticed a thin rope waving between underwater stones two more dives later I found it again and pulled. At the other end I found a small crucifix with words "Bless and Save". And so I saved it, was keeping it for many years.
  • Vor 20 Jahren, in der Lagune einer kleinen Malediveninsel, am Übergang zum offenen Ocean. Man konnte jetzt in die Tiefe sehen, kristallklares blaues Wasser und dann kam ein Schwarm großer Flügelrochen ca. 6-8 Meter unter mir her. Das war so fantastisch und unglaublich friedlich. Schade, dass es damals noch keine Tough TG-6 von Olympus gab.
  • Peu d'expérience sous-marine à part en Espagne avec la joie de rencontrer des étoiles de mer à quelques mètres seulement sous la surface de l'eau d'une plage de la Costa Brava.
  • La sensation d'apesanteur et de totale sérénité lors d'une plongée bouteille au milieu d'un "vol" de raies manta à NUSA PENIDA à BALI : du pur bonheur. La plénitude... On voudrait passer sa vie sous l'eau tellement on y est bien...

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