“I found the people I needed among the mermaids, and it’s working well. Your people have the skills I need to crew my expeditions, and we get to build bridges along the way.”
Terry didn’t look convinced. “I’ve heard you are forming an official Pack and claiming all of Australia. Where does that leave us?”
“Nothing has changed for you unless you want to change it,” I said. “If you want nothing to do with us, I’ll sign a treaty with you, establishing territories and rights, and leave you in peace. I didn’t claim all of Australia because of you; I claimed it to prevent other Alphas from trying to move here and start problems. Our Pack is not under the North American Werewolf Council, no matter how hard they try to insist that I am.” They relaxed a little. “I’m hoping you will work with us because my Pack is different than the ones in America. I expect that I’ll be filming shows in Australia eventually, and I’ll need a new ship and crew to do it. Hell, I’d even make you a part of my Pack if you want to join us. We should be able to live without fear of attack by another.”
“You’d have our kind in your Pack?”
“Why not? I have humans in my Pack already, and I like you guys. You’re more at home in the ocean than I am.”
“I didn’t know what you were until recently, and it doesn’t bother me either,” Nicholas said. “I’ve known Curt and Nancy Flood for years; they run a salmon farming operation across the bay. Good, hardworking people who smell weird.”
“My cousin,” Nicole said. We talked more as we ate; there were more mermaids than wolves in Australia, scattered around the continent in fishing villages and ports. “I’m booked solid through summer and fall, but I’d like to put a show together after that focused on Australian sharks. Linda can let you know what kind of people we’d need; if you can spread the word to your family, we can see if any would be interested in working on it.”
“I can do that. We should eat quickly and go. It’s almost seven-thirty,” Linda said as she looked at the time. Our boat would leave at eight. I did the disappearing act with my food, knowing we wouldn’t have a big lunch today.
Our diving gear was already at the charter, so we loaded into a hotel shuttle and followed Matt and Nicole’s truck to the pier. It wasn’t a long transit out to the far side of Rottnest Island, our first diving spot. Linda rigged up stationary cameras on the boat, and she had multiple handheld cameras to record the trip. She also rigged GoPro cameras to the sides of our masks and made sure the underwater cameras were ready. We pulled on our Bodyglove wetsuits over our bikinis or trunks, checked our gear, and sat down for our diving brief.
Nicole led the brief while Matt drove the boat, while Fiona filmed it. “We’ll be diving the Opera House today; it’s an underwater cave with a wide entrance a few clicks west of the island. The cave entrance is at fifteen meters, and the back of the cave reaches twenty-six meters. You’ll be using double tanks for more bottom time.” She went through the dive plan, including the safety stops and decompression plan. “Matt will be in charge of the divemaster topside, and I am the dive leader. I’ll pair with Linda, and I’ll be helping her set up for the shots she wants. How are you pairing?”
“Nicholas and I will pair up and go with you and Linda,” I said. “Carly and Makani will pair up and film Amy and Noelani.”
“Visibility is good, and there is a lot of sea life around. We can expect to see multiple Grey Nurse sharks using the cave to rest in during the day. They are also known as Raggedtooth sharks and are similar to Sand Tigers. These sharks are still listed as ‘Vunerable’ in Western Australia and Endangered in Queensland. Touching and harassment of the sharks are prohibited.” Grey Nurse sharks were nocturnal hunters, so a dark cave was a great place to hole up, outside of ocean currents and big predators. They weren’t the same as the laid-back nurse sharks I’d seen in North America waters, who would rest on the bottom and had whiskers like a catfish. These looked like a stretched-out Tiger Shark, with a conical nose, a tail a quarter of their body length, and a mess of sharp teeth. “The nurse sharks can be big, but they are skittish and will take off if you approach them. The best strategy is to stay in one place and allow them to come to you. The best camera shots are looking out of the cave, so the sharks are backlit. The corals and marine life are just as good, so enjoy the dive.”
“Any other sharks expected in the area,” Linda asked.
“There have been Great White sightings around the island, but I haven’t seen any here. Hammerhead sharks and blacktips are more common outside of the cave on the reefs. As always, keep together, and scan everything around you,” Nicole finished.
Linda went through our shooting plan, which focused on getting sharks and good-looking people in silhouette. We anchored near the entrance, put on our tanks, and started the first dive. “I love how peaceful it gets when I’m in the water,” I sent to everyone. We did our safety stop on the way down, checking each other’s equipment and adjusting our ballast, then descended to the coral and sand below at a twenty-meter depth. Looking around, I could see a twelve-foot Hammerhead swimming in a sandy area. Linda got some shots before we followed Nicole to the cave entrance.
The three Grey Nurse Sharks were between six and ten feet long. They scattered as we got close. Following our shooting plan, Nicholas and I headed for the back of the cave with our camera team following. Amy and Noelani set up on one side of the entrance.
It was worth the wait. The cave dive put us with a dozen or so adult Nurse Sharks slowly moving around schools of smaller fish. As the sharks got used to our presence, they came closer and closer. Linda got a great shot of a big one swimming between the camera and us. Amy’s group was having just as much fun, with more sharks hanging out near the cave entrance.
All too soon, the dive computer told us it was time to head for our first safety decompression depth. We left the cave and headed for the anchor, then made our prescribed decompression stops before finally coming out of the water. “That was AWESOME,” I said as I climbed on board.
“Great film,” Linda agreed.