Tropical Diving - Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia

Expedition Members

Ron and Valerie Taylor
Ron and Valerie Taylor have been a part of the underwater world for nearly 50 years. Their time spent in this realm has given them an exceptional understanding of, and empathy for the marine environment and it's inhabitants.

In the early 1960's Ron and Valerie won numerous titles for spearfishing, but by 1966 they had realized that they could capture the underwater world on film and cause it no harm. The Taylors then began winning honours for their films. While Ron shoots film and video, Valerie concentrates on stills.

Over the years the Taylors have produced and worked on numerous feature films and TV documentaries. Barrier Reef, Taylor 's Inner Space and Blue Wilderness were all television series made by the Taylor's. Blue Water White Death, Jaws, Orca, The Blue Lagoon, Return to the Blue Lagoon, Honeymoon in Vegas are some of the feature film they were involved in. Wild,Wild World of Animals included Taylor Shark sequences; TV specials include Operation Shark Bite; The Wreck of the Yongala; Sea Lovers; In the Realm of the Shark; The Rescue, a Disney feature; In the Footsteps of Mawson; Blue Wilderness; Shadow over the Reef; Mysteries of the Jungle Sea; the tiger shark sequences in The Island Of Dr Moreau. They concentrated on working with sharks because the footage sold well, and they had to make a living.

In 1967, Ron had the idea of wearing a chain mail suit as protection against shark bite. Although the idea worked well, it was not practical for the average diver to wear. More recently they have been successfully testing an electronic device that repels sharks. In 1991 at Dyer Island they became the first divers to film white sharks without a cage in the water. In February 1996, Ron shot an entire white shark documentary protected only by a Shark Pod repeller.

Valerie's spectacular still photography has appeared in printed matter the world over, and has won her many awards the most recent being Nature Photographer of the Year in the US.. She is also a very talented artist, an occupation she restarted in 1994.

Both Ron and Valerie work for conservation of the marine life with some very important successes to date. Valerie was made a Knight Of The Golden Ark, for her work towards the protection of coral reefs and their inhabitants.

The Taylor's have both entered their sixth decade and still spend most of their time on, and in the sea, taking photographs, making films, testing shark repelling devices, and having adventures.

Mike McDowell
Deep Ocean Expeditions (DOE) was founded in 1998 by Australian diver, climber and adventurer Mike McDowell.

Mike is a leading innovator in expedition cruising and eco-tourism ventures and was the founder of Quark Expeditions that pioneered the use of icebreakers to take expeditioners into the frozen reaches of the Arctic, Antarctic and North Pole.

In addition to these expeditions far ends of the earth Mike has for many years organized significant natural history and scuba diving expeditions in remote regions of Papua New Guinea, Micronesia and Indonesia.

Mike was also for many years a director and major shreholder in Adventure Network International that continues to be the primary private aviation logistic support company and tour operator in the interior Antarctic continent. Mike was also one of the founders of Space Adventures, a company successfully offering space travel to the general public.

In the late 1990's he along with several close colleagues, developed a new concept for expedition cruising: to use deep diving submersibles to take people exploring the oceans' depths. Deep Ocean Expeditions was born.

McDowell has been organizing remote location expeditions for 26 years and these have included ocean going, land and aircraft supported expeditions. In addition to producing great concepts for expedition travel McDowell has a successful record of being able to carry these visions and 'off the wall' concepts from the concept stage through to fruition in the form of exciting expeditions and adventures.

Contact: mike@deepoceanexpeditions.com

Belinda Sawyer
New Zealander Belinda Sawyer is Operations Manager of Deep Ocean Expeditions overseeing all the logistics involved with putting together remote expeditions.

Belinda is also an expedition leader, qualified ships master/engineer and dive master.

Belinda has worked in expedition teams in many parts of the world. Since 1999 she has worked for Deep Ocean Expeditions on the deep diving MIR submersible programme. Her other work has varied from leading remote location support teams to commanding vessels and implementing inshore fisheries management programmes.

She also spends considerable time beneath the ocean participating in both recreational and scientific research scuba diving.

Continuing with Deep Ocean Expeditions primary goals of adventure, education and science, Belinda also promotes exploration and sustainable management of the world oceans through the DOE website and various education institutes..

Rob McCallum
Rob McCallum is a project manager for Deep Ocean Expeditions. Rob joined DOE after a successful career as a New Zealand conservation manager where he was responsible for the management of the Auckland Region. He has a strong interest in marine science and exploration having managed five New Zealand marine reserves including the 750,000 hectare (1.85 million acre) Kermadec Marine Reserve. A highlight of his career was the design and establishment of the 50,000 hectare Aotea Marine Reserve in 2005.

Having grown up in Papua New Guinea, Rob returned to Melanesia as a technical advisor/operations specialist to the United Nations where he specialized in establishing conservation areas in remote locations. He has completed a Master of Science at the University of Wales (Aberystwyth) and his work in Papua New Guinea formed the basis of his thesis. His book "Race for the Rainforest" is considered a definitive text for conservation managers operating in developing countries.

Rob's passion is planning and undertaking expeditions in remote locations and he has done so for a variety of government, non-government and commercial entities. A veteran of several seasons expedition cruising in the Antarctic, including a full circumnavigation of the continent in 2001, his work with Deep Ocean Expeditions continues his delight of new horizons.  

A qualified PADI Divemaster (Nitrox) he has undertaken dive expeditions around the world including the Coral Sea, Fiji, Cocos/Malpelo, New Zealand, Australia and the Deep Ocean Expeditions voyages to Vanuatu (2004) and French Polynesia (2005) as the dive coordinator. He was Expedition Leader for the 2005 R.M.S. Titanic Expedition.

Rob is a keen fixed-wing pilot, diver and traveler.

French Polynesia Dive Expedition (PDF)