KENYA AIRWAYS LOVES WHALESHARKS

Category: Research | Date: Mar 25 2008 | By: admin

Here is the story in pictures of our tags trip to Europe. I carried these tags in my hand luggage like they were gold dust! Here they are in my hand luggage with my book and keys. Can you see how scratched and worn they are? The one that is really badly scratched is the one that has been on a whale shark for a year. It is well worn! You can clearly see the antenna, the high pressure foam bulb float which contains the pressure and temperature guages and then the main tube with all electrics including the battery and software then finally the light sensor which is the clear bit at the bottom which gives us info on ambient light levels. This allows us to determine dive depth, day, time etc.

This is a picture of the tags on my kikoy. A kikoy is a Kenyan type sarong. Check out www.kikoy.com for more info. I don’t go anywhere without mine.

Here is Volker holding the tags. I didn’t let them out of my sight and as soon as we landed I took them to the post office to send off to Brent. I won’t be able to relax until they reach San Diego safely!

I will keep you posted on their journey.

4 Responses to “KENYA AIRWAYS LOVES WHALESHARKS”

Theresa Siskind St Petersburg FL, on 25 Mar 2008

Ok, so finally hints are being given to what secrets these tags hold. Amazing technology. Volker looks pretty relaxed. But looks are deceiving!

Nimu, on 26 Mar 2008

Hi there Theresa - Volker was relaxed that morning! If I hadn’t been so shattered I would have gotten a member of the crew in the picture too! I want to send it to Kenya Airways as I think it’s pretty cool for them that our tags were on their plane! It was quite a journey but we have had worse ones! They haven’t reached Brent yet - will keep you posted!

Sherri S., on 26 Mar 2008

Does airport security ever look at you strangely for carrying those odd-looking devices in your carry-on luggage?

whalesharks, on 27 Mar 2008

The truth is that noone looked at me twice and I came all the way from Mombasa so I went through 3 sets of airport security. I had my heart in my mouth a bit because although they are completely harmless the tags look so strange and I was harbouring them so closely to my heart. I think if anyone had stopped me I would have told them the whole long story about what we are doing and why we believe in it and I would have kept talking until they let me through. If need be I would have cried, smiled, laughed, cajoled and basically done what ever it took to get those tags to Brent! For now at least, it’s done!!! Woo hoo!

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